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11/26/06-Hockey
St. Mary's icers split season-opening games
The West Bloomfield Eccentric
Orchard Lake St. Mary's opened the high school hockey season by splitting a pair of games against Catholic League rivals this week.
In the first of what could be several battles this season, Catholic Central topped the Eaglets, 3-2, in St. Mary's home opener Nov. 18. The Eaglets rebounded to defeat Dearborn Divine Child, 1-0, at the U-M Dearborn Ice Arena last Wednesday.
Catholic Central drew first blood in the opener on a power play, when Jeff Scherrer scored with 10:14 left in the first period off assists from Michael Bourgon and Louis Lemak. St. Mary's tied the game with an even-strength goal by Tim Hooker with 5:42 left with assists from Kasper Bryniczka and Billy Balent.
With 8:47 left in the second period, CC's Michael Bourgon scored with assists from Scherrer and Evan Anton. St. Mary's re-tied the game when Hooker scored his second goal with 2:50 left in the period, again with assists from Bryniczka and Balent.
While each team only had a penalty each in both of the first and second periods, the final stanza saw both teams parading to the penalty box. The Eaglets, with five minors, spent half the period on penalty kills. In fact, CC broke the tie when Scherrer scored his second power play goal with 7:13 left, again with assists from Bourgon and Anton. The last five minutes saw both teams either on 4-on-4 or on penalty kills. In the last two minutes the Eaglets had a power play opportunity to break the tie, but Balent's charging penalty with 54 seconds to play negated the man-advantage. St. Mary's coach Brian Klanow pulled goalie Joe Savona with 48 seconds on the clock, but the Eaglets could not put the puck past Shamrock goalie Drew Duff.
Savona made 24 saves on the night, while Duff had 20. The two teams are scheduled to meet again at Compuware Arena in Plymouth on Dec. 8.
The teams played four times a year ago with Catholic Central winning at St. Mary's twice, including the Catholic League Championship. The Eaglets, though, won at Compuware and then took the Division 1 Regional final title at the Detroit Skate Club. The two teams could possibly meet four times again this year.
On Wednesday, St. Mary's senior captain Brandon Kozlowski scored the game's lone goal while on a penalty kill in the final period.
The first two periods were scoreless as the Eaglets peppered Falcon goalie Jeff Cain with 31 shots. Cain also received some help from the goal posts as St. Mary's clanged four shots off the posts in the second. Meanwhile, Savona had an easier time, stopping nine Falcon shots through 30 minutes of play.
But with 4:26 remaining in the final period, Eaglet defenseman Jon Falvo went to the penalty box for hooking, and St. Mary's went on a penalty kill for the third time in the period. Just 11seconds later, Eaglet defenseman Charlie Semaan found Kozlowski on a breakaway, and Kozlowski put the puck over Cain's right shoulder.
The Eaglets were controlling the remainder of the period, but with 31 seconds left, found themselves with too many men on the ice. With Kozlowski serving the penalty, the Falcons pulled Cain for a 6-on-4 advantage. Eaglet forwards Clinton Bourbonais and Balent won crucial face-offs deep in the Eaglet zone to help preserve the victory.
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