Braves Rusty After Lengthy Holiday Layoff

The Talawanda Braves hosted the Dublin Jerome Celtics on Saturday and traveled to Columbus on Sunday to play the Dublin Coffman Rocks.  In each game, the Braves showed some jump early but faded down the stretch.  Talawanda squandered leads of 3-1 and 4-2 against the Celtics on Saturday and settled for a 4-4 tie.  Talawanda led Sunday’s contest 2-1 in the second period but ended up on the wrong end of a 5-2 score.

Talawanda 4 Dublin Jerome 4

The disappointing tie at home was highlighted by a four goal effort by Junior Braden Park.  Zach Phillips and Ben Hoover each had 3 assists and Ben Eckhoff chipped in one.  Park provided Talawanda with a 1-0 lead after one period on a nice feed from Phillips, finishing with a lazer to the top shelf.  Jerome tied it in the second but Park’s second goal regained the lead at 2-1 after two periods.  The Braves extended the lead to 3-1 and 4-2 in the third on two Park scores before wilting in the last 3 minutes.  The Braves scored three times on the power play and Daniel Atkin stopped 22 shots in the Talawanda goal.

Dublin Coffman 5 Talawanda 2

Zach Phillips scored the opening goal 5 minutes into the contest cashing in on a Ben Hoover rebound from a Braden Park pass to the slot.  Coffman tied the game 4 minutes later to knot the score at 1-1 after one period.  Park scored the go ahead tally at 5:22 of the second with help from Hoover and Ben Eckhoff.  The Braves were victimized by penalties and allowed Coffman a power play goal to tie the game at 2-2 after two periods.  The Rocks converted two more power play scores in building a 4-2 lead midway through the third.  The Braves had no response and Coffman added an empty net goal to ice the game at 5-2.