Chippewa Valley United defeats L’Anse Creuse Unified, wins share of MAC Red championship
Chippewa Valley United clinched a share of the Macomb Area Conference Red Division hockey championship, but the team has bigger goals to chase.
“This feels really good. It’s the first time in nine years we’ve got a MAC championship,” said Evan Johnston, who scored four goals Friday in Chippewa Valley’s 8-0 victory against L’Anse Creuse Unified in the teams’ annual Angels of Hope game.
“It’s awesome but we want to get a regional championship. That’s what we came here to do and then see if we can go on from there.”
CVU and Eisenhower, which beat Anchor Bay 5-2 on Friday, finished the division season with 6-2-0 records.
Chippewa Valley-Dakota is the top seed in the Division 1 regional that begins next week at the Mount Clemens Ice Arena. CVU plays the winner of L’Anse Creuse-Port Huron.
“This is just part one,” said coach Jim Andonoff. “We’re going to continue to work hard next week and see what happens.”
Johnston’s four goals were a season-high and boosted his total to the mid-twenties.
“It’s 24 or 25, somewhere in that area,” he said. “I’m not worried about that. We’ve got an eight-game win streak and we want to keep that going.”
CVU led 2-0 after the first period with Shane Stone scoring both goals. Anthony Paperi also scored twice and had two assists. Ryan LeDuc had two assists and Karson Shriner, Kevin Dolney, John Legebokoff, Dylan Giard and Kaden Jackson collected one apiece.
“A couple of my goals were lucky but that comes from playing hard,” Johnston said. “My linemates, Anthony (Paperi) and KJ (Kaden Jackson), work hard to help me get the chances I get. It’s been fun playing with them and the great group of guys we’ve got.”
Josh Sosnowski turned away 12 shots to record the shutout. Nate Maurin had 36 saves for LCU.
The win improved CVU’s overall record to 18-6-0.
Andonoff said that team chemistry is a big factor in the team’s success this season.
“They all get along really well,” he said. “We’ve got younger guys and we’ve got older guys and the mix is a great group of kids who work hard to help each other. The big key is we’re having fun. Practices have been phenomenal all year. When you’re having fun, good things happen. When they come to the rink they’re happy to be here.”
Johnston said the unity translates to victories.
“We keep it light
in
the locker room,” he said. “Even if we’re down we keep it positive. We play as a team. That’s how you win games.”
That will be important in the postseason.
“We have to play as a team and keep all three lines going hard,” Johnston said. “We can’t have just one line or one line of D. (Goalie) Josh (Sosnowski) has been great all year and we’re going to need that. We’ve got a good chance to win the regional and hopefully go forward from there.” Andonoff agreed.
“We have to continue to play our game,” he said. “We’re going to work like we have all year and keep focused on what we want to achieve.”
L’Anse Creuse Unified fell to 8-14-0 overall but coach Jon Nader is encouraged about the future of his team.
“We’re young and inexperienced but we’re getting better,” he said. “Tonight wasn’t a display of what we’re made of. We will get better. We’re confident of that because they work hard.”