Traverse City Record-Eagle

Prep Sports

THE LOWDOWN

- The postponed West-Gaylord game will be make up Friday at Howe Arena. Face-off is set for 7 p.m.

- The Titans learned their MIHL Showcase schedule Friday, drawing No. 9 Grosse Pointe South on Feb. 8 and Midland on Feb. 9. The Bay Reps drew No. 10 Saginaw Heritage and Allen Park.

- West hosts Division 1 No. 1 Birmingham Brother Rice today at 3:30 p.m. at Howe Arena.

Related Photos

  • Livonia Stevenson's Tyler Irvine (9) tries to steal the puck from Traverse City West's Jeff Linenger (14) in the first period of Friday's game. Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump

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January 12, 2013

Lutz nets hat trick against Traverse City West

BY JAMES COOK jcook@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Dominic Lutz always seems to make his mark in Traverse City.

The Livonia Stevenson standout kept up that trend, doing all the game's scoring in a 3-0 win over Traverse City West.

Stevenson — ranked No. 1 in Division 2 — outshot West 17-3 in the first period, taking a 1-0 lead on Lutz' hard wrist shot off a Devin Kelly faceoff win deep in West's zone.

The Spartans took a 2-0 lead with a short-handed goal 5:47 into the second by Lutz.

Lutz made it 3-0, banging in the rebound of a shot off a face-off in West's zone seven seconds into the third period.

Aside from Lutz, no Spartans player could solve Carter Edmondson, who made 32 saves and kept West (4-9-1) in the game.

"Carter Edmondson was unbelievable," West coach Jeremy Rintala said. "We had guys play with heart and they battled all the way until the end, even though it was pretty clear that we weren't going to win that game. But we had opportunities on the power play.

"If our power play had been clicking a little better, we could have been right in there with a goaltending performance like that. That's all you can ask for. He gave us a chance."

In the second period, West had 1:36 of 5-on-3 power play and didn't muster a shot on goal.

"We had a long 5-on-3 and were unorganized and were never really able to get anything set up," Rintala said.

The Titans host Division 1 No. 1 Birmingham Brother Rice today at 3:30 p.m.

"I didn't see any weaknesses in their game," Rintala said of the Warriors. "They're deep at forward. They're deep on defense. They move the puck and had solid goaltending. We're going to have to be smart and stay out of the penalty box, for sure. Their power play looked really good. We have to make them earn every bit of ice."

Brother Rice coach Lou Schmidt Jr. said he expects a good fight from the Titans.

"These guys played each other pretty tight, so I expect it to be another physical game," he said.

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