The Wolves went out onto the ice on Saturday to avenge their earlier loss to Lake Orion and make it harder for their opponents clinch a share of the OAA Red title.
Clarkston Hockey surrounded their net in celebration when the game finished – they accomplished both with a 4-0 win over the Dragons.
“We circled this one on the calendar after the Winter Classic,” said senior goalie Nick Surovec. “Anytime you play Lake Orion you play hard anyways but spoiling their chance to win the OAA and with what happened to us at the Winter Classic we made sure we came out hard.”
Senior Jacob LaPorte found a way in the first period with 8:55 to go when Dragons’ goalie Logan Aldrich leaned out of the net to make a stop. LaPorte took his shot and put it in to score with assists from seniors Chase Weidemann and Shawn Cotter.
“Usually Lake Orion is really good defensively,” said Brian Krygier, head coach. “They do not give up a lot of goals. We were fortunate to get the first goal. Then, the second goal and the third goal pretty much held up to the end of the game. To take the wind out of their sails right away helped us.”
Weidemann struck on his own goal two minutes later with help from Cotter and senior Garrett Polish.
With 37 seconds left senior Carter Rea put the score 3-0 as he hit the puck into the top of the net.
Both teams left the ice scoreless after the second period with Clarkston putting 10 shots on the net and the Dragons eight on Surovec.
With 6:10 to go in the game senior Kyle Hogarth sealed the game for the Wolves after Clarkston turned over possession and headed into the Dragons’ territory. He scored the fourth and final goal for the night.
The Wolves made 36 shots on the net and Surovec made 25 saves.
“He came out with some big saves,” said Krygier. “The saves he needs to make, he made. It’s important for us in our defensive zone. We have to make sure we hit them and make it to the puck first. We have to make sure we make that good hard pass to clear the zone. I think we did all three.”
Surovec added the defense did a great job in front of him, especially when the Wolves were in the penalty box nine times.
“I saw everything really good,” he said. “If there was a rebound they picked it up. I didn’t make a lot of tough saves out there. The penalty kill was great. They always cleared in front of the net. They always had one guy at the net and always cleared them so I could see.”
Clarkston lost to Stoney Creek on Thursday, 8-4.
“We didn’t skate well,” said Krygier. “We didn’t beat anyone to the puck. They beat us to the puck. They pushed everything to the net. We weren’t prepared. The boys have to work hard to get wins.”
Drake Gentile, Joe Popp, Roman Reiner and LaPorte scored against the Cougars with assists from Maxwell Palese, Cotter, Rea, Wiedemann and Reiner.
The boys made 33 shots on the net while Surovec had 11 saves and senior goalie Jack Viazanko had 13 saves.
The boys tie with Stoney for fourth place in the league and are 11-5-1 for the season.
The Wolves head to Farmington on Thursday and play Romeo in the OAA/MAC Day at 4 p.m., Onyx Ice Arena, 52999 Dequindre Road in Rochester Hills.