Itbrdidn't look too promising for the Carroll High School Varsity Hockey Team as theybrheaded into playoffs for the AT&T Metroplex High School Hockey League CitybrChampionship. Their season record was 5brand 15 and they were seeded fifth in the playoffs. But that didn't prevent thebrDragons from overpowering the first, second and fourth seeded teams to ultimatelybrwin the City Championship on Thursday, March 5 at NyTex Sports Center in NorthbrRichland Hills.
Carroll defeated Highland Park 4-1 in thebrfirst round and confidently upset first seed Arlington/Midlothian 5-2 in gamebrtwo. But the sweetest win for the Dragons came when the team outscored Kellerbr-- its biggest nemesis – 2-1 in the final game. Carroll and Keller share abrlengthy and intense rivalry and Carroll had suffered a tough 8-1 loss to Kellerbrearlier in the season.
“For the first time in a long time, we had a full and healthy roster andbrwe’re able to turn it up defensively all the way,” said Carroll head coach Knute Anderson. “We had strong leadership from seniors Tyler Culp,brBlake Taylor, Jeff Rucci, Connor Moss and goaltender Christian Westerberg,brwhich resulted in abrsweet and well-fought victory for the entire team.”
Westerberg closed out the three game playoff series with 29 stops and only 1 goal allowed. The Dragons pulled together to produce 2 goals on 33 shots - and backed up the scoring with solid defense to keep Keller down for the duration.
For more information, visit southlakehockey.com
Written by Kathy Guarino, with contributions from Kevin Haslam, web editor