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2/22/07-Hockey
St. Mary's, Brother Rice skate to 3-3 Showcase tie
By Mike Rosenbaum of The West Bloomfield Eccentric
In their only meeting this season, traditional Catholic League rivals Orchard Lake St. Mary's and Birmingham Brother Rice skated to a 3-3 tie Saturday at St. Mary's.
The Eaglets and Warriors met in a preliminary game of the league's annual Hockey Showcase event. The teams placed second in their respective Catholic League divisions this season.
Second-place games are usually lower-intensity contests, but that wasn't the case Saturday.
"It was a good game; they have a good team," St. Mary's coach Brian Klanow said. "Again, with my team, we played two good periods out of three. You can't expect to win big games like that. You have to play 45 minutes of hockey."
St. Mary's started fast and owned a 2-0 lead midway through the first period.
Billy Balent opened the scoring, taking a long pass from Jon Falvo and breaking in alone on Rice goalie Will Danko. Eaglets netminder Joe Savona also drew an assist on the play.
Just 32 seconds later, Steve Tallman skated into Rice's zone, cut into the slot and fired a wrist shot past Danko, at 7:28 of the period. Kasper Bryniczka and Tony Aukskalnis gained the assists.
But the Eaglets' momentum was soon stalled by three consecutive late-period penalties -- including one called as time expired. St. Mary's killed off all three power plays, but Rice got back in the game at 4:44 of the second period when Nick Tinetti pounced on a rebound and beat Savona with a high shot. Brandon Contratto and Brandon Fadel were credited with assists.
The Warriors then took advantage of their fourth power-play chance, with 5:06 remaining in the period. John Ebbing dug the puck out of a goalmouth scramble and found the net, with assists from Tinetti and Conor Moglia.
St. Mary's dominated much of the third period, outshooting Rice 15-4. The Eaglets regained the lead 1:24 into the period when Bryniczka capped a three-on-one break, taking a pass from Tallman and putting it top shelf past Danko. Aukskalnis also drew an assist.
Shortly after the goal, Savona made a sliding save to preserve the Eaglets' lead. Tallman then broke free and skated in on Danko, who stopped the senior to keep the score 3-2.
Rice's Greg Pateryn went off for roughing at 5:57, but the Warriors quickly broke out two-on-one. Contratto, on the right side, fed a streaking Brett Kroll on the left wing, who slammed the puck home for a shorthanded goal at 6:22.
Rice then took another penalty, giving the Eaglets a five-on-three advantage for one minute. Danko made several key saves over the next three minutes to maintain the tie.
Danko "played very well," said Rice coach Lou Schmidt, noting that the Eaglets are "so quick and they move the puck around so well, and I think Will covered his angles very well today."
Schmidt noted that the Warriors are used to playing from behind.
"Unfortunately, we've been in this position before," he said. "So the thing about this team is, they have the character to not panic. So they stepped up. They didn't panic, and they kept fighting."
The Warriors, ranked first in the state in Division 2, are 14-5-3 with games against Clarkston and Catholic Central remaining before the state tournament begins. Rice's performance has pleasantly surprised Schmidt, who lost several key seniors to graduation after last season.
"The season's been good for us," Schmidt said. "I think our expectations at the beginning of the season were that it was going to be a rebuilding year. The guys came together real, real well. We've got a very, very tough schedule. And the guys just step up and they play every single game as hard as they can, and that's all you can ask. We don't have the superstars that are out there every night scoring two, three goals. So everybody's chipping in."
St. Mary's finished the regular season with a 10-9-5 mark -- including six one-goal defeats -- and is ranked eighth in Division 1. The Eaglets have played a formidable schedule. Of their 19 games against in-state competition, 17 have been against teams currently ranked in the top 10 of their respective division.
"We're playing good, but we're not playing great," Klanow said. "We're close. When we get there, we're going to be a tough team."
The Eaglets are off until Feb. 27, when they meet Rochester Adams in pre-regional play. Klanow says the key to postseason success will be his team's confidence.
"They've just got to believe in themselves, which I think that they do," he said. "I think that they know that they're a very good team. We've just got to go out and apply it."
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