Wow, was this one interesting. Vero star attackman Tyler Martin injured in warm-ups and can’t play. Other players playing hurt for both sides. A three-minute stick call that wiped off an SA goal in the fourth that would have been very important later, followed by a decision to run time off while playing with the advantage that could have come back to haunt Vero. And a missed offside call for about 20 seconds in the last half minute that would have caused a lot of consternation if the tying goal had been potted with it . . . following some actual consternation on the field while playing the last minute trying to run out the clock. But in the end, one team moving into the Top 10 while the other fell out of it. Once again, the smallest of margins means everything in this sport.     Vero held their own at the face-off and shot better . . . turnovers were practically the same although some of Vero’s were on EMO when they really hurt . . . and SA took 6 penalties to 2 for Vero.  Vero showed better balance in the attack and won the groundball battle when it counted.  SA’s season is pretty simple to see right now . . . start the game with intensity and win, without and lose.  It’s held track each game.  Time to start them all that way. Vero really earned this one.  First time in program history.  Can they keep it up?  Last year they started very high in the polls and the inconsistencies were maddening . . . will this year show an unranked pre-season team that keeps it together all year? The true spirit of high school sports. Vero ran out to a quick 3-0 lead early in the first with all three goals coming within 1:25 of play.  Ryan Overholt opened the scoring at 9:48 as he took a right crease feed from Chris Britton up top and he found the short side for 1-0.  Just 29 seconds later Chase Stokes got off a step down shot from the left wing, about 10 yards out, and he hit the left side with a bounce shot and that was followed by Bennet O’Brien working off left GLE extended, spinning left and beating his defender to the crease, where he finished to the far side at 8:23.  SA responded quickly, at 7:17, as Peter Dykas curled from behind to the right wing and cut towards the middle, whipping a left-hand shot to the upper left corner.  The teams traded possessions until 17 seconds left in the quarter as Overholt scored unassisted, dodging from the wing to the middle before finishing with a low bounce shot to make it Vero 4-1 after one.  

  Vero continued their stretch as they took a quick 6-1 lead in the second.  Britton scored unassisted on EMO , cutting from left wing into the middle and bouncing one home on the left side and O’Brien scored his second at 9:06 as he worked his way from the left wing, to the middle and then the crease by splitting two defenders and finishing low.  With 2:56 left Vero took a 7-1 lead on Dalton Stokes’ first as he took advantage of a loose ball near the left crease and finished easily.  At 1:47, SA got one back as Addison Lutes went down the left alley before finding the far low corner to make it 7-2 at the half.  The statistics were striking . . . SA had 10 shots at goal and only 3 hit the target while Vero took 16 shots and 13 hit the target. SA started quickly in the 3rd, as Dykas cut the lead further as his face dodge to the middle freed up some space and he hit the lower left corner at 9:00.  But Vero’s Hanson Pierce answered immediately as faceoff specialist Alex Houlk popped one forward and found Pierce alone on the left crease to push it to 8-3 just 7 seconds later.  At 6:09 Vero regained their 6 goal margin as Pierce was found all alone on the crease by Britton and Vero had gained what was looking like an insurmountable 9-3 lead.  Little did we know that was all the scoring we would see from Vero.  Davis Diamond got one back with 47 seconds left in the third, unassisted, on a right alley dodge, hitting the far low corner and the third ended at 9-4.  Shooting woes still hurt the Scots as the period showed only 2 shots on goal for 7 attempts.  The good news was that four of the five shots on goal had found net so there was at least a blueprint for a comeback.     The SA hopes were further lifted early in the fourth as they quickly cut the lead to 9-6 with two early goals.  At 11:05 Sam Baker took Brian Fox’s right wing pass on the right crease and went short side on the EMO and that was followed by Lutes taking a fast break pass from Brandt Guldin on the right crease at 10:27, drawing two penalties on the play.  But then the game changing moment came when Lutes scored what was seemingly the third goal in the first two minutes of the fourth to make the lead two, only to see it wiped out by an illegal stick call on Lutes, leaving the score at 9-6 and giving Vero a 3-minute non-releasable man up.  Vero approached the EMO with caution and decided to run clock off, but two minutes in a turnover gave back the ball to SA, which then ran out the rest of the EMO.  SA ran the momentum to cut the lead to 9-7 with 4:50 left as Fox took a Dykas feed from the behind the net on the left wing and fired a low shot behind Vero’s Brad Heckman.  Then with 1:52 left Lutes scored his third from Nick Ignaza as they worked the left wing and the stage was set for an unusual finish. The last minute saw Vero trying to hold on and a false start with about 40 seconds left that saw Vero scoring into an open net.  After a huddle the referees decided to re-start (I heard two balls on the field) and Vero attempted to hold on off the re-start.  But early into that attempt SA managed a steal and headed up field. A clear offside was missed for about 20 seconds that would have basically given the Vero the win and SA was able to try to tie it up.  The attempt failed and a last few seconds saw a desperation crease feed sail long and Vero was left to celebrate the victory. Would have been pretty interesting if the score was evened with the missed offside.  But it wasn’t and the nail-biter ended at 9-8. Congrats to both teams for scrapping it out throughout the game.  To Vero for playing a terrific three quarters and for SA for making a heart-wrenching late run. Vero is back in action tomorrow at Melbourne Central Catholic and SA travels to West Boca Raton for a district game tomorrow.  

    Team Statistics   Faceoffs:  Vero 10 – 8 Shots:  Vero 26 – SA 29 Shots on Goal:  Vero 17 – SA 12 Turnovers:  SA 14 – Vero 13 Penalties:  SA 6 – Vero 2   Individual Statistics   Vero Chris Britton  1G/2A Ryan Overholt, Chase Stokes, Bennet O’Brien and Hanson Pierce  2G each Alex Houlk  1A   SA Addison Lutes  3G Peter Dykas  2G Brian Fox  1G/1A Davis Diamond and Sam Baker  1G each Brandt Guldin and Nick Ignaza  1A each   SA goalies Harris Feldman and Andrew Busel combined for 8 saves while Brad Heckman made 6 saves for Vero   Thanks to Coach Seaman and Coach McCarthy for spending time with me before and after the game.