Rough Riders Defeated by Defending League Champs

A first period described as "not good enough" by Kent Roosevelt hockey coach Ben Barlow, began a night of disappointment as the Rough Riders suffered a 4-2 defeat to the defending league champion Solon Comets at Gilmour Academy this week.    

"I think we lost the game in the frist period," Barlow lamented when reviewing his team's performance. "That first period was prettty tough for us. Only going down one (to) zip, I think we were pretty fortunate."

Solon's first period tally was scored on a power play goal by John Hannah. 

Several second period adjustments, including moving Rough Rider defenseman Kyle Manning up to playing forward, ignited the Kent offensive effort. Manning assisted on the first Roosevelt goal of the game, scored by Tom Fisher, and then scored what Barlow called a "highlight goal" near the end of the second period.

Another of those second period adjustments included Roosevelt exploiting the width of the ice with their defensemen. Barlow said the mission was to "refocus the kids on attempting to use our system. Our (defense) panicked a bit in the first period."

Those changes resulted in a 2-2 tie at the end of the period.    

Heading into the third period, Barlow believed his team had the momentum but suffered a "late let down," the coach said. "Our forwards were standing still, not fulfilling their responsibilities."     

That allowed Solon's Mitch Neides to score the game winning goal with less than two minutes remaining in the game.    

The game's final tally was an empty net goal for Solon's Mitch Krenn.    

After starting the season with two victories Barlow believes that, "nobody on this team takes losing lightly, the key is that we get better every day," he said. "It's a long season, we can't think we lost everything because of last (Tuesday) night."

Blue line notes

• The Rough Riders' next game is Thursday, Dec. 8th at 7:15 p.m. vs. Orange at Kent State University Ice Arena.
• The team will experience the thrill of an outdoor game as they will be playing this Saturday, Dec. 10, on the ice at Progressive Field. The opponent is Amherst Steele and the puck drops at 4 p.m. The "Frozen Diamond" rink at Progressive Field was constructed as part of the Cleveland Indians' Snow Days festivities on-going into January. Ohio State University's hockey team will be playing Michigan at Progressive Field on Jan. 15.

Scoring summary

1st Period: 1, (S) Hannah (Pierce) 3:36 PP

2nd Period: 2, (KR) Fisher, T. (Manning, Danner) 9:54; 3, (S) Littman (Weisfeld) 2:33; 4, (KR) Manning 1:34

3rd Period: 5, (S) Neides (Littman) 1:35; 6, (S)Krenn :11

SHOTS ON GOAL: Roosevelt 22, Solon 16

SAVES: Roosevelt: Grootegoed 13           

            Solon: Peterson 20

GAME SCORING SUMMARY

Roosevelt   0 – 2 –0     2

Solon        1 – 1 – 2     4