Paris beats North Park 8-2 on Monday
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The season is early however the Paris District High School boys hockey workforce has confirmed its a contender for an Athletic Association of Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk championship.
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Hosting North Park Collegiate (0-3) on Monday on the Brant Sports Complex, the Panthers (2-1-1) scored a powerful 8-2 win over the Trojans.
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“When we’re enjoying at our degree, I believe we’ll compete with anybody within the league,” mentioned Paris coach Scott Mann.
“As lengthy as we proceed to enhance and get higher, hopefully we’ll be one of many final groups standing within the league.”
The final nice run for the boys hockey workforce from Paris was again in 2022-23 when the Panthers captured a Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association AA championship on their approach to an Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations berth.
While it’s too early to inform how far this 12 months’s workforce will go, early indications are its heading in the right direction.
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After defeating Simcoe’s Holy Trinity Catholic High School 7-2 in its season opener, PDHS tied a robust Assumption College squad 3-3. The Panthers have been then overwhelmed 4-3 by defending AABHN champion St. John’s College.
Mann was pleased with the primary sport and thought the competition towards Assumption was an excellent battle. In the St. John’s sport, the coach mentioned his workforce was flat.
“I used to be a bit of disenchanted in our effort towards St. John’s,” he mentioned.
“That’s after we had an damage early within the sport and we have been enjoying with a brief bench. It was solely a one-goal sport nevertheless it felt like there was extra we might have given.”
Paris encompasses a good steadiness of gamers with completely different ages. Mann mentioned there’s a pleasant core of Grade 12s together with some high-end Grade 10s and 11s.
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It results in a robust workforce from the web out.
“I really feel like I can go to any of the three strains at any time limit,” mentioned Mann, “and I’ve a few high quality goaltenders that everyone is assured in.
“It’s a very tight group. They’re robust, dedicated to one another and have a whole lot of enjoyable enjoying collectively.”
It all results in Mann being assured.
“I believe proper now now we have our sights set on AABHN,” he mentioned.
“I do know we’re a smaller faculty than the opposite faculties on the high of the league proper now however I believe now we have the workforce to compete with them and we’ve proven we are able to.”
In the opening interval on Monday, it took solely 42 seconds for Paris to strike as Jack Ward fed Hayden Sparks who beat North Park goalie Elliott Maratos.
The Trojans got here into the sport with no purpose of their first two video games and regardless of robust possibilities from Luc Savoie, Vaughn Jaggard and Cohen Russell, on a short-handed breakaway, North Park couldn’t put a puck previous Paris netminder Ethan Sickle.
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“We obtained off to a reasonably sluggish begin,” Mann admitted.
“We have been fairly sloppy making an attempt to exit our zone and coming by way of the impartial zone. We got here alive within the second interval and began making an attempt to make issues occur.”
A pair of second-period targets from Ryker Hoekman and one every from Ward and Sparks elevated the PDHS result in 5-0. Once once more North Park had possibilities – getting three straight energy performs, together with one which was a short 5-on-3 – nevertheless it couldn’t tickle the twine.
After Ward made it 6-0 for the Panthers within the third, the Trojans obtained their first purpose of the season when Oliver Westerhoff scored previous Sickle.
Logan Sinclair then scored twice for Paris earlier than Savoie rounded out the scoring for North Park.
Carson DeMunck, Sparks, Josh Pizzey and Cohen Vanderhoek obtained two assists every for PDHS with Quinn Carpenter, Callum Dailey and Hoekman getting one apiece.
Savoie, Parker Calder and Ethan Sturgeon earned assists for NPC.
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