Goalie, Country Day Lock Down D3 Again
March 9, 2019
Second Half reports
PLYMOUTH — Nobody could have known it at the time, but Houghton’s hockey team reached its quota of goals Saturday after only 56 seconds of play.
Sam Evola of Detroit Country Day might give up one goal, but that’s going to be it when he plays at USA Hockey Arena.
Evola closed the door the rest of the way, backstopping the Yellowjackets to their second straight MHSAA Division 3 championship with a 4-1 victory over Houghton.
Named the state’s Mr. Hockey as a junior last season, Evola is one of the most clutch high school goaltenders to come out of Michigan.
When the pressure is at its greatest, Evola has been at his best, stopping 91 of 95 shots for a .958 save percentage in four Semifinal and championship games the last two seasons in Plymouth. He gave up only one goal in each of the four games.
Over 11 games during the two postseason runs, he gave up only nine goals.
So, it doesn’t matter when the goals have come – there usually isn’t going to be another one against Evola.
“There’s a lot of pressure, but you’ve got to stay focused and keep your eye on the puck and keep your head in the game,” Evola said. “You can’t get distracted by what’s on the outside. You’ve got to keep your focus on what’s inside the rink.”
Evola finished with 25 saves after allowing a goal by Seth Francois 56 seconds into the game.
“One of my mottos is you shouldn’t give up a goal in the first minute or last minute of a period,” Evola said. “I didn’t do that. You’ve got to learn from your mistake, correct it and just keep it up. You can’t keep thinking about that goal. It’s going to egg on you and make you worse; you’ve got to bounce back.”
Country Day (24-4-2) has won back-to-back MHSAA championships after ending a 37-year drought last season. After winning only one Regional in 26 years, the Yellowjackets have become a force in Division 3, winning four straight Regionals.
To hear eighth-year coach Frank Novock describe the evolution of his program, the current players are the beneficiaries of what was built by players from his earlier teams.
“The guys who came before these guys, the captains, we didn’t have the greatest win-loss records, but the bar was set to a high standard,” Novock said. “It’s on cruise control with the leaders and seniors I have, and the same thing with the years past. It’s not always easy, it’s not always fun, but when you put that sweater on here, you’re going to have to be part of it or you’re going to be gone. These guys have continued to carry the torch. I can’t thank the guys enough that came before to set the example. We’re building in the right direction.”
The Yellowjackets regrouped after Houghton took its quick lead, tying the game 1-1 on a goal by Lucas Krol with 1:37 left in the opening period.
Dallas Hood scored what proved to be the winning goal, skating left to right across the slot and putting a shot inside the far post with 1:20 left in the second period to make it a 2-1 game.
The Gremlins (23-6-1) had a five-on-three power play for the first 1 minute, 26 seconds of the third period. Not only did they fail to capitalize on the two-man advantage, but they allowed a goal at the 2:01 mark to Mickey VanAntwerp.
“The biggest turning point in the game was we didn’t score on the five-on-three,” Houghton coach Corey Markham said. “We had a couple good looks and just missed. Very shortly after, they scored to make it 3-1. That was a huge point in the game. We didn’t quite recover and get enough offensive push after that point.”
Krol sent his second goal of the game into an empty net with 52.7 seconds remaining to end the scoring.
Houghton was attempting to win its first MHSAA championship since 1982. The Gremlins have lost four times in the championship game since then.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Houghton senior defenseman Kevin Bostwick said. “Our community is just so special. They’re always behind us. It hurts really bad not to bring this one home to them.”
Houghton goalie Jimmy Pietila made 23 saves.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Country Day players celebrate during Saturday’s Division 3 championship win at USA Hockey Arena. (Middle) Houghton’s Milo Schaefer (7) and Ty Halonen (10) do their best to lock down Country Day’s Dallas Hood.
Pilots Add Hockey Title to Recent Success
March 11, 2017
Second Half reports
PLYMOUTH — Thomas Hernandez was ready to give up hockey, a sport he’d been playing for 13 years.
“I’ve been thinking about playing college lacrosse,” the Warren DeLaSalle senior said. “I wasn’t even going to play (hockey) my senior year.”
Peer pressure, it turns out, can sometimes be a good thing.
“All my friends were telling me to come play,” Hernandez said.
After playing AAA-level travel hockey, Hernandez played his only season of high school hockey as a senior, a move that helped bring the Pilots their first MHSAA championship.
Hernandez scored a hat trick in DeLaSalle’s 6-3 victory over Calumet in the MHSAA Division 3 championship game Saturday at USA Hockey Arena.
When the buzzer sounded, the Pilots jumped on each other in a huge mob, then got up and jumped into the glass that separated them from their enthusiastic student section. This was an experience Hernandez never had, even when he and current teammate Gregory Pine won a state championship on the Oakland Grizzlies travel team.
“It’s unreal, playing in front of students,” Hernandez said. “It’s unbelievable. In travel, it’s just your parents up in the stands and scouts.
“This has been my favorite year by far, ever. I’ve been playing hockey for 14 years, and it’s been my best year yet.”
It wasn’t a year without challenges, however.
Hernandez fractured his foot and tore ligaments on both sides of his ankle in January. Even after returning Feb. 15, he didn’t feel quite right.
“The first two games were really rough,” he said. “I didn’t feel I was OK to keep playing. I was talking with the trainers and our coaches. They said to take a couple practices off. I took a week off after my first game back. It felt good after that.”
Hernandez’s best year of hockey was also the best for DeLaSalle, which was playing in its first MHSAA Final after Semifinal losses in 2010 and 2014. During their time at DeLaSalle, the seniors have seen the football team win the 2014 Division 2 championship and the baseball team win the 2016 Division 1 title.
“Watching those other teams win, it’s so cool being in the student section and being part of that, because it really is like a championship for the whole school, which it is,” senior Matthew Pelto said. “To be part of the actual team that wins it is absolutely another level.”
“It’s an unreal feeling to be part of the legacy DeLaSalle has made and join the other sports in their state championships,” Pine said.
It was the second hat trick of the season for Hernandez, who had four goals in a 7-2 victory over Traverse City West on Nov. 25. Those two performances accounted for seven of his 24 goals this season.
“I just thought about it being my last game and just wanting to give it my all,” Hernandez said. “The puck happened to be in my favor tonight. It just went in for me.”
Calumet (23-7-1) took out reigning champion and fourth-ranked Hancock, eighth-ranked Houghton and top-ranked Flint Powers Catholic during the postseason, but couldn’t overcome a slow start against fifth-ranked DeLaSalle (20-9-1).
“It’s everybody’s dream to make it this far,” Calumet senior forward Rory Anderson said. “We had a great season this year. To make it this far was a great accomplishment for us.”
DeLaSalle bombarded Calumet early, jumping out to a 4-0 lead by the 14:04 mark of the first period.
Hernandez got it started on a breakaway at the 4:49 mark after taking a long lead pass from Austin Scott.
Scott made it 2-0 when he banged in a Greg Pine pass from the edge of the crease just 34 seconds later.
Hernandez’s second goal at 8:19 and James Corbett’s goal at 14:04 gave DeLaSalle four goals on only seven shots on net. At that point, Calumet switched goalies.
The Copper Kings got a goal they desperately needed to stop the bleeding, getting within 4-1 on Brent Loukus’ goal with 2:03 left in the first. They then received a five-minute power play on a boarding major, but couldn’t capitalize.
“We made it 4-1 and had some opportunities there, and I thought we generated some good shots and had some good opportunities,” Calumet coach Dan Giachino said. “The goaltender made some nice stops on us. That was the opportunity to get ourselves back in the game if we could have got a couple there on the five-minute power play.”
The bounce of the puck went the Copper Kings’ way to get them within 4-2, as a shot off the back boards by Izaak Avery went in off of goalie Andrew Grewette with 3:10 left in the second period.
Calumet didn’t get a chance to build off of that momentum, falling behind 5-2 when Hernandez knocked in a rebound on the power play with 1:33 to go in the second.
Ed Beiring gave Calumet some hope when he scored with 6:52 left in the game, but Pine’s empty-netter with 1:32 to go clinched the Pilots’ first title.
“We came in as coaches from day one and said we wanted to win a championship,” first-year DeLaSalle coach Craig Staskowski said. “You take a position as a coach at DeLaSalle, and that’s going to be the goal – you want to win championships. The guys bought in, put the work in and made sure it happened.”
PHOTOS: Warren DeLaSalle players, including Max VanderDonck (12), celebrate during Saturday’s Division 3 Final. (Middle) Calumet’s Ed Beiring (9) moves the puck down the ice. (Photos by Andrew Knapik Photography.)