The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Slow start ices Bulldogs
By Don Richter, Sports Editor
PUBLISHED: March 6, 2008
Chelsea hockey lost to host Allen Park 4-2 in a Division 3 regional final last Saturday. With the loss, the Bulldogs ended their season with a 17-7-3 overall record.
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"It was one of those games where we fell behind and couldn't catch up," said Chelsea coach Don Wright. "We came out in the first period very tentative. That surprised me."
The Jaguars opened the contest scoring a power play goal by Drew Graves at 5:43 of the first period.
With thirty-nine seconds left in the first period, Allen Park made it 2-0 on a goal by Dakota Klecha.
"That was demoralizing for us," Wright said. "We had a breakdown defensively. We normally do that (score late) to others."
In the second period, Chad Zagunis increased the Jaguars' lead to 3-0 scoring a power play goal off a deflection at 4:13 of the frame.
In the third period, Mack McDonnell gave Allen Park a 4-0 margin with a goal at 2:51 of the stanza.
"Nothing seemed to be bouncing our way," Wright said.
Chelsea, however, refused to quit.
At 12:55 of the third period, sophomore Drew Brown scored a power play goal off an assist from junior Randy Cox and senior Drew Dehring, cutting the Jaguars' lead to 4-1.
One minute later, Brown scored his second goal of the night off a pass from senior Matt Prince and senior Kyle George for the game's ending tally.
The Bulldogs out-shot Allen Park 26-18 for the game.
"Some things didn't go our way, but give Allen Park credit," Wright said. "We needed to play smarter. We did a lot of things we should not have done. It put us in a bad situation."
Despite the season ending loss, Wright said he was proud of his team.
"Overall, I'm very pleased," he said. "We lost a lot of players off of last year's team. Give the boys a lot of credit. They all stepped up. It was a very unselfish team. Everybody rose to the occasion."
Last Thursday, host Chelsea defeated Jackson Lumen Christi 8-1 to clinch the pre-regional title at the Arctic Coliseum.
George, who led the Bulldogs with four goals, opened the scoring at 9:20 of the first period for a 1-0 Chelsea advantage.
At 14:01 of the first period, Brown scored a power play goal for a 2-0 lead. Senior Andy Korc and Cox recorded an assist on the play for the Bulldogs.
In the second period, Prince scored at 5:27 of the frame for a 3-0 lead. Senior Garrett Nickels assisted for Chelsea.
At 5:50 of the second period, senior Matt Heinen scored off an assist from junior Riley Feeney.
George scored his second goal on a power play at with 11 seconds left in the second period for a 5-0 Bulldog lead. Brown and Cox picked up assists for Chelsea.
At 1:57 of the third period, George scored his third goal for a hat trick upping the Bulldogs' lead to 6-0. Brown and Dehring recorded an assist on the play.
Josh Bolander scored on a power play at 4:00 of the third period for the Titans cutting Chelsea's lead to 6-1.
Two minutes later, the Bulldogs answered as George scored shorthanded off an assist from Cox and Dehring.
At 9:50 of the third period, Cox scored for the night's final margin. Brown assisted for Chelsea.
The Bulldogs out-shot Lumen Christi 32-17 for the contest.
Junior goaltender Joey Hume earned the victory in net for Chelsea.
"Everybody was involved and played well," Wright said. "They're (Lumen Christi) always a good, physical team. We felt if we continued to pass the puck and be creative offensively, we'd be in good shape. We dominated. This certainly was the widest margin we've ever beaten them by. We showed really good teamwork. We're playing very unselfish right now."
On Feb. 26, the host Bulldogs defeated Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard 9-1 in a pre-regional first round match-up shortened by the goal differential mercy-rule.
"We've been playing well," Wright said. "I thought if we played the way we've been playing, we'd get the win. Obviously, in the tournament you can be one and done and we didn't want that to happen."
Chelsea jumped on the Gryphons quickly scoring 48 seconds into the contest as Brown turned the lamp on off an assist from George.
At 6:02 of the first period, George made it 2-0 with a goal off an assist from Brown and Dehring.
At 12:55 of the first period, Brown scored for a 3-0 Bulldog advantage. Sophomore Trevor Mattson and Cox picked up assists on the goal for Chelsea.
One minute later, Nickels scored off an assist from junior Ulrich Linnet and Mattson for a 4-0 Bulldogs lead.
Sixteen seconds later, Heinen scored giving Chelsea a 5-0 margin. Junior Steve O'Keefe and Feeney recorded an assist for the Bulldogs.
At 2:15 of the second period, Feeney scored a shorthanded goal for a 6-0 lead. O'Keefe picked up an assist.
At 5:00 of the second period, Shawn Walters scored for Gabriel Richard.
Six minutes later, George scored a power play goal for a 7-1 Chelsea lead. Junior Brian Manitz and Korc recorded an assist on the play for the Bulldogs.
George increased Chelsea's lead to 8-1 with a power play goal at 5:10 of the third period. Brown and Cox assisted.
At 6:54 of the third period, George scored his fourth goal of the contest off an assist from Brown and Korc. With the goal, the mercy rule was invoked ending the game.
Chelsea out-shot the Gryphons 43-9 for the night.
Sophomore goalie Matt Darr earned the victory between the pipes for the Bulldogs.
Over two pre-regional games, Chelsea scored 17 goals, while allowing only two scores. Individually, George led the attack with eight goals in two contests.
"I knew we were capable of it," Wright said. "You don't normally see that in the playoffs. When we use our speed, we're tough to handle."
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