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2/9/2008-Hockey
Eaglets avenge loss to Sailors
By SUSAN SMILEY/Special to The Oakland Press
TRENTON--If you are doing hockey math, a 5-on-3 advantage should result in one goal for the team on the power play.
But when Muskegon Mona Shores had the two-man advantage late in the second period Friday, Orchard Lake St. Mary's managed to keep its opponent off the board to preserve the Eaglets' lead and gain a heap of momentum.
OLSM (8-12-2) came away with a 3-2 win at the Michigan High School Hockey Showcase tournament after losing to Mona Shores, 4-1, earlier in the season.
Both teams are ranked ninth in the state in their respective divisions -- OLSM in Division 1 and Mona Shores in Division 2.
"Obviously, being able to kill the penalty like that is big momentum and it gives your team a kick in the pants," said OLSM head coach Brian Klanow. "I thought we played that really well. You just want to try and keep them to the outside and force them to move the puck around you. That is what we were trying to do and I think our players executed pretty well."
With Mona Shores (9-9) leading 1-0 with 24 seconds to go in the first period, senior captain Tim Hooker scored on a wrap-around. The goal was the stuff of highlight films, but Hooker admits he id not exactly follow his coach's instructions.
"Coach was telling me to pass the puck up to my defense and control the puck," said Hooker. "But I just dumped it in, got behind the net, saw the net was open and grabbed the puck and put it in."
OLSM dominated the second period, scoring two more goals courtesy of Shane Halaas and Thaddeus McConkey to end the period leading 3-1. Despite the lead, Klanow was not pleased with the fact that his team was in the penalty box more than he would have liked in the first two periods.
"We took way too many penalties and the coach was pretty mad at us," said Hooker. "We won this game with a lot of hard work and determination. We came out kind of flat in the third period but we knew we had to win the game and we just kept digging in the corners to get the puck."
Kyle Hicks put Mona Shores on the board just 3:16 into the game. Tyler McCarl made it a one-goal game at 4:14 of the third period. The Sailors had a flurry of shots in the last five minutes of the game but were unable to get anything past OLSM netminder Devon Carr.
"It was enjoyable to watch and enjoyable to coach that part of the game," Sailors head coach Charlie Link said. "This was a lot like the earlier game where we played and you could see the two teams were very, very well matched. They are a very strong team and I think we played the way we were supposed to and the way I hoped we would play and just came up a little short."
OLSM outshot Mona Shores, 23-18.
Mona Shores was without its three leading scorers, who were all serving a suspension from school. Link asked his younger players to step up and play a bigger role on the team for the tournament and, for the most part, he was pleased with the result.
"We just wanted effort from our players today and we got it," said Link. "We have 18 new kids this year and that was mostly our new kids playing out there today. We told them this is what we are going to be seeing next year, so they might as well get used to playing together now."
The game was a physical contest that featured many solid checks along the boards. Hooker said it was no different the first time the two teams played and OLSM expected a rough-and-tumble game.
"We wanted to come out hard hitting, make them skate and make them look over their shoulders a little bit," Hooker said.
Klanow admits the win over Mona Shores was not the prettiest victory.
"We did not play our best game but we played good and I think we outshot them quite a bit and we found a way to win," said Klanow. "That is what you have to do when you play against good teams like this. I feel like we are starting to come into our own right now."
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