Looking for it’s first win of the OAA season, Clarkston ventured to Farmington Hills to take on the Farmington Unified Flyers on Jan. 17.
Things did not work out as planned for the Wolves (2-8-3,0-5-2 OAA), who held a 3-2 advantage for 28 minutes of play, before the Flyers (8-5-1, 3-3 OAA) made a fatal strike.
After Steven Wyman scored his second goal of the night at 3:31 of the first period, both teams ceased scoring until late in the game. Jeff Smale beat David Cannons one-on-one and flipped a backhanded shot past Zack Lewy to tie things up at 3-3 at 4:38 of the third period.
With an impending interference penalty coming to the Wolves, Joe Swykert scored the game winner just a minute-and-a-half later.
‘The momentum was there and we were able to hop on them and smell the blood so to speak and go after them and get one in,? Flyers? coach Ken Anderson said.
‘I told all the guys that because you scored two goals in the first period…and then have a lack of mental focus in the third period made the work nothing,? Clarkston coach Bryan Krygier said.
‘We gave it away with 4:38 left. It’s frustrating, we were starting to play a little bit better with the tie at Birmingham and then to give a game away in the last five minutes of the third period kind of deflated us,? Krygier said.
‘You’ve got to be mentally focused and not make those type of mistakes and give the extra effort to make sure we’re doing the proper things on the ice and making the proper plays, when we don’t, we know that’s going to happen,? he added.
Krygier said the Wolves allowed the Flyers to get back into the game.
‘We didn’t beat them to the puck, we didn’t play the body and we didn’t angle them properly and we gave them too big of gaps to move the puck and create a little bit of time and space, which creates opportunities for them. When they created opportunities on us, they capitalized on them,? he said.
Anderson said his team’s response to the deficit was much better than in games past.
‘I was very proud of our kids. At times this year when we’ve gotten down in a game, they’ve held their heads down low and thought we don’t have a chance to get back in it. Tonight, we really battled and won individual battles and got to the net.?
After being out-shot by Clarkston 16-11 in the first two periods, Anderson was happy the team perked up and out-shot the Wolves 13-4 in the final stanza.
‘We picked up the pace, we don’t need to look for perfect shots, we just need to get the puck to the net. Eleven shots after two periods in definitely not enough.?
With Justin Work in the penalty box for the first 1:30 of the third period, the Wolves were looking to increase their lead, but the Flyers? penalty kill unit stood its ground.
‘Our penalty kill was pretty good. We try to be as aggressive as we can be. Sometimes they can hurt you with really good passes, but they are quick enough and they fall back to help each other out,? Anderson said.
Wyman, playing in his first game this season, scored at 14:29 of the first period. The Flyers answered at 7:21 when Jon Murfey scored and went ahead after Justin Work added another tally less than a minute later. Nick Posawatz tied the game 2-2 at 3:31 of the period on a cross-ice pass from Eric Salo.
Clarkston travels to play Grosse Pointe North of the Michigan Interscholastic Hockey League on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Thus far, the Wolves are 1-1-1 against teams from the MIHL.
Clarkston returns to OAA action for a rematch at Royal Oak on Saturday at 8:15 p.m. The Wolves tied the Ravens 1-1 on Dec. 21.