The Clarkston hockey team rode their winning ways all the way to the state finals.
However, perennial state champion Detroit Catholic Central ended Clarkston’s dream of a state championship with a 4-0 win against the Wolves March 8 at the Compuware Ice Arena in Plymouth. The Shamrocks claimed their record fifth straight state championship, while the Wolves ended their season with a 17-9-4 record.
The Shamrocks (26-3) scored three second-period goals on Clarkston junior goaltender Aaron Catanese and added a fourth goal in the third period, while Clarkston could not get untracked offensively against CC junior goalie Jim Blanchard.
After the game, Coach Bryan Krygier told the team to hold their heads high.
“We came out on the wrong side Saturday, but that doesn’t take away from what they accomplished,” he said. “There’s nothing for us to be ashamed of. We competed against the best in the state.”
Clarkston earned the trip to the finals with a 4-1 win against East Kentwood March 7 at Compuware. East Kentwood outshot the Wolves 22-16, but Catanese’s goaltending helped spark the Wolves to the finals.
The Wolves struck first at 3:14 of the first period when junior Steve Morin scored on assists from freshman Kyle Cummings and senior defenseman Ron Knoebel.
After East Kentwood’s Adam Thomas scored at 1:08 of the second to tie the game at one, Clarkston senior forward Eric Hall put the Wolves back on top at 9:34 of the second with assists from Knoebel and senior defenseman Jim Lattanzi.
Clarkston added insurance goals at 9:51 of the second, when junior forward Kyle Buzzo scored on an assist from Lattanzi, and at 14:08 of the third, when junior forward Adam Peters scored unassisted.
The Wolves advanced to the state semifinals with a 4-3 overtime win against West Bloomfield March 5 at the Flint IMA Arena.
Knoebel tallied a power-play goal 1:05 into overtime to advance the Wolves to the semifinals. West Bloomfield (12-12-3) twice overcome two-goal deficits to force the extra period.
The Wolves went on the power play in overtime after West Bloomfield’s Steve Kuza was sent to the penalty box for taking down Hall in the Lakers’ zone, setting up Knoebel’s game-winner. Clarkston outshot West Bloomfield 25-14 in the contest.
In the first period, Clarkston took a 2-0 lead on goals by sophomore forward Trevor Johns and Hall. However, West Bloomfield’s Matt Waskerwitz trimmed the Clarkston lead to 2-1 with 6:24 left in the first period.
Buzzo answered for Clarkston, scoring with 12:39 left in the second period to put the Wolves up 3-1. However, the Lakers kept chipping away at the Clarkston lead, as West Bloomfield’s Mike Hulsander scored 30 seconds after Buzzo’s goal to trim the Clarkston lead to 3-2, and Waskerwitz tallied his second goal of the game 21 seconds into the third period to tie the game at three.
Though their quest for a state title fell short, Krygier took away fond memories of the Wolves’ playoff run.
“We played well throughout the playoffs,” he said. “I was very proud of how hard the guys worked.”