The Owensboro Rampage hockey team will play for their 6th state title against St. Xavier after they beat the Charleston Chiefs, who were ranked 1st in the state and undefeated, 4-1 to advance to the championship. The title game will take place today at the Owensboro Edge Ice Center at 12 p.m.
Owensboro found themselves down towards the end of the period as Charleston put themselves on the scoreboard first at 1-0. Despite conceding the first goal, Rampage head coach Chad Barber said he was not worried about changing up the game plan as the team has had a knack for winning after trailing.
“They just don’t quit,” he said. “It’s not something I like, but this is kind of how they do. They always come out a little bit flat. Once they get scored on they start getting better. The last seven games, we’ve lost one game. Out of every game we’ve won, probably about two have been just like that. We’ve come from behind in the second or third period. We try to keep everything the same. We try to stick to our original plan that we started the day with. So that way everybody knows from the beginning of the game to the end.”
It didn’t take long for Owensboro to equalize with a goal in the opening minutes of the second period. The second period saw both teams trying to get that one goal to give them the advantage, but defenses held their until the end of the period. The third period is where Owensboro took off with the lead. Early in the third they scored the goal to take the lead 2-1.
Owensboro kept up their intensity and scored another goal to have a comfortable 3-1 cushion with 8 minutes left in the game. Owensboro then put the nail in the coffin as they scored a final goal with a minute left to officially snap Charleston’s undefeated streak and move on to the championship game.
Hudson Lanham scored two goals for the Rampage, and Sam Holder and Nick Gentile both scored one goal each. Lanham’s two goal performance included the game winner. Barber said that Lanham have had a close relationship ever since Barber began coaching him when Lanahm took a break from hockey here in recent years, but he made his return to the team last year to continue playing for the coach he’s had since he was young.
“He’s a good player,” he said. “He was one of the young ones that I brought in. I used to coach him when he was three or four years old. He actually got away from hockey for a while. I got him back last year in the age group right before this. We’ve always been really tight. We’re good buddies.”
