Avon pulled off a mild upset today, playing their best game of the young season in  defeating Deerfield at home, 3-1. The win, which followed a home drubbing a week ago at the hands of Taft, and a rather difficult weekend, was well earned and demonstrated one of the clear strengths on this particular John Gardner team – depth.

The game was rather uneventful, as both teams used a conservative 1-2-2 forecheck and, as a result, scoring chances were few and far between. However, the Winged Beavers were clearly the better team today, doing an effective job in shutting down the lauded K-F-C line (Kolarik, Fried, Canner) and clawing their way back to the .500 mark.

Highly touted forward Scott Horvath got Avon on the board with just :46 remaining in the first period as he corralled a turnover along the left offensive half wall and walked out - showing patience and poise - beat one defenseman, then deked and held before wrapping the puck past Deerfield netminder Matt Hanson.

Avon made it 2-0 early in the second as post-grad senior Scott Trahan scored his first of two on the day at the 5:32 mark. Once again the goal came off the forecheck as fellow PG Mike Warner scooped up an attempted Deerfield wrap around, threw the puck at the net and a big rebound found Trahan all alone at the left face-off dot. Trahan rifled the puck high over Hanson’s shoulder to give the home team a two-goal lead.

Deerfield, on the power play, showed signs of life at 11:57 as senior Chip Canner,  taking advantage of a turnover at the offensive blue line, was able to slip the puck towards the middle of the ice to a wide open Kolarik who drove to the net and effortlessly flipped the puck over Tim Warner’s left shoulder to make the score 2-1.

Another Avon penalty with less than two minutes to play in the period seemed to give Deerfield an excellent opportunity to tie the game. However, it was the Beavers - who were excellent on the penalty kill all game – who took advantage. Executing their diamond forecheck to perfection, Mike Warner created a turnover along the wall just shy of the red line and flipped the puck to Trahan who slid past a surprised Deerfield defender and walked in alone on Hanson. Warner was able to rip the puck over Hanson’s glove to give the home team a commanding two-goal lead with just under a minute to play in the second.

The third period was played largely in the neutral zone as Avon, content to protect their lead, did so very well. Deerfield pulled Hanson with just over 1:20 to go, but, like much of the period (they generated only 5 shots all period), was unable to generate a shot on goal.