2C Midlothian Mirror, Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Sports
Alex Riley, Sports Writer 469-517-1456 | alex.riley@wninews.com
Photo by Alex Riley/The Mirror
Midlothian players Grayson Ridge (4) and Matthew Bramhall (88) try to knock the puck away from a Rockwall Heath player in defending goalie Jimmy Case. The Panthers dropped a 5-1 game to Heath for the second time this year, with this loss eliminating the team from the playoffs.
Frigid finale Playoff run ends at two games as Panthers dealt 5-1 loss By ALEX RILEY Mirror sports writer
RICHARDSON – Over the course of the season, the Midlothian hockey team has earned a reputation as a strong shooting club. The squad regularly outshoots its opponents in games and plays a very aggressive style of offense that puts a lot of pressure on an opposing defense. But on Thursday night, the Panthers ran into a team ready for the challenge. Rockwall Heath goalie Cole Burack saved 34 shots that flew his way as Midlothian found little success in the scoring column resulting in a 5-1 loss in the second round of the playoffs. “If there was a scoreboard to count scoring chances then we would have led that scoreboard but we didn’t make the one that matters so that’s how it goes,” coach Ryan Pfeiffer said. Coming off a 4-3 win over Mansfield in the first round game on Tuesday, the Panthers (18-6-1) drew Heath for the second time this season. Ironically, the Jackets scored a 5-1 win in the regular season round as well. In the Mansfield game, Midlothian opened with a big lead only to see a comeback effort tie the match up. Trent Newman’s game winner early in the third period turned out to be the margin of difference as the team survived to advance. On Thursday, there was no such luck. Heath got on the scoreboard early as a powerplay goal less than four and half minutes into the game put the Panthers in a 1-0
deficit. About 10 minutes later, the hole grew to 2-0. From there things only got worse as Heath rattled off a pair of goals in the second period to create a 4-0 advantage going into the third. The lone highlight for Midlothian came as Micah Koutros and Chris Green passed the puck over to teammate Tyler Hervey who scored a powerplay goal with 7:06 gone by in the third for the only goal of the night. The shot capped a standout senior campaign for Hervey who scored 13 goals in the final year of his high school play. “It felt good being that it’s the last game, well we didn’t know it was going to be the last game, but it felt good being a senior to get that goal. It feels good scoring especially since it’s my last year,” Hervey said. Despite the sour ending, the Panthers did not give in to late game emotions as Heath players consistently tried to force mental errors late in the game with trash talk and obscene gestures. Cooler heads prevailed from the Midlothian side of the ice, a sight Pfeiffer was happy to see. “I was very impressed with our team because no matter what the score was, if you didn’t have a scoreboard on and you just watched them play you couldn’t tell who was winning or losing and there’s a lot of teams that would pack up in 5-1 games and we kept working,” Pfeiffer said. “I was very proud of them. It’s a good feeling to be a coach of a team that doesn’t give up even when they can turn it into a crap show. To have seniors that care like that is very important.”
Photo by Alex Riley/The Mirror
Seniors, from left, Tyler Hervey, Matt Bassett and Micah Koutros walk off the the ice with coach Ryan Pfeiffer after the loss to Rockwall Heath on Thursday. The Panthers finished the season with an 18-6-1 record. While the loss does end the Panthers’ season, it doesn’t take away from what the team accomplished this year. After going on a late season slide to miss the playoffs in 2009, the team responded this year with its best season in program history. The 18 wins are by the far the most since the team was formed as just 11 goals separated the team from those five losses. Though his time with the team is over, senior captain Micah Koutros was glad to have left his mark on the program which is hoping to continue building for bigger things in the future. “It was great. It was the furthest we’d gone in a while. We actually got past first round this time,” Koutros said with a laugh. “As coach
Pfeiff’ was saying we should still be proud that there were only four teams that beat us and we were clearly ahead of everyone else. There was just four teams that beat each other and I’m proud to be a part of one of those teams.” Pfeiffer agrees. “A great season. Overachievers I think. My heart goes out to Matt Bassett, Tyler Hervey and Micah Koutros,” he said. “You watch the game and you see seniors that didn’t want to go out with a punch or a slash, they wanted to go out with honor and that’s very respectable. That, if anything, should be printed.” Contact Alex at alex.riley@wninews.com or at 469-517-1456.
Ruud concludes career with selection to all-state team
Senior joins elite list of Texas’ best hoopsters By ALEX RILEY Mirror sports writer
The post-season honors continue to roll in for Midlothian senior forward Natalie Ruud as the veteran player was named to the Texas Girls Coach Association All-State 4A team. Ruud was one of 30 players selected to the team which recognizes the best players in Texas as selected by organization members. Players are nominated for the honor and then voted on by merit. In her final year of high school basketball, Ruud led the Lady Panthers to a fifth place finish in District 16-4A with a 6-8 district record and a 13-19 overall. That record equals an 11-game turnaround for the team, which had just four wins the season before. For the season, Ruud finished as Photo by Chad Wilson/The Mirror
Midlothian senior was named to the Texas Girls Coaches Association All-State team after leading the Lady Panthers in scoring this past season. She was also key to the turnaround this year for the program.
the leading scorer for the team averaging 16.1 points per game for the season. She eclipsed the 20-point mark 10 times over the course of the year, including a season-high 31 points against Saginaw. She was the leading scorer in all but five games for the Lady Panthers this season going for double digits 27 times. Ruud was a firstteam all-district selection in each of the past two seasons for the program. Ruud joins fellow district players Jacqueline Chandler (Cleburne), Makenzie Robertson (Hewitt Midway) and Brittanya Sterns (Waxahachie) as members of the team. District 16-4A had the most representation with four players on the team. Contact Alex at alex.riley@ wninews.com or at 469-517-1456.