HAVERFORD – Kevin Walton gave himself a pep talk as the overtime period dragged on Thursday evening at the Skatium.
If Garnet Valley wanted to survive its Flyers Cup game against Penncrest, Walton knew he had to be the one to make something happen
“I was thinking I better go out and win this for my team,” he said. “My head was all over the place, but I tried to stay focused. Our entire team stayed focused in overtime and we did it.”
Walton lined up to take the draw inside the Penncrest zone with 6:20 left in OT. The Jaguars won the draw and rimmed the puck around to the far side. With a burst of speed, Walton came around the net and stopped at the faceoff dots, where he then fired home the winning goal.
With its thrilling 7-6 win over 10th-seeded Penncrest, No. 2 Garnet Valley advances to the Flyers Cup A tournament semifinals Tuesday night at IceLine in West Chester.
“Kevin chucked it,” Garnet Valley coach Stephane Carbonneau said. “Typical of what he’s done all year. When you’re a good player, everyone guns for you. I told him to move the puck and … I knew that was coming, I knew he would score the goal.”
It was Walton’s third goal and fourth point of the night. It was the culmination of a wild, back-and-forth affair between ICSHL Central foes who know each other well.
“Those guys (Penncrest) are born to be in the playoffs,” Carbonneau said. “Every year they just make it tough on everybody. I didn’t like that matchup tonight, to be honest with you. We played them twice this year, we beat them and they beat us. This was not a good matchup, but we found a way to get it done.”
Garnet Valley had scored four unanswered goals after falling behind 2-0 in the first period. The Jags’ extended their advantage to two goals when Walton found the back of the net for the first time with 15:41 left in the third.
“On the bench our coaches were telling us to calm down, that we got this,” Walton said. “We never gave up. We stayed together as a team and won this.”
But Penncrest proved it is no ordinary No. 10 seed, rallying to take a 5-4 lead with 7:02 to go. Cole McCarthy scored off a rebound in front of the net, Ryan Anderson tallied shorthanded, and Kevin Naugle deposited the go-ahead goal on the rush as a Garnet Valley power play expired deposited the go-ahead goal.
GV answered when Nolan Stott unleashed a shot that clanked off the crossbar and past Penncrest goalie Fiona Walker. The Jags grabbed a 6-5 edge when Walton scored with the man advantage with 4:02 to play.
The Lions pulled even at 6-6 when star forward Eddie Morroni scored his third of the night with 2:38 left in regulation.
“In overtime you try to simplify things a little bit and stay with the plan,” Penncrest coach Steve Mescanti said. “We were up 2-0 and then we were down 4-2, then we took the lead again. It was back and forth. I’m so proud of my guys the way they battled all night. It’s one of those games that it kind of stinks that somebody has to lose.”
Both netminders were outstanding. GV’s Shahzad Bolduc denied all 19 shots he faced in the second period, the majority of which came with the Lions on the power play. Bolduc ended with 48 saves, Walker with 28.
“He kept us in the game,” Walton said of Bolduc. “If it wasn’t for him this game wouldn’t have even made it to overtime. He played great as he’s done all year.”
Kaden Longo provided three assists for the Jags. Stott, Aiden Delfin, Latham Hutchinson and Owen Doyle all had one goal.
Nash Grant had a pair of assists or the Lions.
