The Shoremen of Avon Lake kicked off their 2019-2020 season with a 3-2 win over rival Avon High on Saturday, November 23 – doing what they could to ease the sting of the football result from the night before.

Last season, Avon Lake finished 16-13-3 (8-5 in division play) in their first season under head coach Steve Burns.  Burns is in a unique position heading into Year Two – he does not lose a single player from last year’s team.  Burns is understandably excited and expects the offense to be led by seniors Tommy Kacmarcik (36-20-56) and Nick Ospelt (33-22-55).

Fellow senior Justin Share (14-19-33), along with juniors Murphy Mohar (10-6-16) and Luke Farthing (6-13-19), will be expected to have a bigger role in the offense this season.

The offense does not look like it will be a problem, but everyone knows that defense wins championships, and the Shoremen will be leaning on junior captain Isaac Young (4-10-14), and seniors Colin Reynolds (2-11-13) and Devin Elliott (6-11-17).  That trio will be in charge of holding the fort down and locking down players in front of goaltender Dillon Aslaksen (14-12-1/3.52/.881), who played in 29 of 32 games as a junior, making 728 saves. With 15 upperclassmen and only three freshmen in the mix, the Avon Lake squad knows that this has the opportunity to be a remarkable season.

Ospelt, Share and Young will be captains.

After getting the legs going – and picking up their first two points in league play – against Avon, the Shoremen competed in the always competitive Tim Alexander Rocky River Thanksgiving Tournament over the break, playing the likes of Solon, Mentor, Olmsted Falls and host Rocky River.  The team lost three of the four games (beating Solon) then returned to league play and looked better, although they lost a pair of one-goal games to North Olmsted (in OT) and Amherst.

That's three league games and three one-goal games.

This year, Avon Lake added another local event to their schedule as they entered the Cleveland Rock and Roll Tournament (December 6-8).  The Benedictine Tournament always provides tough competition and is a tourney that Avon Lake has yet to win. Over Christmas Break, the Shoremen host their own tournament, which they won last year for the third time in the last five.  To finish up tournament play, they will be competing in the annual Southwest Conference Tournament, where they have not won since 2005.

If all goes well for Coach Burns, Avon Lake will qualify for the Baron Cup championship which they won in 2018 but failed to repeat last season. The State Tournament is what ends the year and the Shoremen hope to make some memories when that time comes.

--- Thomas Liegl for Ohio Hockey Digest