"I think I’ve got a sore neck," quipped Lou Schmidt, Jr., coach of Birmingham Brother Rice, after his Warriors outlasted Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, 6-4, in a bruising hockey game last night at the Oak Park Arena.
St. Mary’s coach, Brian Klanow, was sore, too -- but more so to his pride.
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"We had our chance to win, but you can’t if you turn the puck over."
In his estimation, five of Rice’s six scores were the result of defensive turnovers. Rice’s two final goals exemplified what miffed Klanow.
The Eaglets had tied the game at 4-4 early in the third period on a goal by Connor Lyons, after receiving a pass to the slot from Alan Boozer.
A minute and 14 seconds later, however, Rice regained the lead, 5-4. Mack MacEachern muscled the puck from Eaglet defenders along the boards in the St. Mary’s zone, whipped it to Tom Ebbing, who fired a point-blank shot past defenseless goalie, Austin Julvezan.
At 7:10, Ebbing and MacEachern combined to wrestle the puck away from a couple of Eaglets behind St. Mary’s net and got it to Jake Jaskolski, who crammed it in for the game-clinching goal.
The game got off to a much milder start than the one 12 days ago when the Warriors blanked the Eaglets, 5-zip.
After the teams traded unsuccessful power-play opportunities, junior Henry Nelson placed the puck over Julvezan’s left shoulder to put Rice on the board, 1-0, at 9:45.
St. Mary’s didn’t waste a second power-play chance. The Eaglets freshman forward, Cody Milan, intercepted a pass at mid-rink and deked a Rice opponent to clear the path to a shorthand goal against senior Rice goalie, P. J. Bridges, to tie the score, 1-1, at 7:32.
With 28 seconds remaining in the first period, junior forward Luke Rodgers scored on a rebound that skipped over Bridges’ head and caromed off his back into the net for a 2-1 St. Mary’s lead.
"I thought both goalies played well," said Schmidt. Julvezan turned back two breakaway attempts during a power play early in the second period. Bridges, who came into the game with a 92 percent save rate and a 1.71 goals-against average, was particularly tough down the stretch.
The last 5:27 of the second period were intense. "It was a playoff atmosphere," Schmidt said.
In a span of a minute and 28 seconds, Rice tied the score 2-2 on a power-play goal by Eric Dibble; 23 seconds later, Boozer, whose cross-checking penalty had given Rice the man-advantage opportunity, redeemed himself with a goal to put the Eaglets back in front 3-2.
At 3:59, Jaskolski made the first of his two goals for the night to re-tie the game at 3-3. Tempers flared in the heat of the competition. The Eaglets’ Ryan Foe and Warriors’ John Hickman were both vanquished to the penalty box for roughing. All together, six penalties were whistled against St. Mary’s and four for Rice.
With the clock ticking down to 14 seconds in the period, Dibble took advantage of St. Mary’s inability to clear the puck from its zone and trickled a shot past Julvezan for a Rice 4-3 lead and set the stage for the decisive third period.
Dibbles’ two goals give him 14 for the season. MacEachern’s four assists raised his season total to 19 and combined with 14 goals gives him a team-leading 33 points.
Milan’s goal was his tenth and raises his points to 16 for the Eaglets.
Both coaches put a philosophical bent on the game. Klanow, whose Eaglets (11-5) are ranked third in Division 1, looked at "all of this stuff as practice for the playoffs (Catholic League and state tournament)." Schmidt, whose Warriors (13-2-1) are third-rated in Division 2, said playing such a fast-paced game against a talented team like St. Mary’s prepares his squad for the challenges ahead.
MIHL Showcase Feb. 10-12
Brother Rice and St. Mary’s, and three other CHSL hockey teams, will be participating in the Michigan Interscholastic Hockey League Showcase Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 10-12, at the Kennedy Recreation Center in Trenton.
On Feb. 11, in the main rink at 2 p.m., Warren DeLaSalle faces Hill Academy from Toronto. Novi Detroit Catholic Central squares off against Marquette at 6 p.m.
St. Mary’s will play U-D Jesuit at 2:20 p.m. in the Teifer rink followed at 6:20 p.m. by Brother Rice and Calumet.
On Feb. 12, CC plays Hill Academy at 10:40 a.m., DeLaSalle and Cranbrook at 2:40 p.m, and St. Mary’;s against Livonia Stevenson at 4:40 p.m., all on the main rink.
Brother Rice and U-D Jesuit drop the puck at 4 p.m. on the Teifer rink.
The Catholic League boys hockey championship occurs the following weekend, Feb. 19-20, at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s.
