Icers ended the season in the MHSAA Pre-Regionals with a loss to crosstown rivals Lake Orion on March 3, 4-1.
“Overall we played well,” reflected Bryan Krygier, head coach for Clarkston Varsity Hockey. “We played hard. We took it to them for the most of the game. They were focused and played a physical game and took it to Lake Orion. “
Lake Orion scored two points in one power play with two shots from Ryan Szydlowski.
“We made two mistakes and gave indirect passes and indirect turnovers to their top player,” Krygier said. “He capitalized on it.”
The Dragons scored in the second period with a goal from Marc Kerchner.
Junior forward Riley Peickert put the Wolves on the board in the the quarter on on a five on three goal to put the score 3-1.
“We tried to make an extra run at it and put an extra guy on the ice,” Krygier said. “They made a goal out of it. for all purposes if we hadn’t made those mistakes it would have been a 1-1 game. It would have been a different game if we hadn’t made the mistakes on the power play.”
The boys made 23 shots on the net.
The Wolves finished the season with a 11-15 record after starting slow.
“It was a learning experience for the 14 new players we had who had never played varsity hockey before,” Krygier said. “I don’t think they knew and were ready for the varsity competition of the varsity level of the teams we see throughout the state.
“Once they got into the season and once started practicing they started to improve, they started to learn how they should be playing and what they should be focusing on. It took us some time and we did improve throughout the year even though we did have lapses here and there. Overall they improved and they became better players and they will be better off for it next year.”
It was the last game for 11 seniors Brendan Barrow, Austin Fullmer, Drake Gentile, Danny Grohs, Shayn Lindquist, Matt Johnson, Dane Pipia, Joe Popp, Jack Selke, Justin Selke and Dylan Smith.
Popp played all for years for the Wolves and was one of the captains.
“He improved every year and instrumentally brought energy to the team,” Krygier said. “He is an excellent academic student. You couldn’t ask for a better person on and off of the ice to be part of the Clarkston Hockey program. He is a class act when it comes to hockey.”
Gentile also led the team as a captain and with scoring.
“He led by example on the ice,” Krygier said.
He added with defense Fullmer led and was with the program for three years.
“He was steady out there. We were able to put him out there every other shift in order to keep teams at bay and deflect shots off our goaltender,” he said. “I think he contributed leadership on that expect. It was a big help.”
Krygier added a lot of the seniors were new to the team and had a learning curve to catch up to.
“They did a good job and came around during the second half of the season,” he said. “They knew what was expected. I was pleased. It’s mixed emotions ? I want to win every game and put our best foot forward but this team ended up 11-15 and back at 500 for part of the season which was nice because we were working hard. I think they came around and showed very good effort for us.”
The Wolves have 11 returners coming back for next season with freshmen Nick Terry, Ethan Wilczynski; sophomores Gavyn Eisert, Nick Grohs, Brennan Vargas; juniors Kort Highducheck, Craig Moster, Riley Peickert, Trevor Propson, Jagar Smith and Justin Stasevich.
Krygier will not be back next year as he is moving on a new venture. See the story in an upcoming edition of The Clarkston News.