West makes history

Hockey

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James Cook

March 6, 2010

Titans win first regional title

By JAMES COOK The Record Eagle Sat Mar 06, 2010, 10:20 PM EST

BIG RAPIDS -- And the hits keep coming.

Traverse City West owned the boards on Saturday at Ferris State University and won a physical 3-1 contest with Rockford to bring home the school's first regional hockey crown in school history.

"It's a big one," said Titans forward Cody Stricker. "West has never gone this far and we want to keep going.

"Marquette was big. They've ended our season the last couple years. But this was bigger. This was for the regional championship."

After finally getting by the Redmen for the first time on Thursday, it was Rockford's turn on Saturday.

"We've always been so close every year," Titan coach Jeremy Rintala said. "To finally break through, it just means a lot to us."

Saturday was the furthest Traverse City West has gone in the playoffs, and the Titans won't go any farther distance-wise in next Wednesday's Division 1 quarterfinal, heading back to Big Rapids to face Hudsonville, a 2-1 triple-overtime winner over DeWitt.

In Saturday's matchup of two veteran teams, TC West used its depth to grind down Rockford, which rolled only three lines to West's three and sometimes a fourth.

"Our guys seemed pretty fresh," Rintala said. "We were able to keep it up-tempo."

"We had a defenseman who has the flu and another forward who is on kind of a lame leg right now," Rockford coach Ed VanPortfliet said. "We seemed to struggle there a little bit. We were a bit tired. But that's what we've done all year, roll 10 forwards and six defensemen and it's worked quite well for us."

The Rams, loaded with 18 upperclassmen, came into the regional final averaging 4.46 goals a game.

The Titans (17-8-1) and goalie Nate Wilson held them to less than one quarter of that.

"Nate Wilson played great today," Stricker said. "He kept us in there, as he always does."

Rockford switched things up on West, going with junior goaltender Taylor Newton over senior Christian VanPortfliet.

Clinging to a 2-1 lead late in the third period, Nate Allgaier gave the Titans some breathing room, capitalizing on a turnover and ripping a wrister high on the glove side to beat Newton.

"First I went down and shot it and missed the net," Allgaier said. "Then I saw they turned it over at the blue line, and I saw an opening so I went right for it and just got it over his glove."

Rockford tied the game 1-1 as the Rams took advantage of an early third-period power play and scored just eight seconds into the advantage on a rocket slapshot by senior captain Noah Greco.

The Titans bounced back to take the lead for good 4:20 into the period on Sticker's goal, which rode up and trickled in off Newtons pads.

"Jake won the draw and got a good shot on net," Stricker said. "The puck bounced out and I got to it. The goalie fumbled it a little bit."

Rockford had a power play not long after with a chance to tie it up, but West's penalty kill came up big, holding the Rams without a shot on goal for the entire two minutes.

The first period saw the Titans outshoot the Rams 10-7, although West carried the play more than Rockford.

Defenseman Trent McDougall made two excellent plays to stop the Rams' top two scoring opportunities, cutting off a passing lane to force Jake Chaffee into an easy shot on Wilson and laying out to break up a two-on-one rush.

"He's a very poised kid," Rintala said of McDougall. "He's played a lot for us this year, and we know we can rely on him in a big game.

"Our defensemen played good again today. They kept most of (Rockford's) chances to the outside. We have a good goalie and they know as long as he can see the puck, he'll save it."

The Rams held a 6-1 lead in shots early on, even while West was carrying the play as Rockford's defense was able to stop several shots before they got to Newton.

"The first period, the nerves got to us a little," Rintala said. "Pucks were bouncing over our sticks. We were having a tough time catching passes. They had the first six or seven shots on net. Then we rattled off 10 or so to finish out the period. It was nice to get some momentum going there, even though we didn't score."

That would come in the second period.

The Titans mostly dominated the second period -- ending the stanza with a 26-12 advantage in shots on net -- as Rockford appeared to wear down from West rolling four lines and playing the body a lot, with Luke Gerding and Jake Longstreet both laying big hits on Chaffee and the Rams' top forwards.

West finally broke through on the scoreboard when Gerding pounced on a loose puck in the crease after several close calls. Zach Franklin and Frank Gilbert picked up assists on the game's first goal with 1:09 left in the second.

"We knew we were OK if we played our style of hockey," Rintala said. "In the second period, the guys just kept plugging away. And that goal ... was huge for us. It gave our guys the confidence to know that if we support them, they will come. I told them that's the kind of goals it's going to take in the playoffs -- scrambling in front of the net and whoever can get their stick on it."

In a game that didn't feature many penalties (and when it did, many were coincidental minors), the Titans played physical, pounded the boards and its forecheck forced turnovers by the Rockford defense.

"I thought West controlled the boards," Ed VanPortfliet said. "We struggled at times to get rid of the puck when we needed to. They were real strong along the boards. And they capitalized on a couple of turnovers and made them count."

Hudsonville -- which has given up just four goals in three regional games and defended its regional crown -- received 51 saves from goalie Zach Streeter in the 3OT win over DeWitt.

"It's just one more game, "Rintala said. "We're just going to ride until we get bucked."