Bill Ryan/The Gazette Urbana High School’s Michael Shearer (left) celebrates one of his four goals Thursday with teammates Eric Dann (center) and Mike Matrone (right) during the ice hockey game against Gov. Thomas Johnson.

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Bill Ryan/The Gazette Gov. Thomas Johnson High School’s Jake Hutchinson makes a move toward a goal during Thursday’s ice hockey game against Urbana in Frederick.

Bill Ryan/The Gazette Urbana High School’s Michael Shearer (left) celebrates one of his four goals Thursday with teammates Eric Dann (center) and Mike Matrone (right) during the ice hockey game against Gov. Thomas Johnson.

 

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When the Urbana and Gov. Thomas Johnson high school ice hockey teams meet, both squads are fully aware of the tradition of close, hard-fought contests that punctuate the rivalry. That pattern held true in Thursday's match-up, as the Hawks pulled away in the third period to claim a 7-5 victory over the visiting Patriots at Skate Frederick Ice Skating Rink.

Michael Shearer scored the last four goals of the contest for Urbana (8-3-2), including a wrist shot to the top corner to break a 4-4 tie with 8 minutes, 55 seconds to play. Nathan Hefner set up the goal with a well-placed pass that sprung Shearer on a breakaway. The pair connected for a score earlier in the game as well, giving the Hawks a 4-1 advantage at the 11:52 mark in the second period.

"Coach [Toby Heusser] told us to treat this game like the first game of the playoffs, and I think we came out and did that, jumping out to that lead early," Shearer said. "We let them come back into the game, and we got down about that for a second, but then we were able to come together and pull it out in that third period."

Shearer tallied his third goal, the eventual game-winner, with 4:18 remaining; a top-shelf wrist shot eerily reminiscent of the go-ahead goal from minutes before. The senior then added an empty-net score with 36 seconds left. Adam Gnatowski assisted on both goals, and also recorded the first score of the contest for Urbana.

"Michael Shearer played a great game," Heusser said. "That is what I expect from him all the time. He is a great player. My whole first line had a very good game, with Hefner and Alex Clune. Those guys did a nice job against that top line for TJ."

For Thomas Johnson, the first-period blues continued. The Patriots (9-3-1) allowed Urbana to jump to a 2-0 advantage, after spotting Oakdale a 3-0 lead in their previous contest, on Jan 20. The result has been two consecutive losses for Thomas Johnson, and a slim, one-point, lead in the standings.

"We have had this problem these past few games where we have spotted our opponents at least two goals," Patriots coach Charlie Morrison said. "We are tied for first place [in the Monocacy Valley Hockey League with Washington County], and we have had a tough year. I don't know if the guys just don't focus at the beginning, or what, but they really start playing hard after the first seven or eight minutes and claw back into it."

Jake Hutchinson led the way for Thomas Johnson with four goals, including the power-play tally to knot the score at 4-4 with 11:18 to go in the game. The Patriots played to a 4-4 draw with the Hawks in their previous meeting on Jan 6.

Nick Larsen chipped in with a goal and two assists, Matt Bloom contributed two helpers, and Brandon Hagy and Austin Henry each supplied an assist. Thomas Johnson held a 41-25 advantage in shots-on-goal.

"I just try to keep them to less goals then we have," Urbana goalie JT Ketzenberger said. "When you get into the game, you kind of lose track of everything. All you can concentrate on is stopping the puck."

As the top two seeds from Frederick County, these two squads will most likely cross paths again in a few weeks when playoffs start. Urbana won the MVHL last year en route to a Capital Cup finals appearance.

"The key to this game was that we stayed positive, fought back and got some goals at the end to put them away," Heusser said. "TJ is a great team, and I am pretty sure we will run into them again come playoff time.”