The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Dager goal beats Chelsea, 6-5
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 14, 2008
Regular season victories don't come much bigger or more exciting than the one earned Monday by the Saline ice hockey team.
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With their conference title hopes and Arctic Coliseum bragging rights on the line, the Hornets downed Chelsea 6-5 on senior David Dager's goal with 58 seconds to play.
The win meant that Saline (11-9-1 overall) will head into Friday's home game with Ann Arbor Huron and Wednesday's against Ann Arbor Pioneer with their Southeastern Conference Red division title chances intact despite Saturday's 2-1 road loss to Bedford.
"That's what we're working for," Dager said afterward. "We want to put that banner up there. This was huge. You could tell when you stepped into the locker room today, we wanted this one. Everybody was ready to go."
"It was a big win for us," said Saline head coach Drew Denzin. "We could not seem to stay out of the penalty box and seeing them score two third-period goals to tie it, that's a tough situation. But they never gave up. I'm proud of them."
The game carried extra emotion with both teams sharing the same home ice at the Arctic Coliseum and the right to be called the "Kings of the Rink," as Dager put it, at stake. That emotion seemed to buoy the Bulldogs as they bounced back from a 5-3 deficit to open the third period with goals 2:40 and 11:51 into the period to tie the game at five.
But Saline goalie Nick Colarossi made a key save with 1:04 to play to start a rush in the other direction. Ryan Luke found Sean MacNeil streaking down the left boards and MacNeil's pass across the crease found Dager for the game-winner.
"It's just pass, shoot, score," Dager said. "We had a great pass out of the zone and Sean made a good pass across. It feels great."
Despite Cory Corker's first-period goal on assists from Scott Peck and Daniel Filipsson, the Hornets trailed 2-1 entering the second period before exploding up four goals in the frame.
Luke tied the game with a power-play tally five minutes into the period after passes from MacNeil and David Spallina. Just 20 seconds later, the Hornets took the lead on Corker's second as Filipsson posted his second assist. Captain Cory Farrell then made it three goals in less than two minutes, stunning Chelsea with a shorthanded score on a Corker assist while the Bulldogs played 5-on-3.
Chelsea pulled back within 4-3 on a power play goal, but with three minutes left in the second, Dager scored his first on a Spallina helper to restore Saline's two-goal advantage entering the third period.
Despite numerous chances on both ends — including a pair of point-blank shots by Filipsson and Randy Schilke on the Hornet power play — Chelsea would claw back to a tie before Dager's goal put Saline back in front and the Bulldogs were unable to mount a serious threat in the dying seconds.
"I think our ability to stay on the puck today was key," Denzin said. "We changed our lines up front after scoring just one goal in each of our last two games, and I think that made a difference. The guys were tenacious and we took advantage of our opportunities. The 5-on-3 goal from Cory was huge."
The win helped take the sting out of the Bedford loss, in which Colarossi saved 20 of the Mules' 22 shots (a 90.9 save percentage), but a lone Dager goal from Farrell and Luke assists was the only offense Saline could muster.
The loss ruined saline's perfect SEC record, which now stands at 6-1, but multiple conference games remain on the schedules of all four Red division teams and the title remains up for grabs.
"We're going to need to win out," said Denzin, "but it's going to come down to the last game."
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