Dragons Topple Young Lakers at Home Ice Tourney

A trio of third-period goals broke a 4-4 tie and propelled Lake Orion to a 7-4 victory over St. Clair Shores Unified Monday night.

The loss came in the first round of the team's annual St. Clair Shores Unified hockey tournament at the .

"I thought we went out there and really battled well," Shores coach Frank DiCristofaro said. "We have only four seniors that play on a continuous basis, the rest are underclassmen. I'm not taking anything away from Lake Orion, they are one of the better teams out there, and they outwork you. That's normally our forte, but we didn't do that very well today."

It's hard to expect the Lakers would do that, given that Lake Orion is among the top teams in the Oakland Activities Association and the area.

"We got a couple of good goals tonight," DiCristofaro said. "We just got to get to loose pucks quicker, win those little battles. That's what we have to do, and we didn't do much of that tonight."

A pair of goals from senior Stephen Soloway highlighted the night for the Lakers, while fellow senior David Izaguirre and junior Joe Vitale also scored for Shores.

"I thought we went out there and battled them really hard in the first two periods," Soloway said. "But the third period, I don't know what happened. We just kind of fell apart."

Soloway's first goal of the night came late in the opening period and knotted the score at 1-1. That mark held until the opening minutes of the second, when Vitale's goal put the Shorians up, 2-1.

The teams traded goals for the remainder of the second period, with Soloway (3:11) and Izaguirre (10:51) finding the back of the net. The squads were deadlocked at 4-4 at the conclusion of the period.

The Dragons scored three unanswered goals in the closing period to secure the win.

"During the holidays, this tournament keeps us playing competitively," DiCristofaro said.  "I mean, Lake Orion is one of the better teams in the state. Our younger guys are going to see a lot of these very good teams this year. Lake Orion is one of them."

Despite the loss, DiCristofaro says the game is good for the team in terms of the big picture.

"To play the better competition, and I don't care what our record is, we have to get through the regionals," the coach said. "The only way we're going to do that is to play as many good teams as we can. Of course, our MAC (Macomb Area Conference) compadres are getting better all the time, too."

Soloway also says the game can benefit the team.

"I think playing a team like this helps us against our MAC opponents," Soloway said. "It teaches us to move the puck faster, because the better teams play faster."

Soloway has been on fire lately, scoring five goals in the last two games.

"They told me to step it up," Soloway said of his coaches. "The first few games of the season I really didn't do that, but now I feel like I am. The last couple of games I've been putting the puck in the net."

Soloway and the other seniors are particularly important to a young team such as the Lakers. This fact hasn't gone unnoticed.

"I feel like we have to take charge and lead the team," Soloway said of the seniors. "I don't think we've been doing that to our fullest ability though."

St. Clair Shores Unified will play Fraser in the consolation game at 5 p.m. today.

The tournament's championship game will be at 8 p.m. today between Lake Orion and L'Anse Creuse North.