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Jags top Marauders with late goal

BY ROSS LANCASTER, Special to the Leader

Published: Friday, November 14, 2008 5:27 PM CST

FARMERS BRANCH - The athletic rivalry between Flower Mound and Marcus is often thought of as something that takes place on the field, the court or the diamond. Yet, on Thursday night the two schools put on a show on the ice, as Flower Mound came out on top, 5-4, in a game in the Metroplex High School Hockey League's premier Varsity Gold division at the Dr. Pepper Star Center in Farmers Branch.

Adrian Acee scored the winning goal at 4:20 of the third period to break a 4-4 deadlock. The senior raced down the left wing after collecting a puck from teammate Kennedy O'Leary in his own zone, and proceeded to slot home a shot to the near side of Marcus goalie Sean Garvey.

"I often hear about how quick I am from other players and other teams," Acee said. "I felt like I could really use my speed as an advantage when I got the puck and found an opening. When you've got the chance to make a difference in a tie game, you've just got to go for it."

The win moves the Jaguars to 4-3, and sees the Marauders fall to 3-4, through seven of 24 regular-season games.

"Adrian has been our best player this season and is one of our captains," said Flower Mound head coach Knute Anderson, "He's the player that makes the entire locker room loose, and is really living up to his potential."

The Marcus supporters in attendance thought that the Marauders had tied the game with 25 seconds left in the third period, but a penalty had been whistled against Flower Mound's Travis Donohue for hooking.

"To be honest, I didn't really see the penalty or the almost-goal, because we were trying to pull the goalie then," said Marcus head coach Blaine Aucoin. "Everyone, including the referees, said that the penalty happened before, so I take their word for it."

Marcus' frenetic push for the tying goal was the culmination of a third period that saw Acee's winning goal just a couple minutes after two Marauder goals within a minute earlier in the frame.

After Flower Mound led 4-2 at the end of the second period, Marcus scored at 1:04 of the second period on a power play goal thanks to Connor Shurkey's shot from near the blue line. Only 54 seconds later, Brandon Mahoney picked the puck up in the Flower Mound zone, turned around and fired past Jaguars goalie Bryan Mills to tie the game.

"During the first two periods we were pretty flat and they controlled the neutral zone very well," Aucoin said. "We got our legs back in the third, and started to get more opportunities."

Flower Mound outshot Marcus 25-12 during the first two periods, and was able to hound the Marauders' goal for multiple shots at times without Marcus clearing the puck.

"After we had a couple of disappointing games, we were very motivated and very excited to play tonight," Acee said. "We're a very tough team to play when we have those things going for us."

Acee first got on the scoresheet with an assist at 8:35 of the first period with an assist on a Donohue goal from just inside the blue line to move the score to 2-1. At 6:23 of the second, the senior struck again, scoring a goal on a rebound in front of Garvey's net.

No player for Marcus scored multiple goals, but the influential David Wirth had a goal and an assist. Wirth's second period goal came on an impressive breakaway to make the score 3-2 at 8:54 of the middle period.

"This game was exactly how high school hockey should be played, with both teams skating really hard and showing intensity," Anderson said.

"We hope that games like this can get people to come out and witness a very exciting and competitive game," Aucoin said.

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