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Bears top Newark, 3-1, in non league play.

Posted by Jeff McCarthy at Feb 2, 2014 4:00PM PST ( 0 Comments )
The North Royalton Bears earned their 22nd win of the season defeating the Newark Generals, 3-1, in non-league play on Sunday, February 2nd. North Royalton scored the 1st goal of the game, midway through the 2nd period, to take the 1-0 lead. Michael Dzoba was responsible for the tally, a beautiful top shelf snipe, assisted by Branden Walsh and Aaron Schmitt. Dzoba added his and the Bears 2nd goal of the game with just seconds remaining in the middle period banging in a Peyton Matthews rebound. The Bears took a commanding 3-0 lead early in the final period when Aaron Schmitt ripped a shot past the Generals keeper- Schmitt’s goal, his 27th of the season, was unassisted. North Royalton’s attack slowed allowing Newark to get on the board late in the period but that’s all the offense they could muster thanks to the solid play of Marc Silver between the pipes.

The North Royalton Bears HS hockey team celebrated their Senior Night in style on Saturday, February 1st defeating the Wooster Oilers 10-0 in league play. The Bears honored their senior class prior to the game; the team will graduate a staggering 11 seniors this spring. The Bears senior class includes two 4 year players: Angelo Nero and Branden Walsh, two 3 years players: Aaron Schmitt and Tyler Roesch, two 2 years players: AJ Bogdan and Peyton Matthews, and five players in their first season with the team: Marc Silver, Aaron Wynbrandt, Michael Dzoba, Owen Lally and Steven Vinyard.

North Royalton scored early and often scoring 10 goals in the first 40 minutes of game play and as per league rules (if at any time a team leads by 10 goals in the final period, the game ends ) the game was called. Two Bears had multiple goal games; Branden Walsh (3G, 3A) registered a hat-trick along with three helpers and fellow senior Michael Dzoba (2G, 2A) had a pair of goal along two assists. North Royalton’s other goals were scored by seniors Aaron Wynbrandt (1G, 2A), Angelo Nero (1G), Peyton Matthews (1G, 2A), Aaron Schmitt (1G, 2A) and Sophomore Dylan Kovach (1G). Senior net minders, Marc Silver and Tyler Roesch, split the minutes with Silver stopping the only shot the Bears allowed. The win improves the Bears league record to 9-4, 21-13-1 overall.

The North Royalton Bears defeated the Brunswick/Elyria Blue Panthers 8-1 in league play on Wednesday, January 29th in Elyria. North Royalton’s offensive attack was spread out as the Bears scored three in the 1st, two in the middle frame and three in the 3rd period. Michael Dzoba’s strike just 28 seconds in got the scoring started assisted by Aaron Schmitt and Branden Walsh. The same trio combined for the Bears next goal, this time it was Walsh scoring with Dzoba and Schmitt picking up helpers. Angelo Nero didn’t need any help as he deposited the Bears 3rd goal of the period unassisted. The Bears scored a pair in the middle frame- Christian Fernandez scored, a power play goal, early in the 2nd period assisted by Walsh and Dzoba and AJ Bogdan found the back of the net assisted by Nero and Timmy Orlosky. Bogdan scored his 2nd of the game assisted by Nero and Michael Schlegel just over a minute into the 3rd to give the Bears a commanding 6-1 lead. Dylan Kovach added a goal, scoring the Bears 7th, assisted by Schlegel and Orlosky capped off the Bears offensive outburst assisted by Nero and Bogdan. The win, the Bears 20th of the season, improves the Bears overall record to 20-13-1.

The North Royalton Bears were completely outplayed and soundly defeated on Saturday January, 25th,6-0, by the Jackson Polar Bears in league play . The Bears looked sluggish from the start, barely keeping pace with Jackson who outshot North Royalton 41-13 for the game. The loss drops the Bears overall record to 18-13-1 and to 6-4 in North Coast HS Hockey League play. 

The Bears rebounded from their loss a day earlier earning their 19th win of the season and 7th in league play defeating the Great Lakes Freeze, 6-0, on January 26th at Iceland USA in Strongsville. The Bears waited till the middle period to net their first goal, a period that featured four North Royalton goals scored by four different players. Timmy Orlosky started the scoring burying a feed from Dylan Kovach- AJ Bogdan also earned an assist on the goal. Bogdan notched his second helper a few minutes later when he fed a brilliant pass to Jeremy Gripp who slapped it home for the goal. Michael Dzoba waiting gave the Bears the 3-0 lead just 35 seconds after Gripp's score assisted by Kovach and Christian Fernandez. Senior, Angelo Nero, capped the Bears 4 goal 2nd period scoring with just over three minutes remaining assisted by Bogdan and Cameron Megazinni. Angelo Nero added his 2nd of the game less than two minutes into the final period for the Bears 5th goal- the shorthanded tally was assisted by Orlosky. The Bears final score came from AJ Bogdan assisted by Logan Kieklak and Nero. Marc Silver played solid between the pipes for North Royalton, stopping all 11 shots faced while earning his 4th shutout of the season. 

The North Royalton Bears spent Martin Luther King Weekend (Jan. 17-19th) in Columbus, Ohio participating in the Pioneer Classic Holiday Tournament hosted by the Olentangy Orange High School Pioneer hockey team.

The Bears opened up tournament play Friday, January 17th facing off against the tournament hosts and falling to the Orange 2-1. Olentangy got on the board first, midway through the opening period to take the early 1-0 lead. The score remained 1-0, thanks in large part to the play of North Royalton’s keeper, Tyler Roesch who stopped 32 of the 34 shots faced, until early in the final period when Olentangy netted their 2nd goal of the game. The Bears didn’t wait long to reduce the Orange lead back to one when just three minutes later Brandon Walsh buried a feed from Aaron Schmitt; also picking up an assist on the goal was Preston Vinyard. The Bears nearly got the equalizer with just over a minute left but Aaron Schmitt was denied on the breakaway.

The Bears took on the Cardinals of Mentor in game two of the tournament squaring off against and beating Mentor 4-3 in the early game on Saturday, January 18th. The Bears jumped out early scoring two in the opening 5 minutes of the 1st period. Branden Walsh netted the Bears first goal assisted by Aaron Schmitt and Michael Dzoba and Cameron Megazzini scored the Bears 2nd goal assisted by AJ Bogdan and Angelo Nero. The Bears attack stalled and it was Mentor that found the net next, the Cardinals scored the next two goals, both in the 2nd period, to tie the game at two apiece. North Royalton broke the tie with just under 8 minutes remaining in the third when Michael Dzoba ripped a shot past the Mentor net minder; picking up the line assist on the goal was Christian Fernandez. Dzoba added his 2nd of the game just moments later assisted by Walsh and Schmitt. The Cardinals didn’t go quietly netting their 3rd and final goal of the game with just less than 4 minutes left but it was not enough as North Royalton held on for the one goal victory.

North Royalton faced off against the Jackson Polar Bears in their third game of the tournament, the late game on Saturday, January 18th. The Bears struggled to keep pace with Jackson through the first two periods of play and as a result they found themselves trailing the Polar Bears 3-2 entering the final period. North Royalton’s two early goals were scored by Aaron Schmitt (Walsh/Dzoba) in the 1stperiod and Angelo Nero (Gripp/Bogdan) early in 2nd period. North Royalton turned up their pace in the final period outshooting Jackson 11-4 and scoring 4 goals in the process. Michael Dzoba scored the game’s tying goal, unassisted, early in the 3rd period opening the flood gates for the Bears offensive attack. North Royalton took the lead just moments later when Aaron Schmitt scored assisted by Branden Walsh and Jeremy Gripp. Dzoba netted his 2nd of the game and of the period midway through the 3rd assisted by Walsh and Timmy Orlosky capped the Bears scoring assisted by Aj Bogdan and Angelo Nero. The Bears 6-3 win over Jackson secured their spot in the tournaments Championship game, a rematch against the Olentangy Orange.

The Bears faced off against the Olentangy Orange Pioneers for the 2nd time in three days, this time in the Championship Game on Sunday, January 19th. The Bears fell to Olentangy Orange 4-1in the Championship game with the Pioneers controlling most of the play. Tyler Roesch was a bright spot for North Royalton, the senior goaltender stopped 43 of the 47 shots he faced keeping the Bears in the game throughout. The Bears trailed 1-0 after the first, 3-0 after the second and after exchanging 3rd period goals fell 4-1 to the Pioneers. The Bear lone goal was scored by Branden Walsh assisted by Christian Fernandez and Michael Dzoba.