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August 25, 2010
On top yet again
By Mike Moore
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Photo by Andrew Potter
Junior Ryan Doucet, pictured carrying the puck out of the defensive zone, scored the game-winning goal in the D-3 final 6:07 into the third period. |
Cranbrook defends title with 15th hockey championship in
program history
By Mike Moore
C & G Sports Writer
PLYMOUTH — The tension was gripping.
The intensity mounted with every passing moment.
A nervous buzz echoed throughout the rink as months of practice and games, a long playoff run and more than 14 minutes of a championship final had whittled down to 30 seconds.
That’s all that stood between the Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood hockey team and another Division 3 state title March 13 at Compuware Arena in Plymouth.
Leading 2-1, nothing had come easy for the Cranes, whose talent, speed and experience had all been somewhat neutralized by a feisty and determined Flint Powers Catholic team that had now worked an offensive-zone faceoff, pulled its goalie for an extra attacker and needed just one tiny miracle to force overtime.
Powers senior Spencer Spurlin won the draw, giving the Chargers one final chance.
But it would be senior Patrick Brown’s final shot, born out of driving legs and the need to redeem himself — he was Spurlin’s opponent in the faceoff circle — that would seal the victory.
As the puck fluttered near the blue line, Brown was the first one to it. He chipped it up the ice, carried it into Powers’ zone, and ignoring a near-impossible angle, lobbed it at the empty net.
Cranbrook 3, Powers 1.
Championship delivered.
Tradition continues
“I was just throwing it at the net, hoping it would go in,” Brown laughed while recalling the goal, which came with just 19 seconds remaining in the Division 3 championship. “I had worked it into the zone, and all I thought was ‘there’s a net with no goalie.’”
It was the 39th shot of the game for the Cranes and assured the most successful high school program its state-record 15th hockey title.
Andy Weidenbach, the coach of Cranbrook since 1993, was asked afterward if Wallace Ice Arena, the Cranes’ home rink, had enough room for all the banners his teams have earned.
“I don’t know,” he said, smiling. “We’ll have to make room.”
he 2009-10 state title came in successful defense of last year’s championship and was the sixth for the Cranes in the last eight years.
“You come into this program as a freshman, and you hear about all the success. You hear guys talking about last year’s final or what it was like to be a state champ, and you can only hope you get to be a part of that,” Brown said after the win, his second state title. “To carry on that tradition, and actually be a part of it, is something you can’t describe. It’s an honor.”
It certainly wasn’t easy
On paper, the Cranes’ journey to the final wasn’t very dramatic, considering they outscored their first five playoff opponents 32-4, but the final game was one they had to scratch and claw for until Brown’s clinching goal.
Senior Kevin Collon gave Cranbrook a 1-0 lead 8:19 into the first period on a power play, but moments after an unsuccessful penalty shot, Powers tied the game with less than two minutes remaining in the opening frame.
The game remained deadlocked at 1-1 — despite Cranbrook nearly doubling Powers’ shots on goal — until midway through the third period, when junior forward Ryan Doucet picked up a loose puck, circled Powers’ net and unleashed a wrist shot that got behind goalie Mike Underwood.
“It’s unbelievable,” Doucet said of the game winner. He also assisted on Collon’s goal earlier in the game and added three assists in a 4-1 victory against Calumet in the semifinal.
“I was just throwing it at the net. I guess I picked a good time to finally get a goal.”
Senior goalie Thomas Scoggin handled things from there, making eight third-period saves, 19 in all, to secure the Cranbrook win.
Each one is different
Weidenbach has now earned eight state titles, and as in each of the previous seven, he accepted the trophy at center ice, smiled and held it above his head.
“That’s for the kids,” he said later. “They love to see me get into it. They’d want me out there with skates on if they had their way, but this means so much to me because of them.”
When you’ve won as much as Cranbook has, 22-7-1 this year alone, it’s understandable to wonder if these championships blend together.
“Not at all,” Weidenbach said. “Each year is a new team, a new group of guys and new challenges. I’m serious when I say ‘every November before tryouts I feel like a kid in a candy store.’ I’m so energized and excited. It’s that new year and another chance to be great.”
For the second year in a row, it’s a chance the Cranes seized.
For the second year in a row, they’ll have to make more room.
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