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12/10/06-Hockey
Eaglets repay Shamrocks with first loss of season
By KEN PACZAS
Special to The Oakland Press
PLYMOUTH-- Three weeks ago, Novi Detroit Catholic Central handed Orchard Lake St. Mary's it first loss of the season. Saturday, St. Mary's returned the favor, outhustling the Shamrocks to win 3-2 in a boys hockey game between Catholic League rivals at Compuware Arena.
Catholic Central (5-1) had its chances in the third period to tie the game. With under two minutes left, Evan Anton broke away for an open look at the net, but Joe Savona made an incredible save. Savona finished with 26 saves, four in the final two minutes.
"These were two very good teams playing each other," St. Mary's head coach Brian Klanow said. "We were able to control the neutral zone and won a few much-needed battles along the boards. That was the difference."
The first period started out with the type of physical play you would expect from a rivalry of this magnitude.
After each team killed off penalties, a slashing call on St. Mary's (3-2-1) made it look as though the Shamrocks were in position to take control of the game. However, with the puck floating around the red line, St. Mary's Clinton Bourbonais snatched it away from a Shamrock defender and scored the short-handed goal with a slap shot to the glove side.
"One of our problems is that our kids think they are better than they are," Central head coach Todd Johnson said. "We need to work to get better. We can't play the way we have the last couple games and expect to return to where we want this program to be."
In the second period, both teams got their offensive juices flowing, taking full advantage of the other's mistakes.
With 9:22 left in the period, Evan Anton scored on a wrist shot to tie the game at 1-1.
Less than two minutes later, CC's Douglas Raymond scored on a deflected pass from Greg Merrill. A minute later St. Mary's evened up the score when Ben Shields scored a power play goal.
"We kind of laid back on our defense a little and we let them get some easy shots," Klanow said. "We were able to kill off some penalties, but we put ourselves in a tough position and it cost us a couple goals."
CC took back the momentum after back to back tripping penalties gave it a five-on-three advantage. In spite of this, St. Mary's battled strong, killing off both penalties before Bourbonais scored his second goal of the night on a beautiful pass from Billy Balent for the eventual game-winner, giving the Eaglets a 3-2 lead. St. Mary's then settled down, controlled the tempo and shut the Shamrocks out in the third period.
"They did a great job protecting the lead," Johnson said. "That five-on-three was a big momentum shift. If we could have executed, the game might have been different. Right after the kill, they ended up scoring the game-winner."
Both teams know that the Catholic League championship as well as the state playoffs runs through each other.
"We have a long way to go," Klanow said. "We are going to meet them again in the Catholic League playoffs and most likely in the state playoffs. We need to get better if we expect to beat them again."
The Shamrocks hope to rebound when they visit Brother Rice Wednesday. St. Mary's hopes to build off this win when it plays Traverse City West Friday.
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