Traverse City Record-Eagle

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    Hockey TC West vs Bay Area Reps
March 6, 2009

West blanks Bay Reps

Rivard sets mark; Titans win, 7-0

BY JAMES COOK

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TRAVERSE CITY -- Eric Rivard just broke a big record, but you wouldn't know it.

In Traverse City West's 7-0 Division 1 hockey pre-regional win over the Bay Reps, Rivard had a hat trick among his four points, moving atop the school's all-time single-season scoring list with 54.

Division Finals

DIV. 1

TC West (16-10)
vs. Marquette (23-3-1)
Saturday, 5 p.m.
At Sault Ste. Marie

DIV. 2

Midland (19-4)vs.
TC Central (17-7-2),
Saturday, 1 p.m.
At TC's Howe Arena

The win moves the No. 6-ranked Titans into the regional finals on Saturday against No. 3-ranked Marquette.

"The guys started talking about it today," the junior said about the scoring record after the game. "We knew it was close, but we didn't focus on it. We weren't looking at it; we're looking at Marquette. I'll look back on that after the season."

He passed Justin White's 52-point 2000-01 season.

"Individual records like that are nice, but Eric is the ultimate team player," Titans coach Jeremy Rintala said. "He did it with a lot of hard work. Right now, he's happy we're playing another game."

A rematch with nemesis Marquette is what the Titans were after. The Redmen (23-3-1) have knocked West (16-10) out of the playoffs the last two years.

"The boys are excited," Rintala said. "That's the matchup we wanted.

"We're hoping for a good game to take that next step."

In last year's 6-2 loss to the Redmen, the Titans lost defenseman David Hanrahan early and goalie Spencer Sonneveldt was also injured.

"They're good, but we can beat them," Rivard said. "We're healthy this time, so hopefully we can take care of business."

The two teams haven't met since the Redmen ousted West 6-2 from the playoffs last year. Marquette topped the Titans 3-0 in 2007. Both setbacks were also in Sault Ste. Marie.

In Thursday's game against the Reps, TC West took charge early, controlling the game territorially.

Rivard netted the game's first marker 4:02 into the game, on a rebound set up by Shane Totten and P.J. Dienes.

Exactly two minutes later, Rivard struck again, taking a pass from Dienes and rifling a wrister from the slot past the Reps' Trent Lee. Rivard almost notched a natural hat trick in the first period, but a slapshot from just inside the blue line clanged off the left post.

Hanrahan made it 3-0 with 23.7 second left in the opening period, fed by Zach Franklin and Andy Bezotte.

4:58 into the second, Dienes put in a rebound and Totten and Rivard drew assists, giving Rivard the point he needed to set the record.

Vinnie Pietrangelo walked in and slung a wrister into the twine for an unassisted goal and a 5-0 advantage with 6:35 to go in the second.

Rivard then notched the hat trick with a nifty goal in tight, drawing the puck back for a short snapshot for a 6-0 lead. Dienes drew the assist, his third of the night.

Anthony Fernandez made it 7-0 on a one-timer with 38.1 seconds remaining, and Franklin notched his second helper of the game.

Sonneveldt -- who made seven saves -- also tied Dallas Kniss for the most wins by a goaltenders in a season, recording his 12th victory of the season.

Rivard's record-breaking season also puts him among the career leaders at West in goals (45, 2nd) and points (76, 3rd). He's already the program's single-season goal leader with 32, surpassing Chris Gregory's mark of 24 in the 1999-2000 season.

The Reps end the season 8-14-2, winning the Northern Michigan Hockey League title.

"Next year is very promising for us," Gardiner said. "We threw a lot of new things at them this year. So next year the new guys can learn from the returning guys."

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