Early Storm

By Sam Tallarico
Eagle Staff Writer

VALENCIA — Butler was coming off an 18-day layoff, but coach Mike Guentner wasn't worried — not with this year's team.
The Tornado scored three goals in a 2:01 span early in the Monday's PIHL Class AAA game against Hempfield and cruised to a 7-4 victory at the Ice Connection.
“Even before the game, that was not a concern,” Guentner said. “That's the great part of this team. This was a must-win game. Hempfield's a good opponent. These are the teams we have to beat to get to the playoffs.”
The slow start for the Spartans was something that it could ill-afford, especially after a rough go to the beginning of their season.
“We're definitely capable of scoring,” Hempfield coach Dennis Zeravica said. “We had a lot of shots (40), but we had a slow start to the game and everyone seemed to put their head down. Everyone was in a funk. We got in the locker room (after the second period) and we regrouped.”
Matt Tomasovic gave the Tornado a quick lead when he scored the first of his three goals of the game just 1:26 into the contest. Tomasovic took a Dalton Scott pass, maneuvered across the front of the goal before burying a shot past Alex Androkites.
Tanner Chuba doubled the lead 47 seconds later off passes from Joseph DiMartino and Tony Harpel, then Tomasovic followed with a deflection off a Scott shot for an early 3-0 advantage with 13:33 left in the first period.
Tanner Gilliland scored off a helper from Tyler Hensel with 58.1 seconds left in the first period to stake the Tornado (3-2) to a 4-0 lead.
Gilliland tallied his second goal of the night off a DiMartino pass 6:51 into the second frame before Hempfield (0-5-1) broke through when Channing Gorscak rifled a shot past Butler goalie Logan Rothbauer.
Butler responded with goals by Chuba and Tomasovic within 36 seconds of each other for a 7-1 lead with 1:47 to go in the second.
“The gaps between the good shifts are getting smaller,” Guentner said. “We're playing some good periods of solid play. We're close to playing a full game. We haven't hit our full stride yet.”

		Butler's No. 19 Tanner Gilliland and Hempfield's No. Justin Bartus battle for control of the puck at ice connection in Valencia. STEVEN DALTON/SPECIAL TO THE EAGLE

Hempfield finished strong, registering three goals — by Justin Bartus, Gorscak and Andrew Koziara — in a 3:03 span, the last with 18 seconds remaining in regulation.
“Truth be told, we were trying to make some adjustments in the game,” Guentner said. “We don't want to be one-dimensional like last year. We want to try and be competitive and it backfired.
“We were never in a position last year to make in-game adjustments. We were in a good position today.
“This was a nice game early in the year,” Guentner added.
And a good start is just what the Tornado needed. They've already tripled their win total from last year.
“The objective early in the season was to string together a lot of wins,” Guentner said. “Everyone knew we would be better than last year, but having wins to back that up is great.
“We have a big game against Norwin Thursday and we're going in 3-2 instead of 2-3. You can start to see us as a contender and a top-tier team in the section.”
Notes: Rothbauer finished with 36 saves, while Androkites, who played the first two periods, was credited with 24 saves and Coffer stopped all eight shots he faced in the third period.