Myska's magical goal helps Fountain Valley cruise to second round

In a flash, Jakub Myska was at full speed. He skated to the right, split two defenders and deked five times before tucking the puck under Chatfield goalie Ryan Seltenreich’s pads.

Myska threw his hands into the air. The score gave No. 1 Fountain Valley a three-goal lead after one period and it was pretty much over from there.

The Danes dispatched No. 8 Chatfield 5-1 in the first round of the state hockey playoffs on Friday at Sertich Ice Center.

Myska scored twice, including the absolute stunner with 40.1 seconds left in the first, Garrett Van Whye added two more and the Danes (16-4) advanced to play the winner between Regis Jesuit and Heritage. The second-round game is scheduled for Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Sertich.

Click here to see a photo gallery from the game

“I’m just more concerned it got on the board when it did,” Fountain Valley coach Mike Payne said of Myska’s second goal. “Chatfield was starting to pour some pressure on then. If they would’ve scored a goal at the end of the first period that really would’ve changed the momentum of the game.”

Myska opened the scoring for the Danes just 1:03 into the game. He roofed a shot over Seltenreich on the Danes’ first shot and Fountain Valley never looked back.

“I was kind of lucky (on my second goal),” said Myska, who also had an assist. “I’m happy we scored and went up 3-0, because 2-0, if they score it’s a tight game.”

While the offense was often on the attack, the defense was nearly as good. They held the Chargers (8-11-1) without a shot for the first 10:21 of the game. Fountain Valley goalie Lucas Huerga Marin stopped 17-of-18 shots.

“We had forwards backchecking, and the whole team defense played pretty well,” defenseman and Finland native Aleksi Pulkkila said.

Payne liked what he saw from the team’s all-around effort.

“It was very thorough,” he said. “We had a couple breakdowns in the second period where we got beat to our net front. But other than that, we executed a lot of the concepts we talked about before the game.”

Knowing they had a quick turnaround for the second round, the team of 12 skaters took advantage of their 5-1 lead heading into the third period. Myska and linemate Sage Marshall, who netted a goal and two assists, managed extra rest by not skating every shift.

“It was important because tomorrow is going to be a harder game,” Myska said. “I rested, Sage Marshall rested ... Usually Sage and I are double shifting.”