SHP holds off Menlo for WCAL title

“We’ve been No. 1 in this division for a while,” Kreutzkamp said. “And Menlo is a clear No. 2. They’re competing against the best teams in the country.”

Any nightmares Kreutzkamp may have had came to life as Menlo led 2-1 after the first period and when Hunter Coleman converted on a backhand to open the scoring in the second period, it gave the Knights a two-goal lead.

But the Gators, ever their relentless selves, would go on to outscore Menlo 6-3 in the second quarter to take control of the match as SHP would go on to post a 13-8 victory to notch its 15th straight WCAL regular-season championship.

Kreutzkamp said ultimately the difference was his team is used to being tight, dramatic games.

“We play a tough schedule and we’re in that (type of) game a lot,” Kreutzkamp said after his team finished off another perfect 7-0 record in WCAL play and improved to 15-5 overall.

Menlo (6-1, 16-6) played well. The Knights took care of the ball, went 4 for 5 on the power play and played solid defense.

And it still wasn’t enough.

“I thought we played a great game,” said Menlo head coach Jack Bowen. “We made two or three errors that were a little uncharacteristic. When you make errors against great teams, they make you pay.”

Menlo won the opening sprint of the match, but less than 30 seconds in, Knights goalie Connor Burks was staring down Clay Carrington for a 5-meter penalty shot. Carrington had jumped a pass near midpool and broke in on goal, drawing the penalty and then converting the shot for a quick 1-0 lead.

In the past, that might have opened the door to a flurry of Gators goals. Instead, Menlo regrouped and tied it when freshman Avery Kuziemko slammed home a shot from the left wing. With just over a minute to play in the opening quarter, the Knights drew a 5-meter penalty shot of their own, which was converted by Coleman to give Menlo a 2-1 lead.

It was 3-1 less than 30 seconds into the second period when Coleman took a pass in set, held off a pair of defenders and whipped a backhand past SHP goalie Murdoch Baker-Matsuoka for a 3-1 lead.

SHP responded by scoring six of the final eight goals of the period. The Gators pulled one goal back on the first of three power play goals of their own, with Carrington taking a Gates Gamble pass on the right point and firing it home.

It was the first of three man-advantages during a the first half of the period. The Gators would tie the score on a Teddy Parrett fast-break goal, with Baker-Matsuoka supplying the outlet pass.

“They got those three power plays, just bam, bam, bam,” Bowen said. “It took us out of our rhythm.”

Gamble made it three unanswered goals with a power-play strike with just over four minutes left in the first half to give SHP a 4-3 lead.

With the Menlo defense intent on keeping 2-meter man Oliver Marcin at bay, it left Carrington and Gamble to do the damage from the perimeter and they obliged. Gamble led the way offensively for the Gators, finishing with a match-high five goals to go along with two assists.

Carrington added four goals and assisted on a fifth.

“It’s nice to have those big arms up top,” Kreutzkamp said.

Despite giving up three straight goals, Menlo did not fold. Kuziemko and Alex Stoffel hooked up on a power-play goal to tie the match at 4-all, with Kuziemko throwing a cross pool pass to the left wing, where Stoffel rifled it into the back of the net.

Marcin shoveled in a goal in front off a pass from Gamble to put the SHP back ahead, 5-4, but again the Knights answered when Kuziemko and Stoffel hooked up again on a similar play as the first one to tie the game at 5-all with two minutes left in the opening half.

But goals from Gamble and Parrett in the final 91 seconds gave the Gators a 7-5 lead at halftime, one they would not relinquish.

Calvin Barad opened the scoring for Menlo in the third period as the Knights closed to 7-6. It was a one-goal game again when Coleman, who finished with three goals, converted a Lincoln Bott assist.

But SHP answered each time. It felt like it would be SHP’s night, again, when Carrington fired a shot from the point that hit off the left post and ricocheted back across the goal and into the right corner to put the Gators up 9-7 going into the fourth.

The Knights would get no closer than a two-goal deficit the rest of the way. Gamble and Carrington hooked up again to give the Gators their biggest lead of the game, 10-7, early in the fourth.

Barad’s second goal of the game got the Knights to 10-8, but Gamble had a shot ricochet off the post and in to push the Gators lead back to three, 11-8, with 5:18 left. Two more SHP goals over the final 1:12 put the punctuation mark on the win.

While the Gators won this round, Kreutzkamp firmly believes it won’t be the last time the Knights and Gators face off against each other this season. The WCAL tournament begins next week, followed by the Central Coast Section and, most likely, Northern California playoffs still to come.

“I expect to see this team two or three more times this season,” Kreutzkamp said. “This won’t be the last.”