The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
History-makers
Dexter icers reach school's first ever regional final
By Don Richter, Sports Editor
PUBLISHED: March 8, 2007
Dexter hockey lost to perennial state power Dearborn Divine Child 4-2 last Saturday in a Division III state regional final at Chelsea's Arctic Coliseum.
Advertisement
Despite the season-ending loss, the Dreadnaughts (20-6-1, 7-0 Southeastern Conference) had a year to remember. Dexter's 20 wins were a school record, while the Dreads reached the regional final for the first time in their history. Dexter also captured the SEC championship with a perfect 7-0 record.
Against the Falcons, the Dreadnaughts fell behind 3-0 early and were never able to claw their way back.
Joe Grefke opened the scoring for Divine Child with a power play goal off an assist from Ryan O'Dowd and Shawn Taylor at 3:54 of the first period.
At 10:20 of the first period, O'Dowd scored a power play goal increasing the Falcons' advantage to 2-0. John Port recorded an assist on the play for Divine Child.
Davey Frey upped the Falcons' lead to 3-0 with a goal at 14:31 of the first period. O'Dowd and Taylor assisted on the play for Divine Child.
In the second period, Dexter forward Adam Boonstra scored his first goal of the year off an assist from defenseman Michael Clutterback at 11:10 of the frame, cutting the Falcon lead to 3-1.
At 1:13 of the third period, Port scored increasing Divine Child's margin to 4-1. Grefke picked up an assist on the goal for the Falcons.
Dreadnaught forward Nick Field scored on a power play at 8:11 of the third period. Alex Johnston and Hunter Lyons assisted on the play for Dexter for the game's ending tally.
The Falcons out-shot the Dreadnaughts 34-31.
"There's a reason why they've (Divine Child) won seven straight regional titles," said Dexter coach Gary Howell. "They're a very good team. They don't make very many mistakes. They're very solid. You can't go down 3-0 against a team like that."
Despite losing, Howell was pleased with his squad's effort.
"I'm very proud of the team," he said.
In the pre-regional final last Thursday at the Arctic Coliseum, Dexter defeated county rival Chelsea 3-2 in overtime. The victory over the Bulldogs was the Dreadnaughts' third straight over Chelsea this season.
"That's tough to do," Howell said of going 3-0 against your rival. "We were able to pull it off. Chelsea had a lot of shots on goal. But we didn't give up any odd man rushes or rebounds. The team did a good job defensively."
Lyons scored on a shot from center ice four minutes into overtime for the game- and pre-regional title-winner.
"It was a good, hard shot," Howell said of Lyons' center ice blast. "I think it's definitely one the Chelsea goalie would like back."
To begin the contest, Alex Johnston scored at 8:44 of the first period off an assist from Field giving Dexter a 1-0 lead.
At 14:06 of the first period, the Bulldogs (16-8-2) tied the game at 1-1 as junior Kyle George scored. Seniors David Maveal and Schyler Williams assisted on the play for Chelsea.
Twenty-seven seconds later, Field scored giving the Dreadnaughts a 2-1 advantage. Alex Johnston and Lyons recorded an assist on the goal for Dexter.
In the second period, Williams tied the game at 2-2 with a goal at 13:29. Juniors Andy Korc and Matt Prince assisted on the play for the Bulldogs.
After a scoreless third period, Lyons shot the game-winner from center ice.
Chelsea out-shot the Dreadnaughts 40-28 for the night.
Earning the win in net for Dexter was goaltender Nick Ceccolini.
"That was a great environment for high school hockey," Howell said of the packed and loud Arctic Coliseum. "It was a great crowd."
In the first round of the pre-regional at the Arctic Coliseum Feb. 27, the Dreadnaughts defeated Jackson Lumen Christi 6-4.
As it did against Divine Child, Dexter trailed 3-0 early in the first period.
The Titans began the scoring as Logan Holllow hit the back of the net at 1:27 of the first period off an assist from Tobin Dunigan and Mike Jahnik.
At 4:30 of the first period, Hollow scored assisted by Dunigan and Jahnik giving Lumen Christi a 2-0 advantage.
Five minutes later, Ryan Lamarci scored a power play goal increasing the Titans' lead to 3-0. Brian Carney and Robert Kanser picked up an assist on the play for Lumen Christi.
Twenty-three seconds later, Dexter answered as Field scored cutting the Titans' lead to 3-1.
At 11:49, Shawn Daly scored for Lumen Christi off an assist from Keanon Kelly and Lamarci.
Field scored two minutes later, trimming the Titans' lead to 4-2. Alex Johnston and Connor Johnston assisted for the Dreadnaughts.
In the second period, Alex Johnston scored unassisted at 10:42 closing the gap to 4-3.
In the third period, Field scored his third goal of the game for a hat trick at 4:54 tying the contest at 4-4. Forward Alex Erber and defenseman Austin Shapiro picked up an assist on the goal for Dexter.
Forward Zach Stanislovaitis scored the game-winner at 12:25 of the third period off an assist from Lyons.
Field scored his fourth goal of the game on an empty-netter with two seconds left on the clock for the night's final margin.
"He's our captain and he acted like it," Howell said of Field's four-goal performance. "We needed some goals. For awhile it looked like if the puck was on his stick it was going in the net."
Lumen Christi out-shit the Dreadnaughts 32-31.
Ceccolini chalked up the win in net for Dexter.
"It was good to see us come back," Howell said of Dexter's early 3-0 deficit. "The score didn't exactly reflect how the game was being played. They scored a few quick goals. They were able to get a couple of nice bounces. But our guys were playing hard."
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
TOP JOBS
