Destination Compuware: Lake Orion holds off St. Clair Shores to advance to Final Four
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
ST. CLAIR SHORES — For any hockey team, peaking at the end of the season is always a goal. Lake Orion has more than done that in recent weeks.
The Dragons captured their ninth straight win and 11th in 12 games Wednesday, this time on the big stage, turning back St. Clair Shores Unified 4-3 in a Division 1 state quarterfinals at Great Lakes Arena.
Lake Orion earned its first-ever Final Four berth with the win and will play at 6 p.m. Friday in the D-1 state semifinals against Novi. All of the state semifinal games in each division are at Compuware Arena near Plymouth.
Lake Orion has outscored its four postseason opponents 20-6, but face a tall order in second-ranked Novi. The Wildcats turned back Clarkston, 9-1, in another quarterfinal game Wednesday.
FROZEN FOUR: Lake Orion's Shane Stockwell and the Dragons have outsocred the opposition 20-6 in the postseason, including Wednesday's 4-3 win over St.Clair Shores Unified which vaulted the Dragons into the Division 1 Final Four for the first time.
“Novi is a very good team. We scrimmaged them in the preseason,” said Lake Orion co-coach Clint Robert. “We know they have some studs, some of the best players in the state.”
Lake Orion will take its high-powered offense into the semifinals for the first time. In its previous state quarterfinals matchup in 2007, Lake Orion lost to East Kentwood, 1-0.
Since losing to Farmington and Clarkston back on Jan. 27 and Jan. 29, respectively, the Dragons have been on a tear. Their only loss was a 2-1 setback to Plymouth Canton on Feb. 9.
“Our goal at the beginning of the season was to get to the Final Four at Compuware. The guys all talked about it,” recalled Robert, who shares the head coaching duties with Pat Cherry, who is retiring at the end of the season. “We weren’t playing our best hockey for the first couple of months. We had some good wins and in some other games we weren’t playing all that well. Than it all came together (in February).”
In that 12-1 span, Lake Orion has outscored its opponents 52-23.
Against the Lakers, Lake Orion never trailed but found itself on its heels in the early going of the quarterfinals. Despite being outshot 17-8 in the first period, Lake Orion’s Brad Bogus gave the Dragons the 1-0 lead at the four-minute mark of the first period.
Joe Vitale was able to tie the game for Unified just 1:32 into the second period, which served as a wake-up call for the Dragons. Zac Koonce and Shane Stockwell scored 1:46 apart to give Lake Orion a 3-1 advantage midway through the second stanza.
St. Clair Shores, a united team of athletes from Lake Shore, South Lake and Lakeview high schools, closed the deficit down to 3-2 at 8:44 of the second frame on a goal by Tommy Guzzardo.
Koonce scored what proved to be the game-winner on a power play at 13:17 of the third period, banging home a rebound following a shot by Dylan Rosen.
St. Clair Shores (14-11-3) refused to go away.
Dakota Lucas netted St. Clair Shores’ third goal at 13:55, but the Dragons withstood additional pressure down the stretch, including a shot off the crossbar.
Dominic Juncaj made 26 saves for Lake Orion. Both teams traded off 29 shots.
“You have to give St. Clair Shores credit. They came out and put a lot of pressure on us. We were lucky to be up by a goal at the end of the first period,” offered Robert. “I thought we settled down in the second period and played some pretty good hockey. We were up 4-2 in the third, but you knew they’d come at us. We were able to hold them off in the end.
“I thought we played some pretty good defense,” added Robert. “(Juncaj) made some nice saves in goal back there. I thought we were solid on the back line overall.”
Lake Orion, which lost in the regional finals a year ago to Utica Eisenhower, had defeated St. Clair Shores 7-4 in game back in December. Against Novi, the Dragons will be the underdog.
“That’s okay,” offered Robert. “When you get to this level, everybody is good. Anything can happen.”
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Category: High School, Lake Orion, Prep Wraps
