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2/22/2011-Hockey
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ORCHARD LAKE — Curtailing certain rhetoric, especially when it centers on playoff aspirations, is an idea many coaches take to heart throughout the course of the regular season.
Some may avoid postseason talk all together, while others like to focus on the more immediate future, such as league titles or approaching things one game and one night at a time.
Brian Klanow is not one of those coaches.
He understands the mindset, but has never been one to dive too far into it.
“There's no hidden secrets as far as our program and what we want to do,” the Orchard Lake St. Mary's hockey coach said last week. “We set our goals high. We know what's expected of our program every year.”
In case there's any doubt, Klanow is speaking about a Division 1 state title, and the Eaglets' march to that possibility officially begins Feb. 28 at home against Farmington Hills Unified in the pre-regional opener.
“I've never felt you should be afraid of saying exactly what it is you feel like you want to do,” Klanow added.
His players have adopted the same mindset.
Speaking at a Feb. 14 practice, exactly two weeks from the drop of the playoff puck, senior defenseman Christian Black said simply, “The first goal of every season is winning a state title. Now's the time of year when you really start to feel that excitement build up. You work all season for this.”
It's been a mini-drought of sorts for the Eaglets since their last title in 2008, when they shared crown with Marquette High after a winner couldn't be decided in an eight-overtime affair. That year's team successfully defended the 2007 D-1 title.
But each of the past two seasons, St. Mary's has gotten close, but has fallen just shy of the finish line.
In 2009, a 21-5-1 team was upset by Grosse Pointe North 4-1 in the quarterfinal round, while last year's 21-5-2 squad lost a playoff classic 2-1 to eventual champ Novi Detroit Catholic Central in the semifinals.
Things have been much different in Orchard Lake this year, though. A much younger squad than usual has taken the ice with the tricky task of jelling and learning on the fly.
Wins haven't come with as much frequency or certainty as before, either.
Youth has something to do with the team's 12-9-0 record at press time, but so does the fact that the Eaglets are playing in the Michigan Interscholastic Hockey League for the first time and have dealt with an unrelenting rash of injuries and illness for the better part of the winter.
“We were down six kids at one point,” said Klanow, whose team had lost five of its last six games at press time. “But we're getting healthy, and we're starting to play the way we know we can.”
With a shorthanded roster on Feb. 5, St. Mary's lost 5-2 to a University of Detroit Jesuit team that had just four wins. A week later, with a roster nearly back to 100 percent, the Eaglets out shot the Cubs 55-12 and exacted revenge in a 4-2 victory.
“We went through a pretty rough patch,” said senior forward Ryan Foe. “But we feel like we're getting healthy and we're getting focused, and before long, we'll be playing the way we did at the start of the year.”
Prior to the injury- and illness-induced speed bumps, the Eaglets were an 11-4 team in the midst of a five-game winning streak and considered one of the best in all of D-1. And that's where much of team's confidence is derived from.
“We went through a bit of a lull, but it's not like we were playing bad hockey,” Klanow said. “When you fight through things the way we have, it builds character. These guys are very confident in what we can do, and they have good reason to be.”
The consensus between Klanow and his players is that the only team that can stop St. Mary's trip to a state title is, well, St. Mary's.
“The way I see it, when we play our game as well as I know we can, we should be all right against any team we face,” Klanow said.
“If we're healthy and playing our game, there's not a team out there we don't feel like we can beat,” Black said. “Now it's a matter of taking care of business and finding a way to win that title. That's the goal every year.”
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