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On Sunday, Rocky River hockey coach Jonathan Johnson had to be wondering if he was trapped in the movie “Groundhog Day.”

His team was playing their fourth game this seasson against Kent Roosevelt. The Pirates had lost all three previous games, including two of the games in overtime. But those games were a part of tournaments, this particular game, however, counted for the White Division championship chase. Never before as a division title meant so much in Cleveland high school hockey because of the pre-set Baron Cup rules. While the Red Division will be awarded seven berths in the annual city championship, the White Division will be awarded only one spot.

Kent had given division leader North Olmsted (6-1) their first White Division loss on Thursday. Another loss would drop River into a second place tie with Kent. A win would give the Pirates control of their own destiny for that Baron Cup berth.

So with minute to go in the game, Johnson looked at the scoreboard and the score was tied once again.

“I was thinking here we go again with this team in overtime,” Johnson said. “Then Kevin just made a great play.”

With 40 seconds remaining, junior Kevin Andrews scored the game winner to give the Pirates their seventh straight win.

“I still don’t know if we have figured out Kent yet,” Johnson said. “On paper, we are the better team, but we have not played to our ability against them. But we have had experience in close games. In the third period we started to work hard and we went to the net. When you do that good things can happen. This win sort of wipes out those other losses to Kent. If before the season you said we would only beat them once then is the one since it counts for the two points in the division.”

Kent took a 1-0 lead in the second period with short handed goal from Brandon Cutlip. Sophomore Tom Gipper tied the game later in the period.

“We had a shot on goal and jammed up the net,” Johnson said. “Tom found a way to squeeze it in and tie it up.”

Kent took the lead in third period with a goal from Adam Hamilton, but Rocky River senior Jeff Bartolozzi tied it with a rebound shot with about six minutes to go.

Rocky River goaltender Matt Fahrenkopf had 27 saves in the game.

“I can’t say enough about Matt and how he plays,” Johnson said. “He is a two-year captain and he makes save after save for us. He has stolen a few games for us. Our defense did a good job tonight as well.”

In River’s 22 games this season, they have held opponents to two goals or less in 19 of those games. In their seven game winning streak, the Pirates have outscored their opponents 25-7.

“We are keeping teams to two goals or less,” Johnson said. “If we can keep doing that we have a chance to win every game.”

Rocky River is now 16-6 overall and 5-1 in the White Division, a half game behind North Olmsted. The Pirates have four White Division games left including a home game next Saturday against rival Bay and then an important game at North Olmsted next Sunday. Johnson said the winning streak has bolstered the team’s confidence.

“The kids now believe they have a chance to win every game,” Johnson said. “We did not play well this weekend, but when you have confidence it helps you sometimes take advantage of that lucky bounce.”

The controversy about the White Division getting only one Baron Cup team is getting no play from Johnson. What is done is done and all any coach can ask for is chance.

“We now control our own destiny and that is all you can ask for,” Johnson said. “We will just have to see how the kids respond. We just need to come out and play like we can.”

Caruso was impressed with Fairview’s preparation for the game.

“I give 100 percent credit to their coaching staff,” Caruso said. “Every time we came out of a timeout, they changed defenses. Their coach kept them in this game. It was unbelievable they had that many defenses to go against us.”

Thompson agreed and was proud of how his staff responded the challenge of the Fairview coaching.

“This is a tough place to play and they take advantage of the things they do well,” Thompson said. “You have to give credit to Fairview. Their coaching staff really made things tough for us and really set us off. Many of their runs were results of their changes. This is one of those games when you have to give our coaching staff a lot of credit. They are the guys who put in a lot of work to prepare the team, both coach Purdys, coach Sanders and even freshman coach Matt Saunders. It is such a pleasure coaching with them because we are all on the same page. We are always communicating with each other on the bench. We saw four different defenses out of them. They had a 1-2-2, they had a 2-2-1, a 2-3 and a box and one. Those are all things coaches have to recognize and then their input is what do we do and how do we attack it, based on how we have prepared. I thought the kids handled it well, especially down the stretch when they went to the box and one on Joe.”

Caruso had complete confidence that his team would step up down the stretch.

“We are not the Joe show,” Caruso said. “We have great teamwork. If teams want to take away me, we have four other guys who can step up and shoot a three or hit the boards for put-backs.”

Thompson said his team tried to take away Fairview post Dan Schaefer. While the senior scored just 11 points, Thompson was impressed with how he opened up things for his teammates.

“Their offense usually runs through Schaefer,” Thompson said. “He also created a lot of help for other guys. We would double him and he would kick it out. He did a great job of finding the open guy.”

It is tough to respond both mentally and physically after a such a intense rivalry game. All season coaches throughout the league have talked about the depth of the WSC top to bottom. Both teams found that out on Saturday as they lost by identical 54-53 scores at home. Vermilion topped Fairview as they held Schaefer and Fillinger to eight points a piece. Matt Kurz scored 26 points in the loss as Vermilion was paced by Colin Vories 28 points and Craig Jordan’s 16.

The Pirates lost their first game of the season to Firelands. Caruso was held to just seven points as senior Zach Haudenschild was the only Pirate in double figures with a game high 22 points. Firelands was led by Weigand’s 17 points, but had four others score at least nine points. The Pirates are now 11-1 and 7-1 in the WSC. Firelands is now in second place with a 4-3 conference mark along with Midview.