Not even a broken part of the protective glass that was surrounding the rink could slow down Hendersonville-Station Camp’s offensive attack.
The Commandos, who along with Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central had to endure a layover of more than 20 minutes as officials had to replace the glass during the game, showed off their fire power by beating the Golden Bears 6-2 Monday night at the Centennial Sportsplex.
“The first two, I feel like they came as a result of us moving the puck well,” said Hendersonville-Station Camp coach Tim Rathert, whose team has now tallied 28 goals on the season. “We were able to capitalize on a couple of mistakes, the guys did a great job.”
The Commandos got the majority of their goals by crashing the net. Owen Garner and Cross Carruth scored on similar goals where both charged from the far side of the goal and put in ricocheted shots off the keeper on the near post in the first period.
Michael Settle pulled the Bears within one in the second period, however. His two goals came shortly after Brodie Ruffing scored for Hendersonville.
Garner’s and two Evan Rench goals in the third period, however, sealed the victory for the Commandos, who currently sit in fourth place in the GNASH standings with six points.
“We’ve got to do better in the defensive zone,” said Mt. Juliet-Wilson Central coach Jason Riherd. “We can’t be chasing. They are high-powered, and when you face high-powered, you have to be disciplined. We weren’t disciplined six times, and six times they capitalized.”
Despite the win, Rathert stated that he will continue to mix up his lines and see which ones work best moving forward.
“We’re constantly juggling, and I think it will be that way all the time. We’ve got a really good group of kids. Some can play forward, some can play in the back,” said Rathert. “Hockey’s a game of trust. When teammates trust each other, it becomes a better group.”
