Servite skates past Edison with late goals

ANAHEIM – The best rivalries are those born in the postseason.

Edison High’s ice hockey team has been going to battle against Servite since their days in Division 1.

With the expansion of the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League, the teams now reside in Division 3, but their rivalry has never been better.

Luc Cross scored the game-winning goal with 2:42 remaining, and the Friars swept the season series against Edison with a 5-4 victory on Saturday afternoon at Anaheim Ice.

“I knew that I had a 2-on-1,” Cross said. “I was looking to get a pass off the pads or just get on through, and it went right on in.”

Cross’ shot wound up going five-hole on backup goaltender Garrett Dato (20 saves), who was making his first start of the season for Edison (5-2-0-0, 15 points).

The Chargers knocked out Servite in the semifinals of the Division 3 playoffs last year.

The past two weekends have served as the Friars’ opportunity to answer. Servite remains undefeated at 8-0-0-0 (24 points), winning its last two games by one-goal margins against Edison.

On Saturday, the teams were involved in a physical affair, especially late.

There were seven minutes left when Chargers’ center Jake Gealy lost his stick as he entered the offensive zone. He stayed with the play, laying the body on forward Chris Garcia before retrieving his stick.

Before he could get back into the play, Garcia had skated all the way across from his left-wing position for a blind-side, open-ice takedown of Gealy.

“He had the puck on the boards, and I hit him against the boards,” Gealy said. “I was skating away and then all of the sudden, he hit me in the back of the head and tried to jump on me.

“I take exception to the fact that he came after me. It was a pretty clean hit in my eyes.”

Garcia was given a double-minor for roughing, and a tripping penalty on Jimmy Duff gave the Chargers a two-man advantage for two full minutes. Edison couldn’t capitalize, however, as the penalty killing unit of Nicolas Rutkoski, Bowen Frabotta, and Cross got the job done for the Friars.

“I’m not going to make any excuses,” Chargers Coach Tyler Wilkerson said. “The ice wasn’t great, but we just didn’t execute there. It’s stuff we try to work on. It just didn’t show, and they capitalized.”

Cross’ decisive score came on a power-play shortly thereafter.

Similar to their power-play opportunities, the Chargers had trouble gaining the offensive zone late. They were unable to get the goaltender off the ice for the extra attacker as they pushed for the tying goal.

“We tried to rush it too much,” forward Charley Lowe said. “Our coach always says take it slow. We just kept rushing and chipping at it too hard.”

Lowe scored a beautiful goal in a wide-open first period. He received a drop pass from Gealy between the circles, snapping it off the crossbar and in to give the Chargers a 2-0 lead.

Gealy had two goals and an assist in the frame, but the teams went into the second period knotted, 3-3. That was because Servite got three unanswered goals from Cole Rasic, Duff, and Cross.

Edison’s Ryan Osterkamp and Servite’s Rutkoski traded goals in the second period.

If these two teams are to meet again, it will be in the playoffs. They are currently the top two teams in the Coast View Conference.