Original Article

MANCHESTER • It didn’t take long for the rivalry between Ladue and Clayton to show up on the ice at Queeny Park.

As their Mid States Club Hockey Association Central Division game was about to start on Thursday night, both teams stayed huddled at their respective nets even after the referees blew the whistle to start the game. The one-upsmanship contest lasted for a couple of minutes with each team taking the ice smirking at the gesture.

Once they got down to actually playing hockey, it was Ladue with the last laugh in a 5-3 victory.

Spencer Giacin and Cam Stefek each had a goal and two assists for Ladue (5-1-1). Harrison Trelz, Patrick Brown and Dylan Stern also scored for the Rams, while Mac Beatrice made 14 saves.

“It’s definitely a different buzz playing a rival,” Giacin said. “You get a bigger student section out. You just want to do well for your school.”

Aiden Armstrong scored twice and Brandon Berri had a goal and an assist for Clayton (3-6), while Mariano Colombo made 23 saves.

Ladue finally solved Colombo, scoring four times in the second period.

“We told them they’ve got to wake up,” Ladue assistant coach Josh Schneider said after a scoreless first period. “We didn’t know what was going on. They came out flat-footed, no energy, just had to pick it up.”

Brown scored his second of the season on a backhander to give Ladue a 1-0 lead with 2, minutes, 15 seconds remaining in the the second period.

Just 68 seconds later, Giacin banged home a rebound off of a Carson Acree shot to extend the lead.

“It was pretty big,” Giacin said. “There’s a big difference going up 2-0 instead of 1-1, especially in the second period. Always good to get that insurance marker.”

Ladue capitalized on its third power play chance with a Stern goal at 2:54.

Trelz finished a perfect two-on-one break with Matthew Keoshkerian just 23 seconds later to make it 4-0. A Braden McDonald pass sprung the break.

Armstrong’s first goal of the season got Clayton on the board with 1:37 left in the second. Armstrong found the puck in a scrum in front of the Rams’ net and Berri got the assist.

Stefek made it 5-1 with a strong individual effort at the 3:55 mark of the third period.

“Their defenseman was watching the puck not my body,” Stefek said. “Just faked him out a little bit and then I saw an opening with the goalie and I slid it through.”

Berri scored with 1:13 left and Armstrong struck again for Clayton with just five seconds left to cap the scoring.

The late outburst by the Greyhounds left the Rams with some things to work on.

“We’ve got to finish our games,” Schneider said. “We don’t’ play all three periods as hard as we can. We ended up letting off the gas in the third so we’ve got to finish our game stronger.”

Colombo starred in net for Clayton in a scoreless first period as Ladue outshot the Greyhounds 10-2.

Colombo made tough saves on quality chances from Josh Horowitz and Giacin and made several more stops during a late Ladue two-man advantage that stretched into the start of the second.

Ladue didn’t let the momentum switch sides after failing to score with the two extra men.

“Keep the pedal down,” Schneider said. “Keep the past in the past, move on, get back to our game. Focus on what we can do and just focus on playing hard.”

Ladue is off to a fast start to the season, but isn’t content.

“We’ve got a couple of big games coming up,” Stefek said. “If we play like we know we’re going to win, it’s not going to be good.”