Last-Second Goal Sets Off Brother Rice Celebration

By Tim Robinson
Special for MHSAA.com

March 27, 2021

PLYMOUTH – Second chances don't come along very often in hockey, especially in the final seconds of a hard-fought state championship game. 

But Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice's Alec Hamady made good on his Saturday, jamming a rebound into the net for the game-winning goal with 6.7 seconds remaining to lift the Warriors to an eventual 2-1 victory at USA Hockey Arena. 

The championship was the fourth in Division 2 and fifth overall for the Warriors (15-4). 

For Byron Center (17-1), it was a sudden, heart-stopping end to a memorable season. 

"There's no way to describe it," Hamady said of winning Saturday after his team's 2020 championship bid was thwarted when the season ended before the Semifinals due to the coronavirus. 

The winning goal came as the Warriors were swarming in front of the Byron Center goal.

"I hit (the goalie’s) blocker, and the puck slid back to me," Hamady said. "I hit it backhanded, and it slid under his blocker."

The Bulldogs then pulled goalie Carson McKenzie for an extra attacker during the final seconds, but Brother Rice shot the puck into the Byron Center end with three seconds left and began celebrating.

Division 2 Hockey Final

The first two periods were a defensive battle, led by McKenzie and Brother Rice goaltender Drake Danoo.

The spell was broken when Brother Rice's Carson Moilanen scored on a rebound with 10:56 left in the third.

But the Bulldogs responded immediately when Logan Nickolaus skated in on Danoo, then passed to Mason Breit, who tied the game just 10 seconds after Moilanen's goal.

Brother Rice coach Kenny Chaput, who won his second Finals title, said his team's response was critical.

"We could have collapsed," he said. "We told the kids it was the same game as before and to keep playing. They did a good job of that."

Byron Center was playing in its first Final after it reached the 2020 Division 1 Semifinals before the season ended early. 

"We have 10 seniors who built this program from nothing," Byron Center coach Taylor Keyworth said. "I couldn't be more proud of our team. No one's had it tougher than the teams that got cut short last year at the end of the season. We go into this season thinking we had a good team, only to get cut short in November. We finally get a chance to play and our guys stayed positive and stuck with it, banded together and had a fantastic season."

After the game, several Brother Rice players, including Hamady, skated to their Byron Center counterparts.

"I used to play with those kids on the TPH Top 80 team," Hamady said. "I became really close with them. I told them they played an outstanding game, they are amazing players and not to worry. It was a battle."

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS: Brother Rice celebrates after scoring the eventual winning goal with six seconds to play in Saturday's Division 2 Final at USA Hockey Arena. (Middle) Brother Rice's Alec Hamady and Byron Center's Ryan Pratt line up for a face off. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)

Performance of the Week: Riverview Gabriel Richard's Brenden Paden

December 20, 2022

Brenden PadenBrenden Paden ♦ Riverview Gabriel Richard
Senior ♦ Hockey

The 6-foot-5 senior forward turned an incredible performance into a special week. He tallied two goals and two assists as Division 3 No. 5 Gabriel Richard downed Division 2 No. 2 Trenton 5-1, and then added a combined three goals and two assists in a pair of weekend wins over Brownstown Woodhaven and Riverview Cabrini United as the Pioneers repeated as their hosted Christmas Tournament champions. 

Gabriel Richard is 7-4 this season – with all four of those losses to ranked teams in Divisions 1 or 2 – and Paden has eight goals and eight assists to rank third on his team with 16 points. His father Kevin Paden was a 1993 third-round NHL draft selection by the Edmonton Oilers and played six seasons of minor league hockey, and Brenden is considering playing junior hockey after high school in hopes of eventually landing a spot on a college hockey roster.

@mhsaasports 🏒POW: Brenden Paden #performanceoftheweek #icehockey #goals #assists #wins #gabrielrichard #riverviewgabrielrichard #letsgo #MHSAA #highschoolsports #tiktalk #interview #TikTok#mistudentaid #fyp ♬ Beat Automotivo Tan Tan Tan Viral - WZ Beat

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2022-23 Honorees

Dec. 16: Tuff Scott, Holton bowling - Report
Dec. 9:
Macey Fegan, Standish-Sterling basketball - Report
Dec. 2:
Treyton Siegert, Gladwin football - Report
Nov. 24:
Lily Witte, Dexter diving - Report
Nov. 17:
Navea Gauthier, Shelby volleyball - Report
Nov. 10:
Derek Huisman, Holland Christian soccer - Report
Nov. 3:
Thomas Westphal, New Baltimore Anchor Bay cross country - Report
Oct. 27:
Justin Wickey, Colon football - Report
Oct. 20:
Owen DeMuth, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood tennis - Report
Oct. 13:
Mia Melendez, Ann Arbor Greenhills golf - Report
Oct. 6:
Shawn Foster, Grand Ledge football - Report
Sept. 30:
Hannah Smith, Temperance Bedford swimming - Report
Sept. 22:
Helen Sachs, Holland West Ottawa cross country - Report
Sept. 15:
Nina Horning, Lake Orion volleyball - Report
Sept 8:
Arturo Romero, Muskegon Oakridge soccer - Report
Sept. 1:
Austin King, Midland Dow tennis - Report
Aug. 25:
Olivia Hemmila, Troy Athens golf - Report

(Photos courtesy of the Riverview Gabriel Richard hockey program.)