April 6, 2009
By Charles Durrenberger
Special to USAHockey.com
The LA Selects rode the hot goaltending of Eric Comrie and channeled the inspiration of a fallen teammate to take the 14-Under Tier II title at the USA Hockey National Tournament presented by Easton and McDonald’s.
Comrie stopped 22 of 23 shots on Sunday in LA’s 4-1 victory over the Allen Park Huskies from Detroit at the Dr Pepper StarCenter in Plano, Texas. It was a repeat for the Selects, a team composed entirely of players born in 1995 who won the 12-U Tier I title a year ago.
“When you win a championship, things have to go your way and they did,” said Selects co-head coach Sandy Gasseau.
With leading scorer Ryan Siroky looking on from a wheelchair, the Selects used a dominant performance to shut out the undefeated Huskies, who were representing the Michigan District. Siroky’s right femur was fractured in two places after the third-period buzzer in Friday’s 5-3 pool-play win over the Affton Americans. The controversial hit sparked a confrontation outside the rink between the teams and served as further inspiration for LA.
“If it happens by accident then it’s not the same effect on our team,” Gasseau said of the injury to Siroky, who was decked out in full uniform—complete with helmet—and was wheeled onto the ice for the postgame celebration. “He’s very unselfish. I think they really wanted to win this thing for him.”
LA, the Pacific District champion, wasted little time in setting the tone, scoring off the opening faceoff when Trevor Moore drilled one in from the right wing just 31 seconds into the game.
“That sparked us,” Comrie said. “If we don’t get that quick one then maybe it’s a different outcome.”
Andrew Oglevie gave LA a 2-0 lead later in the first, sliding the puck under goalie Zach Quinn’s stick into the left corner of the net off a brilliant cross-ice feed from Moore with a man advantage.
 | Allen Park goalie Zach Quinn had a strong tournament. |
Quinn was a wall for Allen Park in the second period, stonewalling the Selects time and again to keep the Huskies in the game. He turned away 14 shots in the period, and ended up allowing just nine goals in 138 chances in six tournament games.
The Huskies were left short-handed toward the end of the second period when captain Aaron Kozuh left the game with a leg injury. He did not return.
Another quick goal to open the third period gave LA a 3-0 lead. Brian Williams took advantage of a defensive mix-up at the blue line, slapping one in with just 11 seconds gone from the clock. The Selects extended their margin to 4-0 with 7:33 remaining on Adam Ernie’s one-on-one backhander from the right side.
“Those quick goals really put us behind the 8-ball right off the bat,” Allen Park coach John Brighinee said.
Allen Park avoided the shutout on Tyler Groat’s put-back goal on the power play with 5:58 remaining in the third. LA out-shot the Huskies 33-23. The offensive production was no aberration for the Selects, who came into the game with a 33-9 edge in scoring for the tournament.
“Every tournament it seems to be a new guy for us,” Kelly added after his team finished the tournament 6-0. “It’s the team aspect that gets it done for us. We feared this team. We thought this team could be the one to knock us off.”
Added Gasseau: “When we lost Ryan, I’m thinking ‘Oh my God, can we really do this without him?’ We knew at that time that the rest of this team was going to have to come up special and they did.”
Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc. |