Photo Gallery: Cretin-Derham Hall vs Stillwater
Cretin-Derham Hall entered the season with sky-high expectations and all the components to meet them.
December dealt a couple bumps and bruises along the way, as well as a blend of perplexing losses, major triumphs and a senior centerman and major offensive weapon holstered for two weeks with an upper body injury.
Now, with everyone back on board and their immensely deep and veteran lineup slightly tweaked, the Raiders, ranked No. 5-2A in Jan. 5 coaches’ poll, appear poised to make their move on the very short list of top contenders as the section playoffs loom just around the corner.
Further proof was offered Tuesday night when Cretin-Derham Hall (10-3, 4-0) fought back from a flat first period and steamrolled Suburban East Conference opponent Stillwater (8-4, 4-1) to a thorough 5-1 victory that places them alone atop the conference standings and serves as the team’s fifth win in a row as the Raiders roll into mid-January.
Speed, depth and veteran presence are driving the Raiders’ success.
“It’s always chippy when we face these guys, and we know we just need to hang in there and keep battling,” Raiders’ junior wing Attilla Lippai said. “Once we started getting some chances, we felt it was only a matter of time before we started burying them.”
Stillwater struck first when Ethan Mosley buried a rebound midway through the opening period. Just 33 second later, Cretin-Derham Hall answered on a goal from Jake Sondreal, setting the stage for an eventual rout sparked in part by the Raiders’ “other” top line. Sondreal’s wing, Lippai, scored the second and third goal, and Sondreal scored the fifth as the Raiders flexed a level of depth few teams in the state can count on.
Lippai’s two goals give him eight on the year, and Sondreal now has nine goals in 10 games. In all, Cretin-Derham Hall’s top six scorers now have between eight and 12 for the season.
The depth and veteran presence is something Raiders coach Matt Funk has been counting on and building for some time. Talented and young for the past two years, Cretin-Derham Hall appears to have the whole package in 2022.
“We’re turning the script on what we’ve run into during the playoffs the last two years,” Funk said. “We ran into older teams that wore on us and took advantage of our youth. Now, we’re the old guys, and we know how to play tough too.”
Adjustments have helped too, spreading out the wealth and maximizing skill sets to coordinate with each other.
Sondreal skated with the Fisher brothers earlier in the season until Funk shuffled things up when the talented senior came back, and he put Sondreal centering Attilla Lippai and Devin Cardenas.
“He’s a difference maker whose effort is something you can’t teach,” Funk says. “Having him between (Cardenas) and (Lippai) allows us to do things with other lines that we just weren’t able to do before.”
With Jake Fisher and Drew Fisher now paired with speedy senior wing Luke McCarthy, Cretin-Derham Hall now essentially has two interchangeable top lines. It’s showing up that way, anyhow.
“We just kind of undid the puzzle after a few games into the season,” Lippai says. “Now, we’ve put them back together and everything seems to be working. Everything is flowing right now, and everyone enjoys playing with each other, playing for each other. I really like what we’ve got going right now.”
Another major piece to the Raiders success is their incredible ability to transition. To move the puck from its own zone through the neutral zone and onto the attack in the blink of an eye. Speedy forwards make it look pretty, but it's the defensive corps that’s springing it. Again, a wealth of depth where six regular defenseman roll, intent on wearing down the other side’s will to get and keep pucks deep.
“It starts with having six defensemen who are smart and make the smart first pass,” Funk says. “And then we have forwards who can fly. Our focus is to keep it within the dots and go.”
Lippai says it's been coming together seamlessly, and that’s a big part of what makes the Raiders’ successful at both ends.
“We’ve got a great defensive zone system, and it seems like our D-men always seem to find us and make the right reads,” Lippai said. “With the speed we have, it quickly puts a lot of pressure into the offensive zone.”