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3/8/07-Hockey
Eaglets return to hockey final four
By Mike Rosenbaum of The West Bloomfield Eccentric
ANN ARBOR--Orchard Lake St. Mary's bid for a second state hockey championship in three years will continue Friday, thanks to Wednesday's 4-1 victory over Northville in a state Division 1 quarterfinal. The Eaglets will face East Kentwood in semifinal action Friday, at Plymouth's Compuware Arena, beginning at 8:30 p.m.
The Eaglets won the state Division 3 crown in 2005. They moved up to Division 1 last season and reached the quarterfinal round before losing to eventual state champion Brighton.
"It's nice," said St. Mary's junior forward Clinton Bourbonais. "Last year we didn't make it (to the final four) so we made it a goal this year to get back to Compuware.”The Eaglets started quickly Wednesday, scoring just 1:31 into the game when Tim Hooker pounced on a rebound and flpped the puck top shelf past Wildcats goalie Andrew Flynn. Billy Balent and Jon Falvo drew assists.
The remaining key plays of the opening period were made by Eaglets goalie Joe Savona, who played his second consecutive outstanding game, after shutting out Catholic Central in last Saturday's regional final. Although St. Mary's enjoyed an edge in good scoring chances against the Wildcats, Northville did out-shoot the Eaglets, 29-27. Additionally, the speedy Wildcats created several breakaway opportunities throughout the game.
Just after St. Mary's early goal, Northville defenseman Wesley Gates joined a Wildcat rush and fired a drive from the slot that Savona turned aside. Just minutes later, during Northville's first power play, Savona stopped defenseman Kyle Ziomek on a similar chance. Timothy Hohl broke in alone during another Northville power play, but his deke didn't fool Savona, who made a sliding save.
"Savona played well again," said St. Mary's coach Brian Klanow. "You certainly need your goalie to come up with some big stops and he's been doing that for us. Been doing that all year.”
Strong forechecking from Bourbonais, Steve Tallman and Ben Shields early in the second period led to a goal when Shields found a loose puck in the slot and fired it in at the 2:49 mark, with his linemates drawing assists. The Eaglets added a power play goal when a Bourbonais drive from the blue line found the net at 5:43, with Balent and Charlie Semaan earning assists.
Northville cut the lead to 3-1 with 3:16 remaining in the period when Steven Dawson scored following a goalmouth scramble. But the Eaglets made it 4-1 just 44 seconds later. After receiving the puck from Bourbonais, Shields centered to Tallman in front, and the senior lit the lamp to end the night's scoring.
St. Mary's improved to 14-9-5, while Northville dropped to 18-8. But Klanow noted that the Eaglets' record is deceiving because they've lost many close games to other strong teams.
"We were really in every game" this season, Klanow said. "This team has played very well all year. And we play a lot of tough competition. And we knew we just needed to find the right combination. And I'll tell you, with my coaching staff, we've tried probably 15, 16 different (line) combinations, all the way around the board. We changed them up after our first (playoff) game against Rochester. We still weren't content with it. We're starting to see a little bit of consistency with our lines right now, in the last three games, anyways. So hopefully we've found the right combination and we'll be able to get it done.”
St. Mary's, ranked eighth in the state in the final Division I poll, has lost twice this season to second-ranked East Kentwood.
"Defensively we're going to have to play strong (against East Kentwood) and we're going to have to bury our opportunities," Klanow said. "They've beaten us twice this year (both by 5-3 scores). We had the lead in both those games and kind of squandered it away. This time when we play them we've got to get up on them quick, I think, and continue applying pressure and be very strong defensively.”
The winner of Friday's semifinal will meet either Grosse Pointe North or Marquette in Saturday night's final.
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