Traverse City Record-Eagle

Sports

March 7, 2012

TC Central rally comes up short

Trojans fall 5-4 to GR Forest Hills Northern in D-2 quarterfinal

By JAMES COOK jcook@record-eagle.com

BIG RAPIDS — One minute short.

That's what Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern coach Todd Gallup says.

Traverse City Central's huge rally from a 5-1 deficit was nearly completed, and Gallup said if the Trojans had one more minute on the clock, they had a good chance of walking into the Division 2 state semifinals.

Instead, the Hawks are going to Plymouth after scratching out a 5-4 quarterfinal victory Tuesday at Ferris State University.

"Hang on is what we did," Northern coach Todd Gallup said. "They came with everything. We knew they would."

Down 5-1 after Forest Hills Northern (22-6) lit the lamp five times in the second period, TC Central (19-8-1) mounted an impressive comeback, dominating the third period before coming up one break short of forcing overtime.

"They're a very good team," Gallup said. "They've got three lines that can skate. They've got some studs that made it very difficult for us. We had an amazing second period. We were all over them. Then in the third they just owned us. They were relentless. We were lucky to get out of there with a win. You put another minute on the clock, and they get us and we've going to overtime."

Nico Saco's second goal of the game started off a third-period Trojans' flurry.

Lucas Little rocketed a hard slapshot with a long, delayed wind-up just as he was leveled by Griffin Reyelts. The shot got through and was tipped home by Marcus Russell to make it 5-3.

Cam Givens then lifted the rebound of another Little shot high into the net to draw the Trojans within a single goal with 4:09 remaining, prompting the reeling Hawks to use their timeout.

In a frantic last several minutes, Cooper Macdonell's shot hit Northern goalie Bryce Bignal in the shoulder with 50 seconds remaining and Givens' chip on the doorstep with 1.3 ticks left was deflected up into the netting. Sam Rennaker was able to tie up Macdonell just long enough on the ensuing faceoff deep in Forest Hills' zone to allow the final 1.3 seconds to tick off.

Central's 19-win season ranks with two others (2002-03 and 2007-08) as the second-best seasons in program history. That included a 4-2 regular-season win over the Hawks.

The second period saw an avalanche of Hawks goals.

Sam Rennaker started it off by converting a top-shelf shot on a 2-on-1 rush off the tip of TC Central goalie Michael Wittersheim's glove 1:05 in. Brad Reitter turned a Garrett Frain turnover in the neutral zone into a 2-0 lead off a Reyelts set up.

Renneker's second of the game on his own rebound, leading Central to use its timeout with 10:53 remaining in the second, with injured Trojans goalie Bill Vermetten pulling Wittershiem off to the side and talking to him the entire time.

Just 1:14 later, Marc Anderson got to the puck in a scramble out in front and was able to push it in for a three-goal lead. Reitter added the fifth goal with 3:46 remaining, tucking in a loose puck in the crease after several Wittershiem saves.

Central started out of the game quickly, generating two scoring opportunities in the first 30 seconds.

Forest Hills mounted an odd-man rush soon after, however, and Wittersheim stoned Brad Reitter in tight.

Saco put Central up 1-0, chipping in a rebound shot after he took the zone with a pair of nice dekes with 4:03 left in the first.

Wittersheim made a flailing glove save on Jared Mervenne and a pad stop of a Sam Haines shot before Saco's score.

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