Gilmour vs. Team Indiana hockey: Lancers bounce back in third to salvage frenetic 3-3 tie
Dec. 28—It is debatable whether the home locker room door at Gilmour has remained shut for as long as it did Dec. 28 after taking on Team Indiana, an 18-and-under all-star squad from the Hoosier State, following a positive result. But it was understandable.
The Lancers found themselves down three goals through much of the second period and earned every bit of that fate with a flat performance coming off their holiday break.
Thankfully in the third, the defending state champions found their groove just long enough to salvage something out of a fairly forgettable afternoon to that point.
Gilmour got third-period goals from Cole Bridges and Mike Yang to bounce back and grab a 3-3 tie on Day 1 of their annual Brother James Memorial tournament.
Due to tournament logistics, with so many out-of-area and out-of-state teams playing back-to-back on a tight window in Gates Mills on both sheets at the rink, no overtime was played. Otherwise, given how the Lancers peppered Team Indiana in a 16-shot third period, they may have had more to show for the occasion than a tie.
"We've been playing inconsistently period to period," Gilmour coach John Malloy said. "I like my team. We're still trying to figure some things out. Our defensive core needs to get connected a little bit more because right now, they tend to make some mistakes that cost us, and they did in this game. But they rallied, and they did a good job. They held it together, and they started playing much better. But we need them to do that from the beginning of the game.
"Forwards have to be a little bit better at handling the puck when they get it in scoring chances and get shots away. We had lots of chances again and just didn't put that many away. But it was a good comeback."
That 3-0 deficit held until deep into the second period, when Luke Radke finally got Gilmour on the board at 13:34.
Midway through the third, Radke had a good look on a breakaway through the heart of the zone but was turned away.
At 9:29, Bridges shot in from high on the left side of the zone. Lancers senior captain Matt Bauman did well as a screener in front of the crease, fluttering his stick but not getting a redirect to help afford Bridges' wrister a clear path to the back of the net.
Just 28 seconds later, the tying goal arrived, when Yang banged in a look wide from the right circle.
#NHhockey Gilmour ties it at 3 at 9:57
Timeout Team Indiana pic.twitter.com/gWo3ctqg49
— Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) December 28, 2022
"This is the Christmas tournament that I use to really start turn things around," Malloy said. "The boys got two weeks off. Now they're going to get their legs during this tournament. And over January, we really start getting ready for the end of the year."
