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3/2/07-Hockey
St. Mary's icers advance to regional final
By Mike Rosenbaum of The West Bloomfield Eccentric
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BLOOMFIELD HILLS-- Orchard Lake St. Mary's scored three times in the second period and held off a spirited Clarkston hockey team Thursday night, edging the upset-minded Wolves, 4-3. The Division 1 pre-regional contest was played at Clarkston's home rink, the Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield Hills.
The Eaglets, 12-9-5, advance to Saturday's regional final against the winner of Wednesday's Catholic Central-Birmingham Unified contest.
St. Mary's carried the play for most of the game Wednesday, dominating puck possession and out-shooting Clarkston 30-16. But the Wolves were generally able to clog up the middle of the ice and slow down the Eaglets' attack, and didn't allow St. Mary's any odd-man rushes.
"We tried to slow them down, their transition game," explained Clarkston coach Bryan Krygier. "We didn't allow them...to get a lot of speed and momentum, forcing them to dump the puck, so then we could get it out of the zone. So it was a little bit more of a choppy game than they're used to playing. They're more of a flow team."
St. Mary's did enjoy a greater advantage in scoring chances than the 4-3 final score indicated. But Clarkston netminder Garrett Knappe played a strong game, and the Eaglets missed the net on a few good chances.
St. Mary's coach Brian Klanow noted that the Eaglets "had lots of times where we had barrages of shots," despite Clarkston's defensive efforts. But St. Mary's offensive focus was occasionally costly on the other end of the ice.
"We were offense, offense, offense," said Klanow. "And then it seemed like, once we had to go on the defensive side, (when) the puck was down by our net we started to panic and we got caught out of position a few times."
The Eaglets trounced the Wolves in their previous meeting, on Feb. 2, 8-0. But Clarkston's leaders were determined not to repeat that scenario.
"We've got a young team," Krygier said, "and we've got a few seniors that stepped up -- Eric Salo, Taylor Turner, Blake Schmidt...Everyone contributed. All lines played well. We closed the gaps, we forced them to make mistakes and we kind of capitalized on those mistakes. And then, we got good goaltending."
Klanow agreed that Knappe "made some good saves. They're a well-coached team and came out and played with a lot of emotion. (But) we've got to play better than that in order to achieve our goal."
Despite an 8-3 shots advantage for St. Mary's in the first period, Clarkston netted the period's only goal. St. Mary's netminder Joe Savona made a sharp save on a Eric Salo shot, but Chris Salo got the rebound and passed to Jeremy Voelker, who knocked the puck in with 15 seconds remaining in the period.
The Eaglets responded with two goals just 1:14 apart in the second period. Jon Falvo's low screen shot beat Clarkston goalie Garrett Knappe 1:50 into the period, then Charle Semaan brought the puck from behind the net and snapped a shot past Knappe for a 2-1 lead.
Clarkston tied the game on a similar goal, with Blake Schmidt carrying the puck from behind the net and roofing a shot at the 7:06 mark.
With 4:13 left in the period, St. Mary's regained the lead when Brandon Kozlowski carried the puck into Clarkston's zone and centered it to Kasper Bryniczka, who fired a low, quick shot into the net.
St. Mary's began the third period with its only power play of the game. Knappe, who played a strong game, stopped Semaan point-blank early in the power play. But the Clarkston netminder then permitted his only bad goal of the night, as Steve Tallman put a high shot from a sharp angle into the short side at 1:39 of the period.
Clarkston pulled Knappe with 1:50 left and it paid off when Ryan Kenerson tipped in a shot from Aaron Podbielski with 1:34 remining. But the Eaglets controlled the puck for the remainder of the contest,
preventing the Wolves from pulling Knappe again.
.
"It's very tough to compete and beat a team like that," Krygier said. "But I thought our guys played with a lot of heart. I think we showed improvement (compared with the teams' earlier game). I think we showed a lot more focus, a lot more determination, and showed that we progressed this season."
Clarkston ends its season 8-15-3.
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