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3/10/05-Hockey
OLSM routs Brandon
By DAN MacNEILL Special to the Daily Oakland Press
TROY - Ask any coach what the most important ingredients for playoff hockey are and they'll tell you it comes down to goaltending and experience. Add some players who rarely miss the net when they shoot and a little luck, and you have a championship caliber team.
Orchard Lake St. Mary's had all of it Wednesday in a Division 3 quarterfinal against Ortonville Brandon, scoring early and often in a 10-0 rout of Brandon.
The game ended with 11:33 left in the third period because of the 10-goal mercy rule.
St. Mary's advanced to play Big Rapids (19-9) in the semifinals on Friday at Compuware Arena at 2:30 p.m.
Heading into the game, both OLSM and Brandon were in somewhat familiar territory. Neither team had ever advanced into the semifinals and neither team had the luxury of ever playing each other.
St. Mary's and Brandon entered with highly potent offenses. Coincidentally, but to nobody's surprise, both clubs exploded into the matchup with 11-goal outbursts in their respective regional finals. In three games, Brandon outscored their opponents 29-3, while Eaglets goalie Shane Trexler faced six shots in their 11-0 win over Harper Woods Notre Dame.
The rink was loud and both team's fans were raising the roof with cheers, but before the game Brandon had a definite edge in crowd support.
That was quickly doused after OLSM's Todd Davis made a clean open-ice check seconds after the opening faceoff.
At the end of that same shift, OLSM scored a quick goal after a costly turnover by the tired Brandon defensemen.
The Blackhawks were on their heals the rest of the night.
"Orchard Lake," Brandon head coach Brian Moore paused, "by far was better than the two Cranbrook teams we faced the last two times we were here. You can't practice against a team like this. They were too fast."
Alex Prough scored the game's first goal and finished with the final two goals of the game and an assist. Maciej Sulka - one of four players on the team from Poland- had a hat trick in the first period, Patrick Nagorsen had two assists and Zack Doyen added two goals and two assists for the Eaglets.
The first period shot count was 24-6 Eaglets and the final count was 48-15. One of the very best goaltenders in Michigan prep hockey, Trexler halted a 3-on-1 in the first period and from then on only faced three other shots that could have been goals.
Brandon's offensive trio of Mike Ross, Steve Tallman and Mike Cybulski have provided consistent scoring all season, but were tightly checked all night. Trying to break in on OLSM is similar to crossing a moat surrounding a castle, only to be gunned down by the secret service. When any of the Blackhawk snipers found an opening, Trexler's net was akin to Don Corleone - untouchable.
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