Gilmour Academy Boy’s Prep Team Overcomes Early Deficit, Defeats Syracuse Stars 10-6

GATES MILLS, Ohio– Gilmour Academy’s bleachers were filled up by excited fans, as Gilmour Boy’s Prep Team took on the Syracuse Stars in the second meeting of a two-game set. The Lancers scored a 5-1 victory on Saturday night and looked to have the same result on Sunday afternoon.

The game started off in a way that many Gilmour fans aren’t used to: an early deficit. Josh Wagner from Syracuse scored to open the game’s scoring. Gilmour answered right away, with a goal from Liam Gentile happening within just a few minutes after the Wagner goal. The game was tied at one apiece with 14 minutes left to play in the opening period. One thing that did affect Gilmour early on was penalties, as Gentile got called to the sin bin for two minutes on a holding penalty at the 10:20 mark of the period. Gilmour was able to kill that penalty and return to full strength. The next penalty was on Jake Colosanti for interference and it turned out to be a costly penalty. The Stars were able to score off of the power play, as the puck found the back of the net off the stick of Eli Gordon. Though Gilmour led the shots on goal category 14-10, they went into the locker room trailing for the first time all season, as the Syracuse Stars held a 2-1 lead over the Lancers.

The Lancers came out of the locker room looking like the team everyone knew, as Lauri Pajari found the back of the net for the tying goal at the 2:21 mark of the period. It seemed like the team got back to its flow until Syracuse’s Karl Lilgebrand scored to regain the lead. From there, it officially clicked for Gilmour. Brett Reed scored to tie the game at three, followed by a Nick Hawkins goal to take their first lead of the game. A Syracuse hooking penalty with 4:56 remaining in the period led to a power play goal by Jake Colosanti. Syracuse scored late in the period to make it a 5-4 Gilmour lead. Then, Gilmour erased the goal by Syracuse with a goal of their own with 1:13 left in the period by Lauri Pajari, his second goal of the period. Gilmour had a 6-4 lead going into the final period. The only thing Syracuse had going for them at the end of the period was a penalty on Gilmour that gave the Stars a 1:40 of power play time.

Syracuse scored on the power play, as Gordon scored the power play goal. One significant change after that goal was the goalie change from Kasper Urbaniak to Michael Carr, who finished the rest of the game. The goal just wasn’t enough for the Stars to get back into the game, as Gilmour answered everything Syracuse had for them. The Lancers strolled to a 10-6 victory after a strong finish.

After the game, Head Coach Mike Chiellino talked about the team’s effort.

“I expected them (Syracuse) to fully come out with a lot of intensity and really challenge us. But overall we think the guys rose to the challenge I’m a little unhappy with the defensive side, but the offensive side was incredible…obviously putting up ten goals.”

Coach Chiellino also talked about the goaltending change in the third period.

We just thought it was going to motivate the guys. It was nothing against Casper, we were kinda leaving him out to dry a little bit. We figured maybe if we made a change, the kids would respond to it better and luckily they did. It worked.”

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