By Wendi Reardon Price
Clarkston News Sports Writer
Bloomfield Hills — It came down to the third period for the Clarkston Varsity Hockey team in their rival game against Lake Orion last Thursday at Detroit Skating Club.
The Dragons had held the lead 1-0 since the first period with a goal from Luca Chiarini.
During the final period, the Wolves not only tied the score but finished with a 3-1 win with goals from Owen Croston, Blake Botterill and Theo Walker.
“We played well all game,” said Nathan Bryer, head coach. “They have a really good goaltender and we knew that going into it. We just stuck to our game plan and they finally started going in for us in the third.”
He added it was a fun game.
“It’s always a fun one for our players,” Bryer said. “It was a very intense game which made it all a very classic Clarkston-Lake Orion game – low score right to the end.”
Just like the first six games of the season different players scored goals and five different players also had assists with Botterill, Evan Adams, Devon Collis, Brady Earing and Ryan Wilford each with one.
“I say it every time I talk to people – that’s our strength is our depth,” Bryer said. “We can get scoring from everywhere and everyone or different guys contribute every night.”
The Wolves had 36 shots on the net while goalie Calum Hartner had 18 saves.
Bryer added defense was good.
“They have a couple of players who are very high end goal scorers,” he said. “I think we defend well as a team. We have seven really capable defense men and three goalies we are going to get a big effort from every night. We don’t always harp on it because it’s just our team habit – take care of our end first, then we down in our offensive zone, score goals and have a little bit more fun”
The last time the Wolves defeated Lake Orion was with a 4-3 at the end of the shortened 2020-2021 season.
“It was big,” Bryer added about the win. It was like a dark cloud that loomed over us a little bit. The past five years they have dominated this rivalry. They have been at the top of the OAA every year in hockey. If you are a Clarkston Hockey player you circle those two games on the calendar every year. It’s a confidence booster.
The Wolves (7-0, 4-0 OAA Red) finished the week with a 7-3 win against M-1 Griffins United on Saturday.
Botterill and Ron Wade led with two goals and two assists each. Croston had one goal and two assists. Walker had one goal and one assist.Eric Wade scored one goal.
Wilford had three assists.
Adams, Collis, Earing and Trey Damian had one assist each.
The Wolves made 58 shots on M-1 Griffins’ net. Brady Damian had 14 saves for Clarkston during the night.
They play Bay City this Friday, 7 p.m., and Jackson on Saturday, 10 a.m. Both games are at Bay County Civic Arena, 4231 Shrestha Drive in Bay City.
Clarkston hosts Rochester United on December 22 and plays Flint Powers the next day to wrap 2022.

  Clarkston Hockey