NORTH OLMSTED – Dan McBride should be lauded for his performance, and for his frankness.

“I felt like puking,” said McBride, the North Olmsted goalie. “Really, I was so excited I thought I was going to puke. I felt like passing out.”

What put McBride in such a state was the tenseness and the gravity of Saturday’s Red Division game between the Eagles and Elyria Catholic – a game North Olmsted couldn’t afford to lose.

The Eagles didn’t lose it, but they came dangerously close.

A goal with 1:25 to play enabled North Olmsted to squeeze out a 3-3 tie. The draw enabled the Eagles to win the Red East championship outright. North Olmsted (18-7-1, 6-3-1 Red East) also grabbed a berth in this week’s Baron Cup I tournament, facing Walsh Jesuit on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

The tying goal came 55 seconds after Elyria Catholic (19-9-3, 7-2-1 Red South) went ahead and 29 seconds after a penalty against the Panthers gave North Olmsted a power-play opportunity.

The goal that evened the score, by Mike Minch off a pass from Ryan Sutton, allowed the Eagles to not waste a terrific performance by McBride, who came up with 42 saves for the day.

“He was huge down the stretch,” North Olmsted coach Tim Murphy said. “He came up huge when we were at a 5-on-3 disadvantage (for 1:33 of the third period).”

McBride, a senior in his first season as a fulltime goalie, came up even larger in the second period when he faced 20 EC shots and allowed just one goal.

The teams skated for eight scoreless minutes in overtime. Murphy said he kept the fact a tie would bring the same result as a victory to himself.

“I didn’t want them in that mind-set, thinking all they had to do was tie,” Murphy said. “All we did (to play a more defensive game) was keep one guy positioned higher. We didn’t want to give up a home run (uneven rush by EC).”

“We were thinking straight win – to win it all,” McBride said when asked if he and his teammates might have played only to keep EC away from the net.

EC had less of a stake in the game, as the Panthers had secured second place in their division and knew they were a Baron Cup I entry no matter what happened. Assistant coach Mike Haszto, filling in for Dave Phiel, insisted his team needed a strong showing against the Eagles.

“We take each other seriously,” Haszto said. “This is the second overtime game in three games we have played against these guys.

“We were playing for pride. We were playing for momentum going into the Baron Cup. We were playing for the seniors, for their last regular-season game. We wanted to go in (the tournaments) on a high note.”

The Panthers also play Thursday night, against University School, just after the North Olmsted-Walsh Jesuit game. Starting time is 8 o’clock.

EC struck first when Brad Oravets took a pass from behind the net from Justin Saunders and shot the puck past McBride’s waist just 29 seconds into the second period. North Olmsted tied matters with 5:18 remaining in the period on a similar play, on which Mike Konyesni fed Tim Musat for Musat’s third goal of the season.

Casey Jones scored an unlikely goal from beyond the blue line on a pass from Sean McBride to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead. James Baker scored with nine seconds left on a power play to tie the score for the second time, and Saunders gathered a pass from Oravets and skated between two defenders to beat McBride for EC’s go-ahead goal.

Contact Steve Byrne at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

Elyria Catholic 3, North Olmsted 3

Elyria Catholic             0             1              2              0              -           3
North Olmsted             0              1              2              0              -          3

FIRST PERIOD: No scoring. Penalty – NO, Casey Jones (hooking), 8:46.

SECOND PERIOD: 1. EC, Brad Oravets (Justin Saunders), :29; 1. NO, Tim Musat (Mike Konyesni), 9:42. Penalties – EC, Seth Wechter (tripping), 1:57; NO, Ryan Sutton (tripping), 3:28.

THIRD PERIOD: 2. NO, Jones (Sean McBride), 6:41; 2. EC, James Baker (Oravets, Mitch Haszto), 9:52; 3. EC, Saunders (Oravets), 12:40; 3. NO, Mike Minch (Sutton), 13:35. Penalties – NO, Minch (elbowing), :23; EC, Bryce Steindl (tripping), 3:51; EC, Paul Case (cross-checking), 6:00; NO, Mike Shackleton (interference), 6:10; NO, Mike Konyseni (slashing), 7:25; NO, Ricky Henley (boarding), 7:41; EC, Cody Toboz (interference), 13:06.

Shots on goal – Elyria Catholic 7-20-12-6-45, North Olmsted 5-8-12-7-32. Goalies – EC, Andrew Field (32 shots, 29 saves); NO, Dan McBride (45 shots, 42 saves). Power-play opportunities – Elyria Catholic 1 of 6, North Olmsted 1 of 4.

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