Freeport hockey nears full strength, eyes strong 2nd half

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, December 9, 2018 | 9:00 PM

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With a 7-1 victory over Beaver two weeks ago, Freeport surpassed its win total of three from last season only eight games into its schedule. Considering what the team has been through early on, it made the moment even more meaningful.

The Yellowjackets have only 16 players, but their bench has been even shorter at times this year because of injuries.

Only eight skaters and goaltender Sean Fennell have suited up for every game, meaning half the roster sat out at least once and many players have missed multiple games.

Freeport stayed afloat with a 4-5 record in the PIHL Class A North Division. Now, the Yellowjackets are nearing full strength and have high hopes for the second half of the season.

“We’re finally as healthy as we’re going to get,” Freeport coach Kelly Mason said. “We lost a senior defenseman (Garrett Smith) with a knee injury, so he’ll have a four- to six-month recovery, but outside of that, we’re healthy. We’re hoping to build off of that and start making some noise.”

The Yellowjackets travel to Blackhawk on Thursday.

Freeport experienced difficulties such as traveling to Meadville with only 10 players and losing 11-1, but the Yellowjackets also earned some character-building wins while being extremely short-handed.

None might have been bigger than when they played Fox Chapel without leading scorer Alex Colflesh, his linemate Case Haberstroh and Addison Stewart. With three forwards out, defenseman and team captain Slade Ohl moved to center. He responded by scoring twice, including a tying goal in the second period and an empty-netter in the final minute that sealed a 7-5 win.

“It was interesting and a change of speed for sure,” Ohl said. “I have played defense pretty much my whole career. It was cool to be able to put two goals in the back of the net and help the team win. It goes along with the rest of the team. We’re all pretty versatile and can fluctuate between positions.”

Ohl also played a big role in helping Freeport top rival Deer Lakes, 7-6, in overtime. He tied the game with a power-play goal in the third period and scored again on the power play in overtime. Colflesh recorded a hat trick in the win. He has seven goals and 16 points, averaging two points per game. David Gaspersic, a defenseman, is second on the team with 11 points, and forward Connor Hoffman has 10 points.

Freeport is looking forward to rematches with North Hills and Sewickley Academy, teams just ahead of them in the standings.

In the first meeting with North Hills, Mason said it was a pretty even game. Both teams registered 28 shots, but the Yellowjackets couldn’t solve Indians goalie Ethan Isaly, who made 27 saves, including 14 in the second period. Freeport fell 4-1.

Freeport lost 10-3 to Sewickley Academy in the first matchup, but Mason said the final score wasn’t indicative of the play. The Yellowjackets were whistled for 14 infractions totaling 52 penalty minutes. The Panthers scored five times with the man advantage to break the game open.

“We came out hitting and took a lot of stupid penalties,” Colflesh said. “At one point, we had five seniors in the penalty box. It was tough because the shots were close. We were both in the 30s in shots, so we played them even.

“We’ve circled the next Sewickley game because we want to have a better showing. We’re looking forward to playing North Hills again, too. Their goalie is good, and he had a really good game against us. We think we can beat both of them and finish above .500.”

Aside from getting healthy, a main point of emphasis for the second half is limiting goals against. The Yellowjackets have allowed 63 goals, fourth-most in Class A.

The second period has been especially unkind. They have a minus-27 goal differential, and Mason said part of that is because of fatigue. There is only a two-minute intermission between the first and second period in PIHL games, so without much rest, the team has worn down when missing players. They feel getting players back can help cut the goals against down.

“Before our game against Beaver, I wrote on our dry-erase board the number 49 because that is how many goals we’d given up,” Mason said. “I asked them if they knew what the number meant, and one of them figured it out. I told them we couldn’t survive giving up seven goals per game. We went out that night and won 7-1, so that was a step in the right direction.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer.

Tags: Freeport