This Time, It's DCC in Division 1
March 8, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
PLYMOUTH – Detroit Catholic Central had one way in mind it hoped to finish this season’s MHSAA Hockey Finals at Compuware Arena.
And the Shamrocks had one opponent in mind to end against.
DCC wanted a rematch with Brighton, the two-time Division 1 champion and opponent that kept the Shamrocks from the title a year ago.
They got their wish – and their first MHSAA title since 2010 – with a 5-1 win over the Bulldogs in Saturday’s final championship game.
“We came in and we wanted to play Brighton,” DCC senior defenseman Carter Cerretani said. “We know we didn’t have the biggest team. But we definitely had the fastest, and we had to utilize that speed. Going in, we knew the crowd was going to be big. But we had to act like it was any normal game.”
Detroit Catholic Central (24-7) already had beaten Brighton once this season, 4-3 in the former’s second game and the latter’s opener this winter.
But the Shamrocks wanted a rematch where it counted most after falling 2-1 in the 2013 Final.
They dominated at the start, with junior Ryan Burnett and then Cerretani (off a Burnett assist) both scoring during the game’s first five minutes. Then DCC dominated on the check, frustrating the Bulldogs’ offense and allowing only 19 shots after giving up exactly twice that many in last season’s championship game.
“We had a handful of boys in the locker room who remembered that feeling,” said first-year DCC coach Doug Itami, who formerly served as an assistant. “We had a purpose.”
And the Shamrocks also capitalized when Brighton provided opportunities, scoring three power play goals and a fourth into an empty net with 2:32 to play. One of those power play goals came with a 5-on-3 advantage and another came just after another 5-on-3 ran out but before the Bulldogs had killed the second penalty.
Still, Brighton did have hope after senior Danny Bosio scored off a rebound on a power play 5:48 into the second period to make the score 2-1. The Bulldogs also had trailed Detroit U-D Jesuit 2-0 in the Semifinal before coming back to win 4-3 in overtime.
“We love to go down 2-nothing and then come back,” said Brighton coach Paul Moggach, tongue-in-cheek. “We’ve got the same attitude that we can come back. When we got that first goal, we thought we had momentum. But we didn’t sustain it the way we needed to.”
Senior Domenic Mancinelli put DCC up 3-1 with five minutes left in the second period, and then Cerretani and Burnett both added their second goals of the game to round out the scoring in the third.
Junior Mitch Ossowski assisted on three of the Shamrocks’ goals, and junior Spencer Wright allowed just the one, with 17 saves in goal. In a touching moment at the end, the trophy was presented on the ice to senior Matt Sorisho, a standout on last season’s team who was paralyzed from the waist down during a travel league game this fall.
Junior goalie Jimmy Milletics, another star of the 2013 Final, made 27 saves for the Bulldogs, who finished 23-7-1 but graduate a strong group of nine seniors who have played big parts over the last two seasons.
“It’s a loss in the biggest game of the season, and it’s not fun losing like that,” Brighton senior Aaron Sturos said. “Just being on this team, this is a heck of a team. We’re all really close, having fun out there, so it will be tough to leave.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Catholic Central celebrates one of its five goals Saturday in the Division 1 Final. (Middle) DCC athletic director Aaron Babicz presents the championship trophy to senior Matt Sorisho (18).
HIGHLIGHTS: (1) DCC’s Ryan Burnett gets the first goal of the Division 1 Final at the 3:54 mark of the opening period. (2) With a two-man advantage on a power play, Detroit Catholic Central gets its second goal of the finale from Carter Cerretani. (3) The Bulldogs got their only goal on the power play at the 5:48 mark of the second period from Danny Bosio. (4) About 6 minutes later, DCC counters with another power play goal by Domenic Mancinelli to take a 3-1 lead.
Cranes Land 16th MHSAA Finals Win
March 9, 2013
By Bill Khan
Special to Second Half
PLYMOUTH — Sometimes it seems like a given that a hockey player at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood will win at least one MHSAA championship during his career.
When a program has won nine titles in the last 17 seasons and 16 in the last 35, championships are an expectation for the Cranes.
But it's not always as easy as it may look to outsiders.
Alex Alger took the ice for the final game of his brilliant three-year career with Cranbrook-Kingswood still searching for his first MHSAA championship. He made sure he wouldn't leave the program empty-handed, scoring back-to-back second-period goals in the Cranes' 4-2 victory over Sault Ste. Marie in the Division 3 Final on Saturday at Compuware Arena.
Alger wasn't on the team his freshman year when the Cranes won their last title in 2010. He experienced a 3-1 semifinal loss to Grand Rapids Catholic Central as a sophomore and a 2-1 overtime loss in the regional final to unheralded Marysville as a junior when he made second-team all-state.
"I felt like if we didn't go out on top — you can't say it was a failure, necessarily — but it's just we're always expected to do so well," Alger said. "For me to go three years without a title, I just wouldn't feel comfortable with myself, knowing that with such a strong team we couldn't pull together and make it happen."
Alger not only went out as a champion, but was a standout on a team that is arguably one of the greatest in Cranbrook-Kingswood's rich history.
The Cranes set a school record for victories, finishing 28-2-1. Ten of Cranbrook-Kingswood's previous 15 championship teams lost at least seven games. Only the 1982-83 team (24-2-1) had as few losses, while only the 2006-07 squad (25-4-1) may challenge this one as the greatest in coach Andy Weidenbach's 20-year tenure.
"If it isn't (the best), it's pretty close," Weidenbach said. "I've had two very special teams with really highly skilled players. This is definitely one of our most highly skilled teams."
Sault Ste. Marie gave the Cranes their closest game of the postseason, getting outshot 38-10 in the process. Cranbrook-Kingswood outscored six playoff opponents by a combined score of 47-4.
"At the end of the day, you've got the two best teams in the state here," Sault Ste. Marie coach John Ferroni said. "I've seen most of the D3 teams in the state this year. I feel we're the next-best team.
They're obviously the best team in the state. To be honest with you, I think they're better than Division 2. They obviously can play with the Division 1 teams. They're a wonderful-looking hockey team, just so
poised and mature out there with the puck."
A goal by Austin Alger at 8:11 of the first period and Kevin Shand at 7:23 of the second gave the Cranes a 2-0 lead. Sault Ste. Marie got back in the game at 8:51 of the second on a goal by Alex Teneyck, but
Alex Alger quickly turned the momentum back in Cranbrook-Kingswood's favor with goals at 10:10 and 11:26 to make it a 4-1 game.
Sault Ste. Marie (22-9) added the only goal of the third period when Chase Gamelin scored with 11:26 remaining, but it was the only shot on goal by the Blue Devils during the entire period.
"We had our spurts in the game, but just not enough of them to create offense," Ferroni said. "When you get it close like that, you think maybe we'll get lucky with another shot and score a goal and put some pressure on them, even though the shots on goal were a vast difference. I knew we were going to give up between 30-35 shots. I thought if we could keep the penalties down, that would keep the shots
on goal down. That didn't happen too well for us."
Cranbrook-Kingswood was 1-for-7 on the power play, while Sault Ste. Marie was 0-for-2.
The Cranes have a 16-2 record in MHSAA finals, emerging victorious in their last eight appearances.
PHOTOS: (Top) Cranbrook-Kingswood senior Billy Young (19) charges up ice during Saturday's Division 3 Final at Compuware Arena. (Middle) The Cranes celebrate their first championship since 2010. (Photos by Andrew Knapik.)