Chemics falter in third period vs. Hawks
The Midland High hockey team had a decade-long losing streak against Saginaw Heritage during last season’s thrilling run against the Frozen Four. On Wednesday, the Hawks mustered a degree of revenge in a key Saginaw Valley League showdown.
Heritage broke a goalless tie with three goals in the third half, beating hosts Chemics 3-0 in a game marred by missed chances by both teams and great play by both goalies.
The Hawks improve to 11-7 overall and 2-0 in the Valley while Midland slips to 13-5, 2-1.
MHS trainer Steve Witt was not satisfied with the course of the third period.
“We were soft,” admitted Witt. “We gave them a few chances where we could have framed someone with a body, but we didn’t do it. … They moved the puck. They moved around. They scored the first goal and we were kind of back on our heels for the next 16 minutes.”
When asked what he said to his chemists afterwards, Witt added: “Just be better. We have the opportunity to look at our mistakes in the film and fix them, and too many (our players) choose not to and expect different results.
“I challenged her. We wrote March 1st (the date of the regional finals) on the board for a reason, and we have a month to prepare,” he added.
The Chemics played most of a fast-paced, entertaining first period, generating better scoring chances than the Hawks and earning three power plays. But heritage goalie Nolan Gotham was up to the task, making several good saves as Midland had 13 chances on the Hawks’ five in that period.
Midlands goalkeeper Aidan O’Malley, who made some nice saves from close range in the first period, was the star of the second period. While the Hawks kept the pressure on Midland’s defense and created 10 chances for the first seven minutes, O’Malley made five beautiful saves from close range to keep the game scoreless.
Heritage dominated for most of the period and held a 21-8 advantage in scoring chances, although the Chemics had a couple of nice chances towards the end of the period when Gotham made it big again.
“Aidan played exactly how we wanted Aidan to play,” Witt said of O’Malley. “I feel like maybe he was let down a little bit by his teammates, maybe we could have fought a lot more on our own end than we did and they (Heritage) exposed that. I thought it was definitely one of Aidan’s better games of the year.”
Eventually, just 48 seconds into the third leg, Heritage broke through.
Cole Winters centered the puck from the right corner, and Mason Cole blasted it past O’Malley to make it 1-0.
The Hawks struck again two minutes later. This time, Nolan Drapp flicked the puck into the crease behind the net and Owen Gohm fired a point-blank shot through O’Malley’s glove to give them a 2-0 lead.
Then at 9:05 of the third, Heritage added a power play goal when Cole received a pass from Owen Turner and netted a hard shot from the left circle to give the final lead.
“I was happy with the first period. I thought both teams played well. I thought we won the first and they won the second, and we knew before the third it was going to be a fight,” said Witt. “Their top guys were better (in the third).
“…I’m not upset that we lost, but I’m a little disappointed with how that (third period) turned out,” he added. “We’re going to get back to work tomorrow and fix some things and gather some energy and get ready for Bay City on Friday.”
Both teams finished the game with 28 shots on goal, while Heritage had a 37-29 advantage in scoring chances.
Gotham had 28 saves to earn the shutout while O’Malley made 25 saves in the loss.
Witt said he is not giving up the opportunity to earn at least part of the SVL title.
“Whether we won or lost, we knew Heritage had to play Powers towards the end of the year and then we’re in Flint on the last Wednesday of the (regular season),” he noted. “We need Powers to beat Heritage and we need to beat Powers and we become Co-Valley champions.”
The Chemics travel to Bay City for a game on Friday at 7 p.m.
