Traverse City Record-Eagle

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March 4, 2010

Bay Reps rally for win over Trojans

Team scores three in third period for 3-2 win

BY JAMES COOK

TRAVERSE CITY -- Jake Soenen cleared the puck up the boards, and Traverse City Central's season was abruptly over.

The Bay Reps pressured the Trojans all game long on Wednesday, limiting Central to just 12 shots on goal as the Reps came away with a 3-2 upset in the second round of the Division 2 playoffs.

"These guys are big rivals," said Luke McDiarmid, a junior who scored the game-winning goal and assisted on the other two. "We played them my sophomore year and this year and lost to them -- and in three scrimmages. So to beat them now, especially in the playoffs, is awesome. It's a great feeling."

The line of Zach Hill, Dustin Derrer and McDiarmid were on the ice for all three Reps scores.

Derrer and McDiarmid scored 16 seconds apart in the third period to knot the game up and then give the Reps the lead.

The Reps' Eric Jones picked off a pass behind the net and centered to Derrer for a one-timer that knotted it up at 2-2.

"One of the Central kids passed it right to Eric," McDiarmid said. "That was kind of the big moment where the momentum changed."

Sixteen seconds later, McDiarmid took the puck from the crowd in front of the net and came around the net for a wrap-around goal to give the Reps (15-10-1) a 3-2 advantage with 6:01 left in the game.

"(Dustin) and Zach were down low and three of their forwards crashed in," McDiarmid said. "The puck slipped through my feet and they were all in front of me, so I turned around and wrapped around and scored."

"The two goals in one shift out there in the third period, that was huge," Reps coach Todd Spaulding said. "We caught them a little tired or something. I'm not sure. That was a huge turning point in the game."

McDiarmid and Derrer -- the only two Mancelona players on the team -- were able to keep their hockey careers going when Mancelona was added to the Reps co-op prior to last season.

"It gave me a chance to keep playing," said Derrer, who played travel hockey under Spaulding. "I wouldn't have had anywhere else to go."

Central called a timeout with 4:47 remaining after several more Reps chances to go up two goals and pulled goalie Bill Vermetten with 1:11 left for an extra attacker.

The last minute was a frenzied one, as Soenen laid out to block a Lucas Little slapshot, Garrett Frain saved an empty-net goal and Soenen was finally able to get a clear as the Trojans pressured the Reps in the waning seconds.

Once the final horn sounded, Reps players flung themselves into a giant pile of red jerseys around goaltender Saraya Uitvlugt, who had 10 saves.

"I told their kids going through the line and Todd afterwards that kind of effort -- always moving your feet, the constant pressure -- that's going to be good against anybody," Central coach Chris Givens said. "I don't care who they're playing. There's some of the better teams we had on our schedule this year, if The Reps played that way against them, they'd be right there with them. If they can keep that up ... they've got a very legitimate shot of making a final four appearance."

Bottled up by the Reps' constant pressure up the middle and dump-and-chase game, Central's offense was out of whack much of the night.

"Our whole goal was to get the puck as deep as possible and really make them work," Spaulding said. "If they're going to score a goal, we wanted them to go 180 feet and really have to make a nice play."

After a disjointed first period in which the Reps outshot Central 6-2, the Trojans picked it up, with Trevor Mattis firmly hitting the crossbar and Caleb Morgan breaking the seal with a rush off a long deflection up the boards from Little. Morgan deked his way around Uitvlugt to put Central up 1-0 heading into the third period.

Hill made it 1-1 with a wrister that found its way through the five hole just 21 seconds into the third, with McDiarmid drawing an assist, but that score was quickly answered by Central's Mattis, who took advantage of a turnover and deposited a wrister to put the Trojans back up. Cooper Macdonell drew an assist on the score.

"I don't remember the last time we gave away the puck so much -- turnover after turnover," Givens said. "But a lot of that was the Reps. I give them credit. They were playing hard and putting a lot of pressure on us. They forced us to make some passes and plays we didn't want to make. They created turnovers and made the most of opportunities."

The No. 8-ranked Trojans appeared to play tentatively, especially early on.

"In the locker room before the game, I thought we were pretty prepared," Givens said. "I thought we were ready to play. Then the minute the puck dropped, you could tell -- especially my young guys -- were pretty nerved up."

Central (13-13) has 11 underclassmen on its roster, and -- battle-tested by a tough schedule -- should return a solid team next season.

The two teams don't play as much as Central and West, but they have a good deal of history, especially after Spaulding was hired to coach the Reps prior to this season.

"They're a great team," Spaulding said. "I think I coached 12 of them at one point or another, so I know a lot of them well and wish them the best.

"I've gone through a lot with Jared (VanWormer) over the years. When we won the state championship, that was the year his father passed away. All those kids, we went through a lot together. I hate to see anybody lose, because those kids are awesome kids."

Six TC Central players were on Spaulding's state championship Bantam AA team (plus two Reps -- Michael Elliott and Soenen), and Spaulding used to be an assistant coach under Givens at Central.

"We're best of buddies, and I told him I wish we could be on the same bench for something like this," Spaulding said of Givens. "Obviously, we're not. He wished us well and had a lot of nice things to say about our effort today.

"We took away the middle and really just pressured the puck. That third period was really one of our best periods of the year. At the end of the second, we got a little unravelled a bit and you could tell things were bugging them. I told them, 'It's going to be a battle right to the end.' And they kept working and really kept at it."

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