Tanner Pond's overtime goal lifts Orchard Lake St. Mary's

Justin Souva / Special to The Detroit News

ST. CLAIR SHORES -- It took extra time Wednesday, but Orchard Lake St. Mary's is moving on to the semifinals of the Division 1 hockey playoffs.

Tanner Pond scored the winner 39 seconds into overtime, giving St. Mary's a 2-1 victory over U-D Jesuit.

Pond said he didn't look where he shot after corralling a rebound, and just wanted to get it on net. The blind shot sailed under the crossbar.

"That's probably the best experience I've ever had," Pond said. "It's pretty exciting."

The scoring chances were few and far between after the first period and before overtime. The second and third periods were scoreless, and there wasn't a penalty called in the third or overtime.

"I think both teams were just testing the waters," St. Mary's coach Brian Klanow said. "Nobody was overly aggressive on the offensive side."

U-D Jesuit had a power-play opportunity late in the second. It caught St. Mary's (21-5-2) on a bad line change that resulted in a 4-on-2 break, but it failed to score.

"I think we just didn't move the puck around to the guy that was in the best chance to have the opportunity to shoot," U-D Jesuit coach Rick Bennetts said.

Loyer's goal opened scoring 7:38 into the first. Jordan Dean scored, on a shot from the point, nearly five minutes later to answer for U-D Jesuit (18-10-0).

St. Mary's had a 5-on-3 power play to start the second, but it was quickly negated with a penalty of its own.

U-D Jesuit thought it had scored 1:15 into the game. Matt Moore skated to the right and almost behind goalie Joseph Janiga, who made 17 saves, and then flipped a backhand shot that was redirected toward Janiga.

Moore and his teammates celebrated, but the referees disallowed the goal. Bennetts said they explained to him they couldn't see the puck, so they couldn't award a goal.

Alfonse Kolis had 16 saves for U-D Jesuit.

St. Mary's will play Detroit Catholic Central in the semifinals at 8:30 p.m. Friday at Compuware Arena in Plymouth.

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