Nearly a year ago, Kenston walked out of Brooklyn one Monday night with arguably its most mystifying result of the season after taking on Olmsted Falls. The Bombers enjoyed a thorough shot disparity and couldn’t complain all that much about the three periods — except for what the scoreboard displayed: A scoreless stalemate. This time against the Bulldogs in GCHSHL White North play instead of nonleague like that was, Kenston emerged from the first period perhaps with similar confusion. But the Bombers had much more to show for this experience from there. Flex. Don’t perplex. Kenston senior forward Luke Mack discusses a 3-0 GCHSHL White North win over Olmsted Falls(went just over 2:20, so had to split into 2 parts) pic.twitter.com/XTNwAdqhQ4 — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) January 12, 2025 J.C. Pustai and Luke Mack lit the lamp 13 seconds apart early in the second period, placing punctuation on a 3-0 victory. Kenston vs. Olmsted Falls hockey: Bombers perplexed after 0-0 stalemate in rare Monday night game The Bombers (14-7-2) faced down another outstanding performance between the pipes from Olmsted Falls goaltender Dominic Fusco. In that 0-0 tie a year ago, he logged a 43-save shutout. On this occasion, Fusco had a laudable 35-save evening and blanked Kenston after that quick flurry in the second. Whatever its complexion, Bombers coach Tom Moores will take it — especially as opposed to the consternation emerging from Brooklyn on that Monday night last winter. "At the end of the day as a coach, as long as we've got one more than they do, I'm happy," Moores said. "So I'm not going to complain about only three, that's for sure. "I thought our first period, we were kind of walking around. Looks like we had a lot of shots, which was our game plan, which is good. They've got to eventually go in. I'm quite certain that weighs on our mind, a 0-0 game from last year. That was pretty frustrating to go through. But it's a matter of, you've got to keep going." Kenston had 14 shots to show for its opening period, including Pustai being unlucky with a bar rattler at 13:26. The second went more to the Bombers' liking. First it was Gavin Rowell. Kenston's dynamic senior forward did well to carry wide through the neutral zone toward the right circle. He snapped a wrister stickside for a clanger off the bar and in at 3:06 for a 1-0 lead, Rowell's 33rd goal of the season. Then at 5:51, Rowell gathered a puck along the back boards and fed out front. Pustai took care of a cleanup after a stick tip at the left bar, the 22nd goal of his junior campaign, for a 2-0 lead. Right off the subsequent faceoff, Mack pounced on a bounce and walked in a wrister at 6:04. Rowell was as befuddled as anyone after that nonleague clash at Brooklyn last January, unable to explain how his squad couldn't bury just one puck. Suffice it to say, this went a bit more smoothly. "I looked up, and I saw his blocker side was a little bit open," Rowell said of his opener. "So I tried to sneak it right beneath it. I would have liked to put a little bit above, but it bounced right off the post and popped in. That was a good one for us. (On Pustai's goal,) I saw our guy in the center that was open. I tried giving it to Reece (Newpher). It bounced off his stick, and it was just sitting there. John saw it, came in, scooped it up and just buried it in. "We were trying our best to get as many shots on net as we could. The first period, I thought we were still a little asleep. We were skating around a little slow. We needed to pick it up. Then we went into the locker room. None of us held our heads down. We all kept the intensity up, went out there in the second period and finally popped three pretty close to each other." Although the Bombers couldn't generate a fourth, an encouraging sign came with seven shots in the first three minutes of the third. Kenston had to turn right around into a trip to Kent State on Jan. 12 to take on a Red foe in Hudson, so finding punch unlike that aforementioned scoreless stalemate was a welcome sight. Now comes getting things calibrated en route to Baron Cup II next month and seeking to challenge to the very end for White North supremacy before that if possible. Flex. Don't perplex. "We're feeling pretty good about it," Rowell said of his team's prospects. "We're just trying to work our way up toward it. That's what we've been looking for the whole year. Last year, getting robbed out of it at the end, it was heartbreaking. So we're looking to do anything we can to get that Baron Cup back to Kenston."