ANAHEIM – Huntington Beach was being outplayed and shut out early in its Ducks High School Hockey League game against Corona del Mar until Cole Redl and Casey Rhodes helped spark the Oilers to life.
Redl and Rhodes scored just 20 seconds apart late in the first period and the Oilers went on to beat the Ice Kings, 5-2, on Saturday at The Rinks in Anaheim.
With the win, Huntington Beach (4-3-0-1) claimed sole possession of third place in Division 2A.
The Ice Kings (2-5-0-0) controlled the game from the opening face-off, utilizing a combination of puck possession and defense, and that forced the Oilers to play most of the first period from their own zone.
The Oilers were able to take a 1-0 lead when Redl capitalized on a neutral-zone turnover by the Ice Kings. Redl took control of the puck at center ice, scoring his fifteenth of the season at 5:36.
The Oilers scored again 20 seconds later when Rhodes added a goal on a short wrist shot from Jared Kurth and Andrew Goodwin.
With time running out in the first period, the Ice Kings responded. Paul Selleck scored on a pass from Blake Abel just after time had expired on a Corona del Mar 5-on-3 power play.
It was the first of four power plays for Corona del Mar in a game in which Huntington Beach racked up 20 penalty minutes.
“We played a little undisciplined,” Oilers assistant coach Berkley Hoagland said. “I’d like us not to take so many unnecessary penalties … but I thought the boys’ intensity was there and the spirit was there.”
The Oilers added two more goals – by Kurth and Goodwin – in a lopsided second period before Ice Kings forward Matt Wiesner cut the lead to 4-2 on an even-strength goal from Strom Ossenmacher at 2:55 in the third.
Rhodes added his second goal of the night on an open-netter from behind the Oilers blue line with just over a minute remaining.
The Oilers now have a two-week break from games as they don’t return to the ice until facing San Diego South (3-4-0-0) on Dec. 7 at Anaheim Ice.
The Ice Kings take on undefeated Capistrano United (6-0-0-0) on Nov. 23.
