‘WHAT A GREAT FEELING’
Last-minute shot sends Ike past L’Anse Creuse Unified in regional playoffs
In a couple minutes, Eisenhower’s hockey team went from disheartened to jubilant.
The source of the Eagles’ joy was a goal by Brendan Chateau with 58 seconds remaining in the third period that lifted Eisenhower to a 3-2 victory Monday against L’Anse Creuse Unified in a Division 1 firstround regional game at Suburban Ice Macomb.
“That was huge. Huge,” said Dominic Riggio, who had a goal and two assists, including a perfect pass to set up Chateau’s game winner.
A little more than two minutes earlier, LCU’s Aiden Sucocki’s shot from the right wing found an opening on the short side to tie the game at 2-2.
“When they scored that second goal everybody was kind of devastated,” Riggio said. “We got the team back together. We controlled ourselves. We came out that next shift and scored. I slid the puck across. I didn’t know if it was going to get through. Their player had his stick on the ice but it slid across.
“Their goalie reacted quick, but Brendan put it in for us. What a great feeling. I just started screaming. Oh, my goodness. I couldn’t believe it. The whole game was back and forth.”
As happy as the Eagles were to move on to the regional semifinal against Romeo on March 26, L’Anse Creuse felt the disappointment of having a fine effort fall short.
“They played their hearts out,” L’Anse Creuse coach Jon Nader said of his team. “We started a little slow but ended on a high note. Then they popped in that last one. I feel bad for our seniors.”
Eisenhower took a 2-0 lead in the first period. Riggio scored on a shorthanded breakaway at 2:37 after picking up the loose puck when two L’Anse Creuse players collided at the blue line.
“I just put the wheels on,” Riggio said. “All I was looking for was some open net and I found it.”
Michael Zelenak scored the Eagles’ second goal, assisted by Jacob Scharret and Riggio, at 14:43. The goal came moments after L’Anse Creuse’s Justin Brooks rang a shot off the goal post.
Neither team scored in the second period with goalies Natel Maurin of L’Anse Creuse and Eisenhower’s Ryan Osobka coming up with good saves.
L’Anse Creuse started its comeback at 3:19 of the third period on a goal by Jonah Kramer, assisted by Aiden Carrithers.
Eisenhower coach Bob Hall was puzzled that the Eagles stopped doing the things that gave them the early lead.
“We had them where we were applying pressure and for some reason, we just stopped applying pressure,” he said. “I told the boys in the locker room to clear the zone and get the puck deep. We just weren’t doing that. They were pressuring us and we were giving them opportunities instead of doing what we were supposed to do.
“When you clear the puck on your breakout, you’ve got to get it over the blue line. We were losing the battles at both blue lines. When you get to the red line and there’s no place to go, you dump the puck deep. When we did get the puck deep we applied pressure. That’s how we got that last goal. The good news is the boys didn’t give up. They came back and they found a way to win the game.”
Hall said the Eagles will need to play better against Macomb Area Conference Red Division champion Romeo.
“We have to be better in how we attack and how we defend,” he said. “That last goal was pretty but we shouldn’t have been in that situation. We have to be better at maintaining the lead.
“Their goalie played exceptional. He took a lot of rubber. I think we were 50 plus in shots. L’Anse Creuse has two solid lines that come at you all the time. They gave us everything they had. Ryan played a great game in net for us.”
Maurin said it was a bittersweet ending to his high school career, but he praised his teammates.
“They played great — the best all season,” he said.