04/05/2001

By Rob Harman / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

IRVING – Mention all of the hockey that Southlake Carroll will have to play this week to contend for league and state championships and coach Laddy Tresl provides a sly smile.

He loves it. And so do the Dragons.

Southlake, which won the Section 4 crown last week, took another big step with a 4-1 win against Lewisville in the Southwestern Bell Metroplex High School Hockey League semifinals Tuesday night at the Dr Pepper StarCenter at Valley Ranch.

The Dragons (19-1-1) will play Plano East (19-2), which posted a 3-2 overtime victory against Arlington on Tuesday, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the league final at Valley Ranch. The Section 1 and Section 4 champions have not met this season.

The four Metroplex section champs will then hit the road to Austin for the state tournament Friday and Saturday. Southlake will open the 12-team, double-elimination state tournament Friday afternoon.

"It's great for us," Tresl said of the half-dozen games the Dragons could play between Tuesday and Saturday. "I like to keep the boys busy."

Carroll's B.J. Cotton, the league's top goaltender with a 0.85 goals-against average, says the Dragons are ready for the grueling schedule.

"It will be pretty tough [but] I'm halfway used to it with my travel team," said Cotton, referring to his Lone Star Wolf Midget AA team. "And all of the high school teams have to do it so it makes it even."

It helps that the Dragons are hot.

Carroll is on a 19-game unbeaten streak, second in league history to Plano's 26 in a row two seasons ago. That happened during Plano's state championship season. A good sign for the Dragons?

"We are playing the best hockey we've played all year," Cotton said.

Tresl, who played professionally in the Czech Republic before moving to the U.S. in the 1980s, says the playoffs are a different animal and the 16-game regular-season streak means little now. "I don't even think about it," he said.

"I think that every game is important now. I'd like to win them all."

Tuesday's victory wasn't as easy as 4-1 might sound. Chris Doyle, who led Lewisville to a surprise upset of Coppell last week, scored a power play goal, his 28th of the season, to tie the score in the first period.

Jeff Kraemer and Danny Force scored first-period goals for Southlake but Cotton and the Dragon defense had to kill two tripping penalties in the second period before Geoff Eames stuffed one in to give Carroll a 3-1 lead.

Brian Jacobowski added the fourth goal on a wrist shot off a perfect pass from Dan Vollmer.

Tresl said the Dragons seemed to be playing scared early.

"The third goal did seem to loosen us up," Tresl said. "The kids got the confidence and started playing our game: passing and shooting."

The Dragons outshot Lewisville, 31-13, despite being whistled for five minor penalties to the Farmers' one.

The Dragons scored on their only power play.

Southlake, with the return of injured and suspended players, will be close to full strength for the league finals.

"It should help patch the hole in our defensive line," Tresl said.

And help the Dragons in their bid to follow Plano and Grapevine as the third straight state champion to come from the Metroplex.

Rob Harman is a Dallas-area free-lance writer.