First week of the season and my first game in person . . .

Big boy pants required on the field . . .

No respite for the weary or the timid

Not a single minute where the two squads backed down.

For those not familiar with the Iron Bowl, it is the nickname for the annual Alabama-Auburn football game.  Ironically, Auburn’s athletic chant is “War Eagle” and it’s a bit of a coincidence that it is a combination of the two school’s nicknames Friday night.  And War Eagle certainly fit better than ‘Dancing Queen’.

The defending state champs in Class 2A, having to grow up pretty quickly, to overcome a bunch of graduation.  158 goals graduated with Tyler Douglass, Max Sanderson and Trace Hogan.  A dominant faceoff presence in Michael Smith, a vastly underrated goalie in Aidan Vincent and seasoned defenders in Reef Kabalin and Jake Pelchin.

SJP also lost a trio of high-end talents in Travis and Trevor Dick, as well as Joe Dean.  But they returned a very deep junior class for their senior years, and a few underclassmen that produced significantly.  It was a team that was on the verge of a great season but came up just a little short against a gauntlet of the state’s Top 10 teams.  They did take down both Oxbridge and 1A finalist St. Edward’s.

Yep.  The stage was set for a few stories to unfold.

Even with the intensity throughout, the game had a feel of a crescendo as the scoring piled up throughout the game.  Remarkably, given the physicality, the ball protection was very good.  21 total turnovers.  Where it showed was in the penalties, as they combined for 14 of them, and I couldn’t really argue with any of them.  The NFHS referee instructions for this year were pretty straightforward . . . clean up the faceoffs and REALLY clean up the targeted body checks and the trash talking.  At least three ‘unsportmanlike’ calls, including one AFTER the OT winner.

Coaches, players AND parents . . . you are warned.  Don’t expect to be able to go over the top.  ‘Unreleasable’ is a word you will hear more frequently this year.  Ingrain that truth.

When you look back at the game and the statistics you can find one thing that likely won Jupiter the game and that was the 15-5 edge at the faceoffs, as Jupiter’s Alex Mitchell came up big while the Warriors were battling back into the game late in the third and into the fourth, as well as in OT.  SJP also let their poise go a little in the 4^th and in OT, after committing only one served penalty in the first three quarters, they were hit with 3 in the 4^th and 2 in OT, and the late EMO’s gave Jupiter the chance to take advantage in a frenzied last minute.

Frankly, OT was the only way this game was slated to end . . .

These are two terrific teams and they will be in the mix this year for Naples.  For one program, it’s been forever to play an FHSAA playoff game. 

I like their chances.

For the other, adolescence turned to maturity pretty quickly.  Changing roles, backups finally getting their chance.  We’ll see if it is truly rebuild or reload in a few months.

SJP raced out in the first, after a mostly back and forth first 6 minutes, as they took over possession time as the quarter went on.  At 6:34 SJP’s Ryan Ahern found Henry Konsker from the wing into the middle and Konsker finished right hand high for the 1-0 lead.  Less than 3 minutes later it was Kyle Davis finding Ahern cutting to the crease from behind the net for a high putaway and 2-0, and just 22 seconds later it was Matt Evans finding Konsker for the 3-0 lead.  With 1:13 to go it was Jackson Bashaw getting a step down the alley and hitting the low left corner to make it 3-1 after one.

SJP got back the 3-goal lead at 7:03 Evans went down the right alley from up top and his right-hand found the middle left for 4-1.  But with 4 seconds left in the half it was Bashaw dodging and re-dodging the right wing to low right and his left hand low made it 4-2 at the half.

At 10:45 the Warriors cut it to one as Todd Giol found Dustin Sluszka up top from the left wing and Sluszka’s step down low shot found net for 4-3.  At 4:16, on EMO, it was Evans faking a shot and dodging right and his right hand low found the far corner to make it 5-3.  Jupiter answered with two goals in 38 seconds to tie it after three.  First it was Giol finding Max Silver from top left on the low left wing for the low right hand shot far side 1:58, and then it was Giol again finding Sluszka, as Giol drove the right alley, drew the slide and feeding Sluszka in the middle to make it 5-5 after three.

Jupiter continued the run to take their first lead just 14 seconds into the 4^th, as long pole Parker Jahn went down the right wing and when the slide came, he fed Bashaw low right for the left hand high finish.  At 9:27 it was Ben Meza going right alley and finishing right hand low for 7-5; but he drew an unsportsmanlike penalty after the play, giving the Eagles a chance to stem the run.  SJP quickly drew another flag and went two men up.  They took advantage as Evans took the Davis feed on the right wing for the high step down at 8:45 for 7-6.  A little over a minute later the Eagles tied it back up as Mike Evans took the left wing feed from Ahern up top for the step down, ratcheting up the atmosphere even further.

With 4:47 to go, SJP took back the lead as Ahern worked low and a spin move later found the bottom of the net, drawing a penalty on top.  The Eagles did not score on the EMO, but added to their lead with 3:15 to play as Ahern found Matt Evans on the right wing with a skip pass from left GLE for the step down and it looked like they were on their way to a big win.

But state champions don’t go quietly.  Penalties to the Eagles gave Jupiter two man-ups late and with 1:00 to go it was Will Kelly finding Sean Meyers with a skip pass on low right for the left hand finish and a 1-goal lead, and with 20 seconds to go it was Giol up top finding Bashaw on low right for the left hand rip and an extra period to play.

The first OT was mostly Jupiter possession as SJP twice went man down, only to see the Eagles defense hold the fort, sending us to a second OT.  29 seconds into the second OT it was Bashaw with his 5^th, unassisted, as he dodged from top right to the middle for a low left-hand shot that sent the Warriors home happy.

It doesn’t get much better than this.

Statistics

Faceoffs:  Jupiter 15-5

Shots:  Jupiter: 29-25

Shots on Goal:  Jupiter 17-16

Turnovers:  SJP 12-9

Penalties:  Jupiter 8-6

Jupiter

Jackson Bashaw  5G

Dustin Sluszka  2G

Max Silver, Ben Meza and Sean Meyers with 1G each

Todd Giol  4A

Parker Jahn and Will Kelly with 1A each

Kaden Creps with 7 saves

SJP II

Matt Evans  4G/1A

Ryan Ahern  2G/3A

Henry Konsker  2G

Mike Evans  1G

Kyle Davis  2A

Landon Reichert  7 saves

Thanks to Coach St. Croix and Coach Bolger for talking to me before and after the game!