Holland, Falcons shut out Trinity, 6-0
LEISENRING – The referees’ whistles were tasked Tuesday night when Trinity traveled to Connellsville for a PIHL D2 Blue Division game at The Ice Mine.
So much so, the scorekeeper needed to jump the penalties called to a second scoresheet.
But, the Falcons managed to avoid the distractions, for the most part, for a 6-0 victory over the visiting HIllers.
The officials called 31 total penalties, with more than half assessed in the third period.
“As the game is being called like that, the game is getting chippy, and then it explodes,” said Connellsville coach Mike Hodge. “Lots of whistles, lots of chippy plays, that leads to sloppy play.
“We were sloppy. I told them it was a very sloppy game, and we came away with the win.”
The Falcons had the better of the play in the first period, and the persistence paid dividends when Ian Zerecheck scored at 10:53. Nolan Wojnar and Carm Galderisi V assisted on the goal.
The lead doubled around seven minutes later when Tyler Cook beat Trinity goalie Kirsten Lallone. Braden Rogerson and Elijah Pleva set up the goal.
“We didn’t pass the puck. We didn’t move the puck early. I think we were a little bit selfish early,” said Mike Hodge. “We didn’t pass the puck real well tonight. The last game we passed the puck really well.”
The Falcons had a number of man-advantage opportunities throughout the game, and were able to cash in the second period when Wojnar scored at 11:20 off Pleva’s assist.
The next two goals scored in the third period were also on the power play.
Evan Sokol netted an unassisted goal at 12:01 on a two-man advantage and Wojnar scored his second power play goal just 36 seconds later on a Jesse Hodge assist.
Hunter Garlick capped the scoring with just 42 seconds left in the game off a Hunter Emerick pass.
Connellsville goalie Jonathan Holland didn’t face many quality opportunities, but stood tall in the goal when he needed to be, stopping all 25 shots he faced.
“He made a couple big saves when he needed to,” praised Mike Hodges. “He took time off to get things focused, so it was his first game back.
“Now, I have two goalies playing well, so it’s a good situation for me.”
Connellsville improves 3-6-0-0-0 after losing its first five games.
“I keep in their ear, keep their heads on straight, focus on what we need to do, stay out of the box,” said Mike Hodge.”The beginning (of the game) was very sloppy and we slowly started playing more simple, play it the right way game.
“So, we’ve been slowly building and playing the right way.”