Two teams that turned the corner over the past two years . . . one of which has beaten a few Top 20 programs this year and one looking to do so in their first ‘step up’ game. A very similar story but one team is about a year ahead of the other. Makes for an interesting matchup . . . The main coaches behind both of them are legends in their own way. AH/B, led for a few years by Jeff Goldberg, until his resignation earlier this school year, went 3-12 last season with a rapidly improving season, capped off with giving Saint Andrew’s a solid run late into the game in the District playoff.  This season, under former assistant Kevin Barry and staff, has taken flight, going 7-2 coming into this game and with impressive wins over SJP II, St. Edwards and American Heritage/Plantation, as well as a one-goal loss to state #2 Jupiter. Western Davie, 7-9 two seasons ago, brought on Doug Shanahan to take the reins.  Shanahan, the first Tewaaraton winner, improved the team to 12-9 in his first year and inculcated his culture into the program.  The team also improved over the season and made the FHSAA bracket by avenging two regular season losses in the District.  The schedule was not challenging in 2017, as befit a turnaround situation and not really this year either based on last year’s results.  The matchup with AH/B, due to the leap forward they made, loomed as the first ranked challenge for Western Davie. Before the game I talked to Coach Shanahan and he admitted this was a game where he’d find out what he truly had.  It’s easy to look at the scores put up, the scoring differential in particular, and think this was a team ready for the next step, but until that step up occurs it’s all guesswork. To add to the uncertainty of how the game would play out we had a warmer, more humid night than any other night game I’ve been to so far this season, and it did play a role in the second half as both teams struggled to keep their level of play up as the humidity took its toll.     The game itself was exciting as far as the way it played out but left a little to be desired if you appreciate team play.  28 goals and only 8 truly were assisted.  14 goals in the first quarter alone and only TWO were assisted.  51 total turnovers tend to occur when players are trying to do too much individually and that certainly happened Monday, with 18 of them in the fourth quarter alone.  If you are a fan of solid defense you kind of got disappointed there too, as the teams were able to walk through each other at times with ease.  17 combined penalties confirm this, as many were the result of reaching instead of moving their feet.  93 total shot attempts with 54 hitting the cage. Okay, now on to the good. Plenty of talent showing on both teams.  A terrific second half faceoff performance by Western’s Garret Pistiner.  Both goalies, AH/B’s Cole Loyd-Jones and Western’s Patrick Grillo, came up big in appropriate ways.  Loyd-Jones saved his best for last with 6 fourth quarter saves as Western strived to pull the game out late.  Pistiner, when he got free after the faceoff, was able to do damage on the break.  The scoring was spread around by both squads, as 5 players for AH/B scored two or more, with Dylan Barry leading with 4G/1A.  Pistiner, Jake Kalinowski and Michael Fox combined for 10 of the W-D goals and a total of 12 players scored for the two teams.     The first quarter showed the two teams swapping leads and three-goal runs to make it 7-7 after the first.  That’s right, 14 goals in one quarter, on just 18 shots on goal, as both goalies were hung out to dry. Here’s the 1st quarter by itself: 11:38 – AH/B 1-0 as Colin Sypek split dodged from the left wing to the middle for the right-hand bounce shot 10:03 – W-D 1-1 on the EMO as Pistiner took the left wing feed from Kalinowski up top for the step down 9:46 – W-D 2-1 as Kalinowski was able to go cleanly down the middle without a slide and hit the right hand low shot 8:44 – AB/B 2-2 on EMO as Emmett Wexler took the Ryan Cohen pass on the crease from right behind, all alone, and finished high That’s it for the assisted goals . . . 6:37 – W-D 3-2 as Kalinowski dodged and re-dodged the right wing and then to the middle for the left hand low 6:21 – AH/B 3-3 as Barry curled from the right side and his left hand hit the top short side 6:15 – W-D 4-3 as Pistiner popped forward the faceoff and had free space, hitting low as no one stopped the ball 5:34 – W-D 5-3 as Donnie Kitchen curled left, face dodged to the cage and finished from the crease 3:18 – W-D 6-3 as Fox worked from behind to the right wing and after a spin move was able to score left hand low 3:10 – AH/B 6-4 as Tyler Yarnall popped a faceoff forward and had clear sailing himself to finish right hand low 2:02 – W-D 7-4 with Chris Cacciola going from the top right to the middle, finishing with the left hand low 1:35 – AH/B 7-5 as Sypek finished a fast break down the middle with the left hand to the low corner 0:44 – AH/B 7-6 as Yarnall split two defenders down the middle and finished low 0:17 – AH/B 7-7 with Cohen dodging from the right wing to the middle and finishing low As I tweeted . . . Yuck.  I’m sure Coach Shanahan’s assistant Don Goldstein, must have been cringing . . . Google him if you don’t know why.     The second quarter finally saw some return to normality and ended up setting the stage for the much more exciting second half. AH/B’s Cohen gave them the lead as the run continued, taking the Sypek pass on the right crease for the quick stick at 11:04.  Barry made it 5 in a row at 9:31 as he scooped a loose ball on the left wing and hit the right top corner for 9-7.  At 8:11, on EMO, it was 10-7 as Wexler as Chase Goldberg found him on the right wing from up top for the step down mid left.  W-D cut that to 10-8 just 12 seconds later as Kalinowski got control of the faceoff, took off down the middle and finished low.  AH-B scored twice in 34 seconds to stretch it to 12-8, as Barry took advantage of a turnover up top,worked the right wing, getting low and finishing to the short side at 6:01 and at 5:27 it was Goldberg going right down the middle with no slide, finishing easily low.  AH-B finished the 6-1 quarter with 49 seconds to go as Barry took advantage of a groundball battle near the middle of the field, got all alone behind the defense and finished the clean breakaway to make it 13-8 at the half. W-D came out strong in the third quarter, making it 13-9 just 13 seconds into the period, as he won the faceoff, went down the right alley and hit the low left corner.  AH/B got that one back at 8:33 as Goldberg found Sypek in the middle from top right for the step down to the top right corner.  W-D then responded with a 3-goal run to make it a two goal game.  Fox took the Kitchen feed as they worked a nice two-man game behind the net and Kitchen found Fox in stride as he curled from behind, finishing low at 7:02.  That was followed at 6:03 as they combined again, with Kitchen feeding Fox on the right wing from behind for 14-11 and at 4:55 it was Jacob Gelch finishing off a rebound that hit the post on EMO and suddenly it was 14-12 entering the fourth. And that’s when the humidity and fatigue really took hold as neither team was able to score for the first 8+ plus minutes of the quarter.  Finally, with 3:29 to go AH/B’s Wexler made a nice off ball cut from the right to the middle and Barry found him from the left wing for the short side shot for 15-12.  W-D’s Pistiner finished the scoring on EMO on a bit of a strange goal.  His teammate fired from left wing and the shot struck Pistiner in front.  He was able to scoop the ball up in front of him and he had the open shot right in front and we finished the game at 15-13. Kind of like watching the candle burn down and finally go out quietly . . . that’s kind of how this game ended.     Looking back after the game it struck me how much of a metaphor this game was for the high school season so far.  So much talent is there and continuing to learn the game ends up being paramount after that.  The top teams in the state are not that much more talented at the top, but they can sustain the performance longer throughout the game.  AH/B and W-D are good representatives of that next level, they can show it at times but can’t fully do it for 48 minutes yet.  They are both on the right path but until the 24 or 36 becomes 48 there will still be that gap, which is why the Media Poll has so much volatility so far this season below the Top 15 or so. For Coach Shanahan, he must have mixed emotions on this one.  His team certainly showed they can compete with a Top 25 team but he also knows it’s far from a finished product.  The good news for W-D is that he certainly knows how to get there and it’s a program we will continue to watch over time.  There’s talk about potentially adding another top team later in the season and it’s time to have other area teams be willing to play them next season and in the future.  For Coach Barry, he knows that the good news is that this is the type of game they might well have lost last year but found a way to dig down and finish a tough win against a team playing the hunter, a position they have not been in before. And for the fans . . . two more programs worth coming out and watching . . . Western-Davie is back in action on March 29th, hosting NSU-University in what will be a similar game and American Heritage/Boca will be travelling to Miami today to take on a Top 15 team in Belen Jesuit, a very tough test on a short turnaround.   Team Statistics   Faceoffs:  WD 18-12 Shots:  WD 49-44 Shots on Goal:  AH/B 28-26 Turnovers:  WD 27-24 Penalties:  AH/B 10-7   Individual Statistics   AH/B Dylan Barry  4G/1A Colin Sypek  3G/1A Emmett Wexler  3G Ryan Cohen  2G/1A Tyler Yarnall  2G Chase Goldberg  1G/2A Cole Loyd-Jones with 13 saves   W-D Jake Kalinowski  4G/1A Garret Pistiner and Michael Fox with 3G each Donnie Kitchen  1G/2A Chris Cacciola and Jacob Gelch with 1G each Patrick Grillo with 13 saves   Thanks to Coach Barry and Coach Shanahan for talking to me before and after the game