The Park City Red high school hockey team’s offense was going through a dry spell more arid than the future of the Great Salt Lake heading into Wednesday night’s game against Alta.
According to Utah High School Hockey’s stats, the Miners scored one goal on 75 shots in a 2-1 shootout loss to Juan Diego and then one goal on 46 shots in a 1-0 bounce-back win against Bingham on Monday. If Park City was going to win its way out of the losers’ bracket, the previously high-octane Miners would have to find their groove again.
They found an answer quickly on Wednesday.
Garrett Hebert put the Miners on the board less than two minutes into the game, and Park City scored a pair of shorthanded goals to lead 3-0 after the first 16 minutes. The Miners added three more unanswered goals in the second period to skate away with a 6-2 win.
Park City will have a rematch against Juan Diego on Feb. 21 at Acord Ice Center in West Valley at 9:30 p.m.
“Obviously, we want to score more than one goal in those scenarios,” Park City coach Mike Adamek said. “But tonight was good to get six on the board, get some offensive confidence back in our forwards, our power play looked good again tonight. It’s just good energy. Everything overall was pretty good. Going in and talking to the team after a win like that, you really don’t have to say much. Just kind of, ‘Hey, good job, let’s keep it rolling.’”
Park City drew a penalty in the opening minutes of the game, and the Miners cashed in quickly. Hebert received a cross-ice pass and fired it past the Alta goalie for the game’s first goal. The Miners got the monkey off their back early, even if it might have felt more like a 500-pound gorilla after the way the last two games had gone.
“I’ve been in a slump lately personally, so for me, that was huge getting that first goal, getting that monkey off my shoulder,” Hebert said. “I think that really got everyone going and really brought some energy to the team.”
“I think our whole team talked about before coming out, we want to score in the first couple minutes here,” Adamek added. “Not only to get the monkey off our back, but just for that confidence. Hockey is a huge confidence game, can’t manufacture confidence, either. It’s got to come organically, right? So, being able to put a couple on the board early was really good for our team.”
The Miners quickly built on their lead, too. Alta drew a penalty moments after Hebert’s goal, and once the Park City penalty kill cleared the puck out of its defensive zone, Park City’s Cooper Ford chased after it at the other end. Ford forced a turnover and took a shot. While the original shot was saved, Ford found his own rebound in front of the net and scored to make it 2-0.
A few minutes later, with the Miners back on the penalty kill, Park City’s William Bock forced a turnover near the Alta blueline. Bock skated past a defender and tucked a backhander into the net for a second shorthanded goal and a 3-0 Park City advantage.
“We ice the puck, they didn’t come back hard for it, we went hard on the forecheck, that’s our first penalty-kill goal,” Adamek said. “The second one was more of an individual effort if I remember, but obviously you want to kill penalties. And anytime you can score a shorthanded goal, it’s even more of a positive feeling.”
The goals kept coming for Park City in the second period. Morgan Carter’s feed from behind the net found the stick of Rigan McIntosh, who scored a fourth Miners goal in the opening minutes. Hebert scored again a few minutes later when he knocked down a rebound and swatted it into the net. Less than 30 seconds after Hebert’s second goal, Jake Carter made it 6-0 when he pounced on a rebound right in front of the net.
Alta scored once in the second and added another in the third period, but the deficit was too much to overcome. Park City’s depth was on display again on Wednesday after a couple of tough games, as the six goals were distributed between five players. Ten Miners registered at least one point, including a team-high three from Ford.
“It’s really good because I’ve seen teams where one guy’s doing all the work, and it’s hard for him to get the puck and score,” Hebert said. “To see the other guys bury some, for sure, as a team.”