West tops Cadillac in BNC showdown

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Record-Eagle
Douglas Tesner

February 18, 2010

Teams are tied for the lead in loss column

BY JAMES COOK The Record Eagle Thu Feb 18, 2010, 12:50 AM EST

TRAVERSE CITY -- It started with a forfeit.

It may end in a tie.

Traverse City West defeated Cadillac 3-2 Wednesday night at Howe Arena to put the two teams in a tie in the loss column for first place in the Big North Conference.

Cadillac (16-3-1, 7-2 BNC) -- chasing its first BNC hockey title in school history -- needs a home win against 5-16 Alpena to clinch a share of the crown.

West (12-9, 6-2 BNC) -- bouncing back after a Michigan High School Athletic Association rules violation forced the forfeiture of a 6-0 win over Alpena -- can also clinch a share of the championship if it can sweep a home-and-home series with 4-16 Gaylord this weekend.

"It's hard to give up a win," said TC West captain Shane Totten, who scored the tying goal. "But you have to come out like we did and take it to them and show them that they don't really deserve to be tied with us now."

"It was pretty disappointing," teammate Alex Grizzel said. "We won the game, fair and square. But they took it away. Whatever."

Wednesday's win put the Titans back in contention for their fourth straight league banner.

"They knew it was win or we have no hope," Titans coach Jeremy Rintala said. "Both of us control our own destiny."

The forfeit comes from the rescheduling of the Alpena game from Jan. 3 to Jan. 2 because the Wildcats couldn't get the ice time for the contest. With West competing in Traverse City Central's three-round tournament on Dec. 28-30, the change gave West four games in a seven-day period, which is not allowed under MHSAA guidelines.

TC West athletic director Patti Tibaldi said the MHSAA left the matter up to the league to decide.

"The MHSAA basically said it's up to the Big North Conference to decide forfeits," Rintala said. "We violated an MHSAA rule by playing four games in a week, so the conference had a meeting and decided that they would stick by the forfeit rule. We accept that. We made a mistake and it won't happen again. But it put our guys' backs against the wall, and I'm glad they performed.

"It's a little extra incentive for our guys to make sure we finish these last couple games off."

And it looked early on like TC West, ranked No. 7 in Division 1, might run away with it.

Jake Gillis put the Titans up just 1:39 into the contest.

"Zach Franklin got on the puck hard and knocked it loose," Rintala said. "He threw it out front to Jake Longstreet, who made a heads-up play to Jake Gillis, who picked his head up, found an opening and made a great shot. I wish we could have done more of that; getting in, cycling the puck and making plays. But they bottled us up. ... All credit to Cadillac. They did a good job of not really letting us keep any momentum for any long periods of time."

Cadillac, ranked No. 8 in Division 3, rebounded to knot it up on a goal by the league's leading scorer, P.J. O'Hagan, who gathered in a deflection off the boards and snapped a wrister from the doorstep past West's Nate Wilson with 4:45 left in the first period.

"I though the teams were relatively evenly matched," Cadillac coach Scott Graham said. "The first period, we outchanced them a bit. I was a little disappointed in the second goal; I thought it was a high-stick."

Or maybe a high helmet?

"It bounced off my head and in," Totten said. "I played it back to Alex, and all I see is him wind up for the shot and I ducked and it went off my head and up in the air and in. It was probably one of the weirdest goals I've ever been credited with. I didn't even know it went in."

That put the Titans up 2-1 just 4:03 into the second.

Looking like a team that could make a deep run in the Division 3 playoffs, Cadillac responded with a Joey Gussert goal set up by Will Badner and Dane Moore with 5:29 left in the second.

Grizzel got to a rebound before Cadillac goaltender Mike Boike and tapped it in for the game-winner with 4.7 seconds left in the second period.

"The first and second periods, they won a few more battles along the boards than us," Graham said. "We had a better third period than they did, especially after we killed off that penalty.

"We had our chances. In the third period, we hit two posts. That goal with five seconds left (in the second) was a killer."

The Vikings killed off a full two-minute 5-on-3 early in the third to gain some momentum.

The Titans' Nate Allgaier rang a shot off the post during the power play, starting a theme for the period.

Badner later clanged a shot off the inside of the post, with the puck hitting Wilson in the back before he laid on it, and O'Hagan clunked one off the crossbar with five minutes left.

Cadillac pulled Boike with 45 seconds left, but the Titans were able to burn off the remaining time, and defenseman Chris Dienes was hugging Wilson even before the final horn went off.

"I think the guys played a little nervous and tight," Rintala said. "We didn't play our best hockey, but it was good enough to get us the win."