Marty McAuley had a game he long will remember Sunday, November 12, the final SHL Showcase clash for the Glenbrook South Titans, who dominated North Broward Prep and skated home with a 7-0 victory.

McAuley, a right-handed shooting defenseman, tallied the Titans first two goals and assisted on two others as the Titans completed the sweep, finishing the 3-day, 4-game weekend event with a 4-0 record , outscoring their Showcase foes 23-3, and their +20 goal-differential was the best of all 16 participating teams.

McAuley doesn’t remember the last game he scored twice, “so it definitely felt good to put a couple in the net today,” he said.

The Titans broke goalie John Trontz just over 4 minutes into the game when McAuley seemingly just dumped the puck on net from the right sideboard about halfway between the blue line and the goal line.

McAuley scored again with 4:37 remaining in the first period, as his shot from the point breezed past a slew of players and appeared to catch Trontz by surprise.

“My first goal, it hit off one of their players. That one was kind of lucky; I’m not going to lie,” McAuley said. “My second goal, Wyatt (Sherwood) was screening (the goalie) and I shot it toward the far side, and it just snuck through.

“Two lucky goals, I’ll admit that, but I’ll take them.”

GBS head coach Jim Philbin said McAuley was “outstanding” in the Sunday morning game. “He showed why he is one of the best defensemen in the state,” Philbin added. “He sees the ice so well and is effective in every scenario. He’s a huge asset to the team.”

McAuley had assists on the Titans third goal, too, as GBS went up 3-0 about 3 minutes into the second period. Team captain Zack Freimuth scored, assisted by Sherwood and McAuley. Freimuth had scoring chance after scoring chance throughout, but the Floridians held the power forward to only one goal.

“Going 4-0 for the weekend was a good statement,” McAuley said. “We were able to show what we are able to do, and now we want to keep it going.

We come into every game prepared and wanting to win. We got a quick start (Sunday) and didn’t let up all game.”

North Broward Prep head coach Jim Gabrione has led his team to back-to-back Florida State Championships. He said the Titans “didn’t make very many mistakes from the first line through the fourth line, first pair (of defense) to the third pair.” He added: “It was fun to watch (South), fun to play against them. It was a good experience for our players.”

The Eagles couldn’t manage much offense and finished with 18 shots on South goalie Charlie Zebell. South had 18 shots in the first period and finished with 38.

“It’s great to have a shutout; the guys around me really helped me,” Zebell said. “There were a few plays where (the South defensemen) bailed me out and I’m thankful to them. Being able to showcase how I can play in front of my teammates, coaches and family was a great feeling. This really was a confidence boost for me.”

The Titans led 5-0 after two periods as A.J. Kulikowski (assisted by Sherwood) and Pierce Davidson (Sherwood and Will Stevens) each scored.

“The difference was, we took control of the game, outplayed them and controlled the play. I was happy with our play today,” Philbin said. “Last Thursday at Stevenson, we played more of an individual game and struggled through that game. This weekend, we went back to playing South Hockey – and that’s when good results happen.”

Zebell was making his second start of the season and Philbin said he “played very well.” Philbin added, “Our forwards woke up in the second and third period and played awesome. Our defense controlled the puck and kept it out of our zone.

“Four wins in this Showcase gives us good momentum. This event was a great opportunity for us to play four good games after (sub-par play) against Stevenson last Thursday.

“It was great getting to play new teams.”

Dylan Monagan tallied the Titans final two goals – the first assisted by Adam Sokol and Jonathan Cesario, the final assisted by McAuley.

“It was a fun game,” Monagan said. “My second goal, the puck was sent to the front (of the net) and five-hole was the only thing I saw (open), so I just pushed it in.”

Monagan also doesn’t recall his last 2-goal game.

“I think we can be better, but we showed up all weekend. Overall, we played pretty well as a team this weekend,” he said. “We need this momentum to go back into the SHL.”

The Titans resume SHL action on Tuesday, November 14, against Carmel. GBS is 7-2 in league play, while Carmel stands at 3-7-1.

The Eagles fall to 7-3-1 for the season.

“I thought our guys battled,” against South, Gabrione said. “I’m happy with how we played (all weekend). Though the results don’t show it, I thought our guys really battled; we played two games that could have gone either way. And we also played two other teams that, well, were just better than us, and we tip our hat to them.

“This was an eye-opening event for many of our players, who may not play (against) this level of competition. I’m happy with our effort; our guys played hard.”

North Broward Prep’s Cooper Emerson had scoring chances throughout but, like the rest of his teammates, couldn’t crack Zebell.

“It didn’t go the way we wanted it to (against South), but we played hard and did what we could. Things just didn’t go our way,” he said. “The differences were communication, being first to pucks, movement and just bearing down on our chances. They put the puck in the net on their chances; we didn’t.

“I didn’t generate as much (offense) as I would have liked to. Plus, they had a good goalie. Overall, it was a very good experience; it was nice getting to play against some new teams. There was a lot of good that came out of this (Showcase). I thought that we could actually play with these teams, but (before the event), we didn’t think we could.”