After taking a four-goal first-half lead, the Cobras fended off a late-charge before finishing off the Aces 7-3 in the Kapolei Inline Hockey Arenas Division I Summer championship game Monday night.
At halftime, it appeared the Cobras were going to walk away with it. But no. An Aces push got them within one at 4-3 just before crunch time hit.
And then the Cobras took control again. Kekoa Matsuoka intercepted an errant Aces pass and broke in alone to fire a shot into the top corner past goaltender Randy Gonce with 4:20 to play.
That short-handed goal gave the Cobras a little bit of breathing room before Jaden Nahoi-Baricar polished it off with two late goals for the 7-3 final.
For Nahoi-Baricar, the two tallies gave him a hat trick on the night.
Goaltender Kaena Humber (center) and fellow championship team members from the Cobras are (left to right) Micah Chun, Kaipo Cabral, Kekoa Matsuoka, Jaden Nahoi-Baricar, Daryl Matsuoka, Tommy Windham (kneeling), and Emerson Lau.
(Image credit: Julie Nahoi-Baricar).
In the first half, Daryl Matsuoka scored twice and Nahoi-Baricar and Tommy Windham adde one goal each for that 4-0 early bulge.
Kaena Humber, the Cobras’ goaltender, made many key stops to keep the Aces off the board in the first 22 minutes.
The puck skitters off to the side of the net after a save by the Cobras’ Kaena Humber. At left is the Cobras’ Tommy Windham, defending an Aces player. At center is the Aces’ Kawena Lee.
(Image credit: Nick Abramo).
But the Aces came out firing in the second half on a short-handed goals by Kawena Lee and Ethan Rogers and an even-strength goal by Jon Chun.
Lee, who is going to be a Saint Louis School senior who is playing in his first season in KIHA’s highest adult division, recently went to an inline hockey camp in Wisconsin along with fellow KIHA youth player Kyler Okamoto.
Ryan Shimanuki of the Aces (left) took a shot on Cobras goalie Kaena Humber (right) Monday night. (Image credit: Nick Abramo).
Nahoi-Baricar is going into his sophomore year at Arizona State, where he is a member of the inline hockey team. That squad, however, had its season canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19.
Rogers, a recent Campbell High graduate, is off to Grand Canyon University, where he hopes to play inline hockey. He was also playing in his first season in D-I.
The Aces’ Kimo Chun puts in some heavy forechecking on the Cobras’ Daryl Matsuoka, who is working on getting the puck out of his own zone. (Image credit: Nick Abram0).
Humber, who graduated from Damien in 2020, is already a D-I veteran.
The Cobras’ title wrapped up KIHA’s first D-I season since COVID-19 shut down the two-rink facility for about a year.
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Earlier Monday night in the semifinals, the Cobras topped Dynamite 8-2, and the Aces defeated the Barbarians 9-4.
Kekoa Matsuoka finished the season as the league’s points (26) and assists (13) leader. Sean Carney of Dynamite led D-I in goals with 15.
A screenshot of the title game scoring summary is below. (Note: #9 guest player is Nahoi-Baricar and No. 8 guest player is Emerson Lau, a former inline hockey player at UNLV).
A screenshot of the league’s final scoring leaders follows.
