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1/25/07-Hockey
Nothing settled as Eaglets and Cranes skate to tie
Hockey Weekly
BLOOMFIELD HILLS--Orchard Lake St. Mary's and Cranbrook Kingswood left the question unresolved as to who's the better team for the second consecutive year as they skated to a 1-1 tie on Jan. 24, with no overtime, at Cranbrook 's Wallace Arena.
Both teams were willing to give a standing-room-only crowd up to another eight minutes of action to try and settle the game, but it was not to be.
"The head referee, Terry Sheen, came over to our bench and said, 'This is not a league game, we're not playing overtime,'" said Cranbrook head coach Andy Weidenbach. "We wanted to keep playing as we were on the power play, had some momentum, and a large home crowd behind us who wanted to see more."
Cranbrook plays in the Michigan Interscholastic Hockey League, which calls for an eight-minute overtime for league games. St. Mary's is an independent.
"We're ready to play until it's over," said St. Mary's head coach Brian Klanow. "That's what you play for."
The tie gave the Eaglets a four-game unbeaten streak against the Cranes, a big turnaround after Cranbrook owned an 11-0-1 record over St. Mary's through 2004. But in 2005, St. Mary's broke the streak with a 3-2 regular season win in January and a 4-3 overtime win in the March state regional playoff to eliminate the Cranes and go on to win the Eaglets' first state championship in Division 3.
St. Mary's opted up to Division 1 last year, and the two teams tied in their only match-up at Wallace Arena, 2-2, in 2006. This latest tie featured tight checking, a minimum of penalties, and solid goaltending from St. Mary's Joe Savona and Cranbrook 's Ryan McClure.
Two minutes into the first period, the Cranes found themselves on a penalty kill. Ten minutes later, it happened again, but the Eaglets couldn't take advantage. The period ended with Cranbrook on a power play and for 18 seconds into the second. Eaglet goalie Savona stopped two good Cranes scoring chances. Cranbrook 's Tom Budd then went off for trippng, and St. Mary's made the power play count with a goal by Steve Tallman at 1:47 with an assist from Jon Falvo.
Not only did the Eaglets take the lead, a Cranbrook player was called for slashing, and St. Mary's stayed on the power play. McClure stonewalled the Eaglets, though, to keep his team in the game.
The Cranes tied it when sophomore Shota Hotta scored on a two-on-one break, with assists from Ben Daiek and Gregg Lombardo at 4:12.
St. Mary's fought off two penalties early in the third period, and then found themselves short a man again with 1:32 remaining on a penalty to
Brandon Kozlowski. Ten seconds into the power play, the Cranes thought they scored the go-ahead goal, but the officials waved it off.
"The officials ruled the net moved (off its moorings) prior to the puck going into the net," said Weidenbach.
Emotions were high and the Cranes picked up a 10-minute misconduct, but still finished the game with a man advantage. The Cranes outshot the Eaglets 9-5 for the period, and for the game, 25-21.
The Eaglets (7-5-4) next travel to East Kentwood for a weekend tournament, playing Grosse Pointe South on Friday and then if they win, play the winner of a game between East Kentwood and Traverse City Central. The Cranes (12-2-1) were headed to Alpena to defend their title in the Alpena Tournament.
Hockey Weekly Special Writer Jeff Stearns contributed to this report.
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