‘SCHLEY RIDE’: Junior’s 2 goals, soph goalie’s effort earns Canton P-CEP title
Canton freshman defenseman Brody Kocurek steers the puck out of harms way as Plymouth’s Avery Olepa lurks.
Two nights before Thanksgiving, as his players took turns getting photos with the Plymouth-Canton Educational Park’s version of the Stanley Cup, Canton Hockey Coach Aaron Schwartz expressed how thankful he was to be able to lead a team as special as the 2025-26 Cobras.
“This is a legitimate great group of players, coaches and families,” said Schwartz, moments after the Cobras earned the Kathy Lash Trophy for the first time since the 2021-22 season. “I joined the coaching staff here as a JV coach when this year’s seniors were freshmen, so I’ve seen how hard they’ve worked to get to this point and how bad they wanted this trophy again.
“It’s been a wild ride. Last year we lost a lot of heart-breakers — we lost nine or 10 one-goal games — so it’s satisfying to finally start winning some close games. There’s a lot of great hockey at the Park, so winning this means something.”
Canton captured the Lash Trophy by upending a talented Plymouth team Tuesday night, 2-0 — 10 days after doubling up Salem, 4-2.
It was a tough task picking the Cobras’ No. 1 star of the night, but junior forward Will Schley, who scored both the winners’ goals in their 2-0 victory, selflessly gave the biggest props to Canton sophomore goalie Jacek Waszkiewicz, a first-year varsity player who protected the net as if his Thanksgiving feast depended on it.
“Jacek was amazing, he was our MVP tonight, no doubt,” Schley said. “This feels great. This is what we’ve been working for. We checked one thing off our wish list. Our next goal is to win a regional championship.”
Schwartz poured some complimentary gravy on Schley’s thoughts regarding Wasckiewicz’s excellent performance.
“Jacek’s first-ever opportunity to play varsity hockey was over the summer and fall,” Schwartz said. “He has gotten better every step of the way. He made some huge saves tonight and we needed every one of them.”
Plymouth came within the width of a Thanksgiving butter knife of deadlocking the game at 1-1 with 9:50 left when a laser slap shot banged off the left post.
Tenacious defense helps defuse Plymouth’s two-man advantage
Canton’s defense, led by Will Ott and Zack Vandefifer, extinguished a 58-second two-man advantage for Plymouth mid-way through the final period with the Cobras securing a tenuous 1-0 advantage.
At the other end of the rink, Plymouth goalie Liam Villalobos put on a between-the-pipes brick-wall show, spearing a blazing slap shot one minute before redirecting door-step Canton shots the next.
His only miscue was not stopping Schley’s short-handed goal late in the first period.
Giving props to an opponent
“He’s really, really good,” Schley said of Villalobos. “We’re pretty good when we’re playing short-handed. I managed to get loose in the middle and fire a shot to his blocker side that got through.”
Schwartz emphasized the Cobras’ victory was a team-wide effort, mentioning Carson Kouba, Cameron James, John Nickel, Brody Kocurek and Gavin Simmons as big-time contributors.
Canton improved to 3-3, but two of those wins came against their arch-rivals.
Thanksgiving dinner is bound to taste better than ever for the Cobras — or the best its taste since 2022.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.
