The final game of Clarkston’s Annual Christmas Tournament came down to double overtime. Unfortunately, Clarkston wasn’t playing.
Already knocking out Clarkston and Novi, the Cranes of Cranbrook Kingswood beat the Cardinals of Davison 1-0.
Jacob Friedman scored the winning goal, with an assist from Greg Leonardo.
In the first round of the annual Christmas Tournament, Clarkston played Cranbrook Kingswood and lost 5-1.
‘Cranbrook played very well,? said Coach Bryan Krygier. ‘They’re always a good team. They always play well. We kinda let go, let down and didn’t play very good defensively. We didn’t generate any offense.?
The first period ended with both teams at zero. Three minutes into the second period, Cranbrook scored the first goal, by Joe Jacoby, Henry Gembis assisting.
With 5:45 left in the period, Cranbrook struck again as Friedman sent the puck past Garrett Knappe. Two minutes later, Friedman followed up with another goal, bringing Cranbrook ahead 3-0.
Aaron Podbielski put Clarkston on the board, scoring a goal 3:38 left in the second period. Friedman finished off the period with one more goal with 43 seconds left on the scoreboard.
In the third period, Friedman scored one more against Clarkston five minutes into the last period, for a final score of 4-1.
Cranbrook out shot Clarkston 34-12, fewer shots on goal than Cranbrook made the previous year, 37-11.
Clarkston continued the Christmas Tournament on Saturday against Novi High School.
The first period ended with zero points on the board. Into the first four minutes of the next period, Novi’s Adam Szajner scored the first goal.
One minute later, Szajner did it again and put Novi ahead of Clarkston by two points.
With two minutes left in the second period, Michael Fiteny scored Clarkston’s first goal.
With a swing of the hockey stick, Adam Frank hit the puck past goalie Kevin Michaizuk and into the net. He tied the game with nine minutes left.
Novi pushed forward and Shane McCusker scored the last goal of the game, leading Novi to win 3-2 and placing Clarkston in fourth place.
Novi out shot Clarkston 34-19.
‘Today we played a lot better,? said Krygier. ‘We played some of the younger guys and the new guys.?
That brought more energy to the game, he said.
‘The hard part of our schedule starts after New Year’s.?
They go from playing 1-2 games a week, to playing 2-3 a week.
‘So we got to be mentally ready,? he said.
The team will practice during the holiday break to get ready for their first game of 2008.
They will play Jan. 9 against North Farmington High School at Farmington Hills Ice Arena, at 35500 W. 8 Mile Road.
The game will begin at 7 p.m.