Rams control ice in 3-1 win over Falcons
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
The puck ricochets off the crossbar over the glove hand of Connellsville goalie Alex Mitchell during Monday’s PIHL Class B South Division game against Ringgold at Rostraver Ice Garden.
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
Connellsville’s Lukas Joseph (16) chips the puck past the Rams’ Zachary Kalinowski behind the Connellsville net during the second period of Monday’s PIHL Class B South Division game at Rostraver Ice Garden.
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
Connellsville’s Max Sokol moves the puck behind his net during the second period of Monday’s PIHL Class B South Division game against Ringgold at Rostraver Ice Garden.
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
Connellsville’s Gavin O’Brien (19) is congratulated by his teammates after scoring a goal in the third period of Monday’s PIHL Class B South Division game against Ringgold at Rostraver Ice Garden.
Connellsville goalie Alex Mitchell attempts to control the rebound after making a save against Ringgold's Ethan Saylor during the second period of Monday's PIHL Class B South Division game at Rostraver Ice Garden.
Connellsville goalie Alex Mitchell watches the puck bounce out of the net after he was unable to stop a shot by Ringgold's Nicholas Nagy early in the second period in Monday's PIHL Class B South Division game at Rostraver Ice Garden.
Ringgold's Hunter Hodgson moves the puck behind his net during the first period of Monday's PIHL Class B South Division game against Connellsville at Rostraver Ice Garden.
Ringgold goalie Jerry Mease sets up the puck for one of his defensemen during the second period of Monday's PIHL Class B South Division game against Connellsville at Rostraver Ice Garden.
ROSTRAVER TWP. — Ringgold scored two goals in the span 18 seconds over two periods Monday night for a 3-1 victory in a PIHL Class B Division game over visiting Connellsville at Rostraver Ice Garden.
Nathan Boulanger’s shot from the left wing eluded Connellsville goalie Alex Mitchell with only one second remaining in the first period, and Nicholas Nagy extended Ringgold’s lead to 3-0 just 17 seconds into the second period.
Hunter Hodgson assisted on Boulanger’s goal, and Evin Fries and Ethan Saylor set up Nagy’s goal off the opening faceoff of the second period.
“That’s a tough goal. It’s something you don’t want to give up,” Connellsville coach Ray Brown said of the Boulanger goal. “The third goal, we shouldn’t give that goal up.”
“That was a big goal at the end of the period,” said Ringgold coach Rick Kalinowski.
Ringgold (3-0-0-0) dominated the first period, but only managed one goal through the first 16:58 of the game when Nagy opened the scoring 9:41 into the game on assists by Hunter Suarez and Saylor. The Rams pelted 16 shots on Connellsville goalie Alex Mitchell in the first period.
Mitchell finished with 38 saves.
“We dominated play, but weren’t finishing. We were unable to capitalize on our chances. Their goalie made some nice saves,” said Kalinowski. “They say a win is a win, but I’m not happy with our play.”
“We just couldn’t capitalize on the chances we had. Our power play wasn’t clicking,” said Rams captain Zachary Kalinowski.
Meanwhile, Ringgold goalie Jerry Mease was as lonely as the old Maytag Repair Man, facing only one shot in the first 17 minutes of the game.
“It was tough. We weren’t quick enough. Our wings couldn’t get to the puck,” said Brown. “The things we’ve been struggling with all season, we (struggled with) tonight.
“We didn’t do a good job in their end. We didn’t play our game.”
Though, the Falcons were playing a little short-handed.
“We were down some kids. We had three defensemen. We had a forward come back. We moved Nate Lawrence and Clay Sipple back on defense,” explained Brown.
Ringgold kept applying the pressure and appeared to score its fourth goal soon after Nagy’s second, but the officials ruled the puck was kicked in during the scrum around the loose puck in front of Mitchell.
The Falcons (1-3-0-0) finally lit up the scoreboard on Gavin O’Brien’s goal — one of three Connellsville shots in the third period — with 5:20 left in the game. The Falcons closed the game on their third power play, and had a couple solid shots that were turned aside by Mease.
Mease finished with 11 saves.
“The third period was an even hockey game,” said Brown.
“We wanted to keep them to limited shots and keep the zone clear,” explained Kalinowski.
Both teams killed three penalties. Ringgold has cut down taking penalties from the recent past.
“This team is different. They don’t take stupid penalties. This team is not selfish,” said Rick Kalinowski.
“Because we lost nine seniors, we can’t afford to take penalties,” said Zachary Kalinowski.
Ringgold is still the defending champion since the 2020 title game was cancelled because of the pandemic.
“I feel like that a lot,” Zachary Kalinowski said of being the defending champion. “But, we play a lot of good teams. We need to bring 115 percent to all the games.”
Connellsville is scheduled to play in Morgantown Thursday night, but Brown wasn’t sure of the game’s status with the most recent recommendations by the governor for West Virginia sports.