Hockey News Hockey News
News | Roster | Schedules--Results | Archives
3/8/07-Hockey
Eaglets roll into semis
By KEN PACZAS/Special to The Oakland Press
ANN ARBOR--Orchard Lake St. Mary's hockey team is playing some of its best hockey when it matters most. The Eaglets continued their dominant play, defeating Northville, 4-1 to advance to the Division 1 final four.
"It feels great," St. Mary's head coach Brian Klanow said. "What a lot of people don't know about us is that out of our nine losses, eight were by one goal or less. We have been in every game and now we are beginning to show some consistency to win these games."
Two of those losses for No. 8-ranked St. Mary's (14-9-5) were to No. 2-ranked East Kentwood, the Eaglets' next opponent, in the semifinals Friday. (East Kentwood defeated Lake Orion, 1-0.)
St. Mary's got on the board early Wednesday, when Tim Hooker scored a minute into the game. Tim Hohl tried to tie it up three minutes later on a breakaway, but senior goaltender Joe Savona made a leg save to maintain the lead.
In the second period, the Eaglets played maybe one of their best periods of the post-season, scoring three times while dominating the puck possession. First, Ben Shields found an open crease and snuck the puck past Andrew Flynn with 12:11 left in the period. Two minutes later, Clinton Bourbonais scored to make the score 3-0.
Northville was able to finally get on the board at the 3:16 mark, when Steven Dawson caught Savona on the ground and scored over his right shoulder. However, the Eaglets didn't back down.
Instead, Steve Tallman scored a minute later to regain the three-goal lead and the momentum.
"We are here for a reason," Klanow said. "Our kids are coming to play every game, and they are playing smart. We mixed up our combinations all season and we finally feel we have something that can add the consistency we have needed."
Savona finished with 28 saves for St. Mary's, including several big stops in the third period when the Mustangs were on the power play, looking to get back in the game.
"Savona played extremely well," Klanow said. "In the playoffs, you need your goalie to come up with some big plays in order to advance. Tonight, we got some great plays from not only our goaltender but our defense. We played smart."
St. Mary's now gets to play East Kentwood at Compuware Ice Arena in Plymouth.
Coach Klanow knows that his team will have to play its best hockey if the Eaglets hope to make the championship game.
"We need our defense to continue to play well," Klanow said. "Both times we played them this year, we had the lead. We weren't able to hold it however, and we let them back in the game. On Friday, we need to get on them early and then have our defense carry us and play like they have all post season. We have to stay focused."
Copyright 2007, St. Mary's Preparatory, Orchard Lake, Michigan. All rights reserved.
No logos, photographs, or graphics on the site may be reproduced without written permission.