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2/10/07-Hockey
East Kentwood icers power past St. Mary's
By Mike Rosenbaum of the Observer and Eccentric
TRENTON--A rash of third-period penalties proved costly for Orchard Lake St. Mary's Friday as the Eaglets dropped a 5-3 decision to East Kentwood in the teams' Michigan High School Hockey Showcase opener.
St. Mary's, ranked seventh in the state in Division 1, carried a 3-2 lead into the third period Friday. But the Eaglets took three penalties in just over four minutes, and the Falcons – ranked first in D-1 – capitalized twice, then added an empty net goal to complete the scoring.
“I thought we were pretty evenly-played in the first period,” said St. Mary's coach Brian Klanow. “I thought it was evenly-played in the second. And then the penalties obviously hurt us.”
The Eaglets took an early lead when Ben Shields' quick shot from the right side beat East Kentwood goalie Ben Belton 6:30 into the opening period, with assists from Tony Aukskalnis and Brandon Kozlowski. But a special teams mistake cost St. Mary's in the final minute. With the Eaglets on the power play, East Kentwood's Joe VanValkenburg won a battle for the puck in St. Mary's zone and fed it to Eric Alexander, who was alone in front of the Eaglets net. Alexander fired the puck home with 47.8 seconds left in the period.
Billy Balent had a shorthanded breakaway for St. Mary's early in the second period. He was stopped by Belton, but drew a Falcons penalty.
The teams then exchanged goals during the ensuing 4-on-4 situation.
First, East Kentwood's Aric Geerlings broke in down the left wing and beat Eaglets netminder Joe Savona. But Jon Falvo answered, 4:12 into the period, firing a sharp-angle shot past Belton, with Balent and Mac Watts drawing assists.
Balent then scored the game's most spectacular goal, taking a long pass from Clinton Bourbonais on the right side, beating the defenseman, cutting in front of the net and backhanding the shot in for a 3-2 St. Mary's lead at the 5:34 mark.
Savona made several strong stops to keep the Eaglets in front, until the parade to the penalty box turned the tide.
Geerlings scored the Falcons' first power play goal of the third period, banging home a rebound at 7:55, then Ben Dykstra scored on a similar play, knocking home a rebound at 9:55. Both scoring plays began with shots from the point that Savona stopped.
Bourbonais had St. Mary's best chances in the final minutes, including a slap shot from the point with 25 seconds left that caused Belton to look behind him for the puck. But the Falcons' goalie had it covered. Alexander then scored the empty net goal 10 seconds later to secure the victory.
East Kentwood out-shot St. Mary's 35-19, including a 15-5 margin in the decisive third period.
"I thought our team played well," said Klanow, adding that the Eaglets only need "a couple small changes" to be more successful.
"We need to be shooting more pucks at the net," he continued. "Defensively, we need to get down and block shots. We kind of let their defensemen shoot from the point, instead of getting down and blocking them."
St. Mary's dropped to 9-9-4 overall entering Saturday's game with Birmingham Unified. The Eaglets return to action this Saturday, at home against Brother Rice, in the Catholic League Showcase second-place game.
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