Moment: Heritage Soars to 1st Final
April 9, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Saginaw Heritage has ascended to the ranks of the state’s high school hockey elite these last few seasons. And it’s fair to say Matte Cole scored one of the defining goals of that rise.
Cole actually tallied two goals during the Hawks’ 3-2 overtime win over Traverse City West in a Division 1 Semifinal on March 9, 2018. The second came 59 seconds into overtime to secure the victory, which sent Heritage to its first MHSAA Final in hockey.
"If you would have told us at the beginning of the year that we would be in the championship game I don't think that realistically … many people outside of our locker room would have given us that opportunity," Heritage coach J.J. Bamberger said that day. "But everyone in the locker room believed in it. We have kids who have won championships at younger levels and they showed today they're winners and they refused to lose."
Click for game coverage from the Saginaw News – Saginaw Heritage tops Traverse City West in OT, advances to first state championship game – and watch the game winner below with coverage from the NFHS Network.
Moment: OT Win Nets GP South's 1st Title
April 2, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Grosse Pointe South and Muskegon Mona Shores traded leads for three periods March 10, 2007, before taking the Division 2 championship game to overtime.
The following 6 minutes and 46 seconds belonged to the Blue Devils, who fired all seven shots on goal taken in extra time and clinched their first MHSAA Finals championship in ice hockey when Tim Shield rushed the net and wristed home the game-winner.
“It was unbelievable,” Shield told the Detroit Free Press after the 4-3 victory. “Unreal.
“Chance after chance, it wouldn’t go in. By that time, we knew it was coming.”
See below for coverage of the game-winner from the NFHS Network.