ANAHEIM – The tension was palpable, the pace was evident, and somehow the Orange Lutheran hockey team found a way to push it further.
Orange Lutheran jumped up 3-0 in the first period and never trailed in a physical victory over Santa Margarita, 8-4, in an Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League Division 1 semifinal on Saturday at Anaheim Ice.
“We came out with the mentality we have to get down on these guys, because we knew it was going to be a good game,” Orange Lutheran forward Jacob Furry said. “So we grinded it out.”
Already back-to-back state champions, Orange Lutheran (11-4-2) advances to its second consecutive ADHSHL Division 1 final for a rematch of the CAHA State Championship against JSerra (13-3-1) on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Honda Center.
“It’s different having the league championship after the state championship” Orange Lutheran coach Dan Adams said. “It’s kind of tough, because we’ve already accomplished our goal, which was to get to Nationals.”
Both Orange Lutheran and JSerra will compete in the USA Hockey National High School Division Championships starting March 17 in Virginia.
Furry scored two minutes into the game, Shane Vidger scored on the power play and Grady O’Bryan added another goal as the Lancers built the early lead.
Santa Margarita (10-5-2) got a spark from its special teams in the second period with a power play goal by Leevi Selanne and a shorthanded goal by Cavin McClare.
Orange Lutheran matched each time with goals by Zach Pires and Chandler Ditolla. Pires added his second goal 34 seconds after Ditolla’s mark for a 6-2 lead.
“It’s one of those games that things didn’t go well for us at the beginning and right we started to come back or got some momentum, we’d give up another goal,” Santa Margarita coach Craig Johnson said. “That’s where you need a big save or something to happen. It just didn’t happen today.”
The teams traded goals down the stretch with Selanne and Furry each scoring their second.
Conner Taherian made 18 saves for Orange Lutheran.
Tempers flared with over a minute remaining as a line brawl broke out behind Taherian’s net resulting in two Santa Margarita ejections and two Lancer minors.
In Division 1:
JSerra 7, Bellarmine of San Jose 2: The Lions survived a blistering opening period to defeat the Bells in the first ADHSHL Division 1 semifinal.
JSerra scored two goals 12 seconds apart to open the game, but Bellarmine responded out of a timeout just 22 seconds later. After the Bells tied the game at two, JSerra scored 39 seconds later for the lead.
“You get down to the end of the season like this and you expect your veterans and leaders to take charge in a game like this,” JSerra coach Micahel Perkins said. “That’s what happened today.”
Bellarmine’s two goals came on their only two shots of the first period, and JSerra shut them out from there with 14 saves from Nick Valdez.
The Lions added two goals in the second and one more in the third for the 7-2 victory.
Francis Lemay and Jake Lauricella each scored two goals. Lemay and Zach Fielder each added two assists.
In Division 2:
Capistrano Unified 7, Los Alamitos 2: The Coyotes scored their first two goals 25 seconds apart and led the Griffins, 6-2, after a busy first period in the ADHSHL Division 2 semifinal.
Jared Christy scored both goals for Los Alamitos.
Nike Grollman added his second goal in the second period for the 7-2 final.
Michael Boutoussov had a goal and three assists for Capistrano.
Capistrano Unified will play Corona-Norco for the Division 2 title on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Honda Center. Corona-Norco beat Damien, 5-2, in the other semifinal.
