Trojan Hockey News
Orchard Lake St. Mary's News Story December 29th, 2007
TC Central keeps hockey title
Trojans trip up St. Mary in final of hockey tourney
By MARK URBAN
murban@record-eagle.com
TRAVERSE CITY -- Same two teams, same result ... no overtime needed.
For the second straight season, Traverse City Central beat Orchard Lake St. Mary 2-1 in the final of its own hockey invitational on Saturday at Centre ICE.
The game was eerily alike to last season's 4-3 victory in double overtime.
"It was very similar," said Central coach Chris Givens, whose team improved to 8-1. "We had the lead last year, they pulled their goalie and scored with about a minute left (in regulation). The shots after regulation were about the same.
"That's why we called that timeout, to remind them of last year. We just said we're not going to make the same mistake twice."
Also similar to last season, the Trojans had a goalie come up big in the finale.
Junior goalie Hunter Kelly made 29 saves for TC Central, including two big stops in the final 10 seconds. All this with St. Mary on a 6-on-4 advantage after lifting its goalie after TC Central was called for an ill-timed penalty.
But Kelly, who was pulled from Friday night's game after allowing two goals on two shots in a reserve role, was up to the task.
"Hunter was coming off a tough night last night," Givens said. "I'm happy for him to come in and play like he did and get some confidence back.
"He was really focused and seeing the puck well today. It was a good response."
Kelly said he has a long time to think about Friday's triumph over Birmingham Unified in the semifinals.
"It was really hard to forget about it," he said. "I thought about it a lot. I didn't sleep well last night, but it gave me time to think about it. I came out as focused as I could today."
Orchard Lake St. Mary got the first goal of the contest in the first period as Tim Hooker was able to beat Kelly.
Kyle Ulrich tied the contest with the lone goal of the second period for TC Central. Derek Gardiner and Jared VanWormer drew the assists.
Eric Swy had the game-winning goal for the Trojans, when he gathered in his own rebound and found the back of the net with 4:03 remaining in the contest. Shane Darrow had the assist on Swy's tally.
"I just kind of opened up and knew what to do with it," Swy said of his second shot.
Even more meaningful than Central winning the tournament title again was who it came against. St. Mary is the defending Division 1 state champion.
"They're a big school, a big-name school that plays a lot of big competition," Swy said. "It means a lot to us."
"It proves that if we work hard, we can be the best," Kelly added. "Nothing is going to stop us but ourselves."