Wiregrass Ranch hockey team shuts out Land O Lakes 10-0 for second win in rebuilding season
By Steve Lee

Just a few years ago, the Wiregrass Ranch High club hockey team was a perennial title contender and ranked among the best teams in the Tampa Bay area. More recently, however, the Bulls have been in somewhat of a rebuilding mode.

Last Friday night, struggling Wiregrass Ranch and upstart Land O’ Lakes viewed the opposition as an opportunity for a pivotal win in the Lightning High School Hockey League. The Bulls got a much-needed boost with a 10-0 victory at AdventHealth Center Ice in Wesley Chapel. Gators goaltender Patrick Boyle made more than a dozen saves, otherwise the outcome could have been more lopsided.

Wiregrass Ranch improved to 2-10 while the first-year Gators dropped to 2-11 near the season’s midpoint.

“This is something that the team really needed,” said coach J. Powers, who had been an assistant and replaced Mark Kroeten, who stepped down in a mid-season shakeup. “I think we’re turning the corner.”

As for the game against Land O’ Lakes, Powers said the Bulls “started out on fire.” The Bulls took a 5-0 lead in the first period, added three goals in the second frame and two in the third in support of goaltender Oliver Andel’s first shutout of the season.

Milan Levcenko led the scoring onslaught with a hat trick, netting two goals in the first period and another in the second. He also had an assist for a four-point game.

“He’s a very smooth player,” Powers said of Levcenko, who has nine goals and four assists for 13 points.