Bloomfield Hills

Cranbrook beats St. Clair in regional final, will face Liggett in quarters

By Mike Moore
C & G Sports Writer

» click to enlarge « Photo by Mike Moore Cranbrook's hockey team dropped the puck against St. Clair Saturday afternoon and skated away with an 11-0 victory and regional title. Photo by Mike Moore Cranbrook's hockey team dropped the puck against St. Clair Saturday afternoon and skated away with an 11-0 victory and regional title.

BLOOMFIELD HILLS — It was a year ago, in this same round, where the landscape of the Division 3 hockey playoff was greatly altered with an overtime upset.

A year later, the Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood hockey team wasn’t about to allow a repeat performance.

The Cranes kept their playoff dominance rolling Saturday afternoon, claiming a regional title with an 11-0 victory against St. Clair High in a game that was called by mercy after the second period.

“Anything can happen in the playoffs, which is why this is a good win,” coach Andy Weidenbach said after the game. His team lost to Marysville High 2-1 in overtime last year despite being a substantial favorite to win a state title. “We’ve been playing pretty strong all year, and we were able to keep that going here today.”

Cranbrook (25-2-1) wasted little time taking control of the game.

Jeremy Loewenstein scored five minutes into the first period, and Mason Schultz scored his first of two goals 44 seconds later. By the end of the first, Cranbrook led 5-0 and was outshooting St. Clair 34-5.

The Cranes added six more goals in the second period.

Jeff Martin, Shawn O’Malley, Andrew DeClerck, Sam Miletic, Kevin Shand (2), Chris Brown and Austin Alger all scored for Cranbrook.

The Cranes now face Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett  in a March 6 quarterfinal at the Farmington Hills Ice Arena.

Liggett, the defending D-3 champ, beat Beverly Hills Detroit Country Day 7-4 in a regional final.

The Cranes won their regional by beating Auburn Hills Avondale 8-0 in the semi and Pontiac Notre Dame Prep 10-0 in the opener.

St. Clair ends the season 6-18-2.

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Mike Moore at mmoore@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1038. Follow Mike on Twitter.