Cadillac goalie slams door on Reps

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Douglas Tesner

February 6, 2010

Boike stops 26 shots

BY JAMES COOK The Record Eagle Sat Feb 06, 2010, 07:58 AM EST

TRAVERSE CITY -- The Bay Reps had a 26-15 advantage in shots on goal, but Cadillac had one big advantage -- a brick wall named Mike Boike.

Boike and the Viking defense slammed the door on the Reps in a 3-0 victory Friday, despite a rash of penalties that kept Cadillac a skater down for long stretches of the second and third periods.

The shutout was the second straight for Boike, the senior netminder who is drawing interest from several Division 1 universities.

"I didn't have to do much, so they really earned the shutout for me," Boike said of his defense.

The Reps held the advantage in shots, thanks in part to 11 Cadillac penalties.

But Boike and the Viking defense were up to the task, stopping the Reps, winners in four of their previous five, including an impressive victory over No. 9 Big Rapids.

"They are always a good team and they always battle hard," Boike said. "In all honesty, I hate playing them, because you never know what they're going to throw at you. It seems they somehow get the puck in the net and somehow I just got lucky and kept them out. They had a good goalie, too."

Reps junior netminder Saraya Uitvlugt made 12 stops.

The Vikings went up early, striking 2:09 into the game as Anthony Urse chipped one in past Uitvlugt, with Josh Thomas drawing an assist.

No. 8-ranked Cadillac (14-2-1, 6-1 Big North Conference) added two more in the second period -- one as P.J. O'Hagan ripped a slapshot 3:14 into the frame and another by Will Badner with 6:48 remaining.

O'Hagan played under current Reps coach Todd Spaulding on Spaulding's 2007 Bantam AA state championship team.

"With the number of penalties that were incurred, I think our guys played pretty well defensively," Cadillac coach Scott Graham said. "Michael obviously does a good job and kept us in the game. ... We were frustrated with a lot of clutching and grabbing, but you have to fight through that stuff. I thought we did a pretty good job in the second period and then got a little undisciplined in the third and let our frustration get the best of us."

Boike made 26 saves for his third shutout of the season.

"Michael was seeing the puck really well," Graham said, "and the guys were doing a good job of keeping the puck in front of them and minimizing scoring chances."

The goalie came up big when the Vikings were killing a 5-on-3 power play and forward Joey Gussert broke his stick but had to stay in the play as Cadillac was on the opposite end of the ice as its bench. Boike made several saves, including gloving a hard slapshot by Scott Luca and brushing aside an Eric Jones shot with a sliding pad save.

Tonight's Cadillac game is even bigger, as the Vikings host Traverse City West with first place in the Big North on the line.

Both team have 12 points in league action, although the Vikings are 6-1 to West's 6-0 BNC mark, meaning Cadillac will likely have to win both matchups against the Titans to skate away with its first BNC hockey title in school history.

"We've had plenty of chances in the past and haven't been able to capitalize on it," Graham said.

Even though Boike's 1.89 goals-against average in league play is good, the Titans have given up only three scores in six games and West netminder Nate Wilson's GAA is a spectacular 0.56 in BNC contests.

"I expect a fast-paced team and a fast-paced game," Graham said. "I know they've got some scoring power. We've been playing good hockey all year, so it's a matter of us finding our niche or groove at that moment of the game and sticking to out guns. Certainly, staying out of the penalty box will be big."

The Reps host Grand Rapids Christian tonight at 7:30 p.m.