Ice Hockey: Baker delivers for HB

LAKEWOOD — The beginning of the season must seem like a distant memory for Huntington Beach High’s hockey team.

After dropping their first five games of the season, the Oilers have cleaned up certain parts of their game.

Most importantly, they may have discovered a new compete level, and it showed in a furious comeback against Long Beach Prep.

Center Kyle Baker notched four goals, and Huntington Beach came from behind twice to defeat the host Bruins, 5-4, on Saturday at The Rinks Lakewood Ice.

The Oilers (2-7-1-0, eight points) sported an ugly minus-12 goal differential (20-8) through their first five games. That has changed as of late, with all three of the team’s victories coming in its last five contests.

“A lot of this comes down to practice,” Baker said. “We’re out there working hard, conditioning and stuff, and every third period, we’re winning. That’s where we’re winning our games.”

Long Beach Prep (3-7-0-0, nine points) opened with a 2-0 lead following goals by Will Chaffee and Micah Jarvis.

Huntington Beach rallied to tie it. Baker got the Oilers on the board with 19 seconds remaining in the first period. Evan Stapleton roofed a wrist shot for a short-handed tally that evened the score, 2-2, seven minutes into the second.

Garrick Talavera banked in a goal off of Oilers’ netminder Zachary Jones just 31 seconds later.

Forced to fight an uphill battle once more, the Oilers didn’t panic. They did the little things to get back in the game.

A face-off win was followed by a successful battle along the boards by Baker. Andrew Stapleton held the puck in at the blue line, tapping it ahead to Baker, who beat Bruins goalie Jake Zionts top shelf over his glove.

Huntington Beach killed off four of the Bruins’ five power-play opportunities. It was the other side of their special teams that gave the Oilers their first lead.

Coach Shawn Pitcher called a timeout with his team about to go on a two-man advantage for one minute and 42 seconds.

The Oilers peppered the net out of their umbrella power-play formation, and the fifth crack at the net got through. Evan Stapleton fed Baker a cross-crease pass, who deposited it into an open left side of the net.

“I would say that our special teams played exceptionally well,” Oilers assistant coach Steve Bayer said. “We’ve been working on special teams, and special teams won this game today.”

Huntington Beach’s 4-3 lead was short-lived, as Jones let a wrist shot from Chaffee slip between the arm and the body to make it 4-4 after two periods.

Jones rebounded from the soft goal. He made nine of his 22 saves in the third in keeping the Bruins off the scoreboard.

As for the game-winner, the Oilers called upon Baker, and their special teams, one more time.

Long Beach Prep was at the end of a power-play opportunity when Baker hopped over the boards. The puck was chipped out of the defensive zone, and the speedy forward chased it down against two defenders.

In the end, it was Baker emerging from another battle for the puck, and his short-handed attempt beat Zionts to the short side with 8:47 to go.

“I just saw that it was going down, so I went,” Baker recalled. “I went around and all of us fell. They were all tired, so I just got up as quick as I can.”

“The goalie was down already, so I saw the top corner and just lifted it.”

It was a breakout game for Baker, who came into the game with one goal and two assists for the year.

“He’s always been wiry, fast, and quick,” Bayer said of Baker. “They were not able to get the puck off of his stick. He had really good hands today.”

“It showed in his shooting and everything. He was accurate. When the puck was on his stick, he was able to skate around people with it.”

The top line of Baker, Evan Stapleton, and Cole Kennedy was firing on all cylinders. They combined for seven points, and the trio was on the ice as the team looked to close out its win.

They controlled the puck in the offensive zone for the last minute of the game, not allowing a shot on goal as the Bruins looked for the tie.

Saturday’s game had an edge to it. The game was physical, even sporting a well-executed hip check from Chaffee. The hits started early when Andrew Stapleton crushed Chaffee at the Oilers bench in the opening minutes.

“I was trying to pump my team up at the beginning of the game,” the Oilers defenseman said.

It may have taken some time, but Huntington Beach answered the bell when it had to.