The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
BREAKING NEWS: Hornets to advance to regional final
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 1, 2007
Over and over again during the Saline hockey team’s difficult regular season, head coach Drew Denzin told his team that all that mattered was preparing for the playoffs.
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Apparently, the Hornets were listening.
Skating on the Hornets’ home ice at the Arctic Coliseum Feb. 28, Saline advanced to their third straight regional final with a 9-1 demolition of Jackson.
“It’s nice to see what our offense can do,” Denzin said after the easy win. “We can’t say we were expecting (an eight-goal win). We’re real pleased with the way things have gone.”
The two pre-regional playoff wins (the first coming in triple overtime over Bedford) have now equaled Saline’s total for the entire 2006-07 regular season.
“We did the little things tonight,” said senior captain Jay Birko, who totaled two goals and four assists. “The main thing is that we finished our chances. Coach (Denzin) has been on us about finishing. In playoff hockey, you’re not going to get many chances. If you don’t score on them, that could be the game. But tonight we were able to finish.”
The Hornets did just that four times in the first period alone. Sophomore Ryan Luke opened the scoring less than three minutes in on an assist from Scott Peck. With 7:35 to play in the period, Birko scored his first on assists from Doug Nelson and Grant Phillips.
Those goals were followed in short order by two more from Patrick O’Donahue (from Bobby Schilke and Kevin Fisher with 4:40 to play) and Kelly O’Sullivan (from Birko and Fisher) to send Saline into the first intermission with a commanding 4-0 lead.
So dominant were the Hornets that the lead could have easily been even larger, as twice Birko put the puck in the net only to have the goal disallowed.
“That momentum was big,” Denzin said of the Hornets’ fast start. “This was one of those nights where even though we might have a bad shift, in the last 10 seconds (of it) we’d get the puck and score.”
Jackson showed some resistance in the second period, forcing Saline goalie Charlie Schneider into back-to-back saves on a power play five minutes in and eventually scoring with 6:16 to play in the period.
But Saline would put the game away with two more goals before the period was out. A long O’Sullivan feed found Birko for a breakaway goal with 4:26 to play, and the two seniors set up Phillips with 2:08 left for a 6-1 lead.
The same combination of players produced arguably the night’s best goal early in the third, as pinpoint passing on the power play from O’Sullivan to Birko to a wide-open Phillips stretched the lead to 7-1. Goals from O’Donohue and Jack Wallace (the latter on a Nelson assist) in the final two minutes ended the game early due to an eight-goal mercy rule in place for the playoffs.
“We were a little sluggish in the second period, which has been a problem for us,” Denzin said, “but luckily we were able to rebound in the third. I also thought Charlie had another great game for us in goal.”
The win improved Saline’s record on the year to 4-17-5.
Staff Writer Jerry Hinnen can be reached at 1-734-429-7380 or jhinnen@heritage.com.
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