CC claims classic clash with OLSM

Catholic Central wins battle of hockey powers

By KEITH DUNLAP
Of The Oakland Press

PLYMOUTH — It was one of those instances where the event actually matched the hype going in.

Supporters of high school hockey filled Compuware Arena to capacity on Friday night to see two Division 1 state superpowers, No. 1 Novi Detroit Catholic Central and No. 3 Orchard Lake St. Mary's, play a state semifinal that featured two teams that have won or shared the last three Division 1 state championships.

As expected the game went down to the very end, before Catholic Central pulled out a 2-1 win over the Eaglets in a heart-stopping affair. Many probably think a state title is a foregone conclusion now for the Shamrocks, who will meet Howell for the Division 1 crown at 7 p.m. tonight at Compuware Arena in Plymouth.

“Obviously very intense,” Catholic Central head coach Todd Johnson said. “ A very, very physical game. We lost a couple of guys. They're a physical team and that's the style we tried to play. I was proud of our guys to hang in there and battle with them.”

Up next is a rematch of last year's title game, won handily by Catholic Central, 7-0. In that game the Shamrocks were so dominant that they outshot Howell, 35-6.

“It's going to be a challenge,” Johnson said. “Not as much emotionally, but physically. We're beat up right now. I can tell you, this is not the de facto state championship. Howell is a better team this year than last year, and their coaches were probably smiling from ear to ear up there watching our two teams battle it out.”

The Eaglets finished their season 21-6-2.

“We certainly had our opportunities,” St. Mary's head coach Brian Klanow said. “We just weren't able to put another one in there and take it to overtime. They're a very good team. They played well today and were the better team today.”

Catholic Central opened the scoring on a power play with 11:18 remaining in the first when freshman Charlie Green fired an innocent-looking wrist shot from the right face-off circle that went into the net for a 1-0 Shamrocks lead.

The Shamrocks then scored another power-play goal to take a 2-0 lead with 1:30 remaining in the first. After a shot by Catholic Central junior Ryan Keller squirted passed St. Mary's goalie Joe Janiga, and stopped right on the goal line, Shamrocks senior Brad Wilhelm lunged for the puck and managed to tap it into the vacated net to give Catholic Central a 2-0 lead.

“We were in the exact same boat three, four years ago when they scored two power-play goals in the first eight minutes of the game and the game ended up 2-0,” Johnson said. “It's just a long way to climb when you are behind. I thought we did a pretty good job of protecting the lead.”

The Eaglets finally broke through with 2:16 remaining in the third on a power-play goal of their own, as senior Jon Kello fired a shot from the point that trickled through Catholic Central goalie Zack Cisek and into the net. St. Mary's frantically tried to tie the game in the final 1:10, pulling its goalie and creating lots of pressure in front of the Catholic Central goal.

After a stoppage with 9.2 seconds left, a skirmish broke out between the teams that resulted in five penalties getting called. Following a lengthy delay to sort out the mess, a face-off took place outside the Catholic Central zone, and the Shamrocks held on from there.

When the final horn sounded, Catholic Central players stormed the ice in celebration. The big question now will be how much Catholic Central has left for Howell.

It was the third meeting of the season between Catholic Central and St. Mary's, with the Shamrocks winning all three times by one goal. Catholic Central beat St. Mary's in the first two games of the year for St. Mary's, 2-1 and 4-3.

Prep Hockey

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