By Jack Leech
Special to the Clarkston News
 FRASER — The Clarkston Varsity Hockey team battled a fast moving team in their 2-1 win over De La Salle at the Big Boy Arena last Saturday night.
In the first period, the Wolves netted the first goal, when Kyle Lynch on passes from Logan Golub and Trey Damian.
The Wolves held the Pilots, ranked fifth in Division 2 at the time of the game, to just two shots on net for the period, unfortunately the second shot was a Pilots goal past sophomore netminder Brady Damian .
Owen Croston drew a minor penalty at the 14:20 mark and the Wolves penalty killers completely shut down the Pilots power play, allowing no shots on Damian. All tied at one goal apiece after the first intermission.
The second period was an even closer checking event, underscored by a minor penalty with 12:17 remaining, in which the Wolves PK unit allowed no shots on Damian.
With just 4.2 seconds on the clock, senior co-captain Ron Wade took a tape-to-tape pass from Kyle Lynch and Trey Damian to take the lead, 2-1. The shot edge for the period went slightly to the Wolves by a 7-5 margin.
The Wolves’ defense only allowed three shots on Damian in net. Meanwhile the Wolves tested the Pilots goaltender, William Janis, firing nine shots, all of which he turned away.
The Damian brothers credited their roots in the Lakeland Hockey Association and travel hockey for preparing them for a roster spot with Clarkston
“This is the first time we have played on the same team, I went on to spend four years in travel with Birmingham,” Trey said.
As for Brady, he now has four wins under his belt, stepping up to cover the injured Calum Hartner, allowing only 11 goals against and a respectable 2.06 goals-against average with a .893 save percentage
After a five-game road swing, the Wolves returned home for a back and forth battle with Salem, ranked No. 9 in Division 1 at the time, last Thursday to finish with a 7-5 win.
The Wolves scored at the 14:46 mark of the first period, when Brendan Rhodes picked off a rebound from a hard shot by Quinn Farrell, in a wrap around the net to beat the Rocks goaltender, Mason Wines.
The Rocks responded a little over a minute later, when forward Aaron Smith buried a Wolves’ turnover past Damian to knot the score at 1-1.
From that point on the Wolves got into penalty trouble and the Rocks scored three more goals, two of which were power-play scores with the man advantage.
Down by three goals at the end of the first period seemed like a tough hill to climb, but not for the Wolves, who carried the shot tally by a 15-8 margin.
Damian was relieved by senior goaltender Parker Pace while penalties hampered the Wolves.
Lynch, while on the penalty kill, proved adversity can be turned into success by netting a breakaway goal, after blocking a Rock defenseman’s shot to close the margin 4-2.
The Rocks were confounded by the Wolves aggressive attack and two back-to-back delay of game penalties for two many players on the ice, from fouled substitutions on the fly.
The Wolves could not capitalize on those mistakes, but managed to outshoot the Rocks 19-3 by the end of the second stanza.
In the third period, the Rocks carryover penalty found the Wolves most potent power-play combo of Owen Croston, Evan Adams and Wade up for the call.
Croston’s first of two scores came at 16:04, to close the gap by a single goal.
With 5:31 remaining in the third period, Croston took a pass from linemate, Wade to beat Wines, on the short side, to tie the score at five all.
The Wolves defense tightened the screws on the Rocks allowing only one shot on Pace in the entire third period, when with 4:06 remaining, Cole Moyses cut loose on a breakaway pass from Adams to net the go-ahead score for the home team.
The shooting barrage continued as the Wolves fired 12 shots on Wines to close with a 46-12 shot margin.
The Rocks attempted a pass up the middle, but Wade intercepted the pass and fired the final score unassisted, with just 46.14 seconds remaining to seal the victory 7-5 to end the night with two goals.
Pace had a total of four saves in the net and B. Damian had five.
Clarkston (7-2, 3-0 OAA Red) hosts Stoney Creek in a league competition on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield Hills.
The Wolves host an alumni game on Saturday at 6 p.m. followed by a game against another OAA Red league foe and crosstown rivals Lake Orion, 8 p.m. Both games are at Detroit Skating Club.
“It’s a big week for us,” said Nathan Bryer, head coach. “We want to go into the break on a high note. We go through a bit of gauntlet after the break, playing Livonia Stevenson. Then, we travel west to face two really good teams, Grand Rapids Christian and Reeths Puffer. Then, come back to play Detroit Catholic Central.”

  Clarkston High School, Hockey