Mercy skated past Ladywood for the Catholic league hockey crown. | Photo by Mr. Mack Photography

Orchard Lake -– Thirty seconds earlier, Madeline McClain’s shot from near half-rink appeared to trickle between the legs of Ladywood goalie Sarah Koch to give Farmington Hills Mercy its first-ever CHSL Girls Hockey Championship.

The referees waved it off. No goal. Marlins Coach Brandon Malinowski protested vigorously.

Deja vu. Now McClain finds herself in a similar situation, picking up a loose puck at her blue line, streaking toward Koch.

“I thought that first shot went in,” she’s thinking as she draws nearer and nearer to the Ladywood goal a second time. “If I miss this one, I’ll really be mad.”

She shoots. “I thought I missed it again, that it didn’t go in. But I turned around and I saw the goalie’s face, and I knew it went in.”

At 2:09 of sudden death overtime, McClain is mobbed by her joyous teammates celebrating a dramatic 6-5 victory, snapping Ladywood’s string of six consecutive CHSL championships, and giving Malinowski the title in his first year coaching at Mercy.

“I’m setting up the program just right,” he joked, adding: “The puck bounced better for us. It was an even game. My hat’s off to them.”

“We beat ourselves with all the turnovers,” said Ladywood Coach Bruce Peck.

But he could find no fault with the Blazers spunk. They came from behind four times to tie the score.

Senior captain Alexandra Conner gave Mercy a 1-0 lead early in the first period, only to witness Ladywood’s Katy Folk tie the score 28 seconds later.

Alexandra’s sister, sophomore Caitlin Conner, scored back-to-back goals to restore Mercy’s lead to 3-1. Ladywood knotted the score again on goals 13 seconds apart by Elayna Kolpacke and Rana Freij.

DeBrincat Morgan put Mercy ahead again on a power play goal, but Freij punched in a rebound to send the game tied at 4-4 into the third period.

Alexandra Conner’s goal made it a 5-4 Mercy lead that lasted for only about three minutes when Hannah Pereira punched the puck past Mercy goalie Clarissa LeVasseur to set up McClain’s overtime heroics.

Mercy improved its overall record to 14-5, while Ladywood fell to 7-12. Both teams continue their season in the Michigan Metro Girls Hockey League playoffs.

Detroit Catholic Central topped St. Mary's Prep for the Catholic League hockey championship. | Photo by Mr. Mack Photography

Detroit –- An aggressive offense and a smothering defense was the winning formula for Novi Detroit Catholic Central’s CHSL A-B Division Boys Hockey Championship 5-3 decision over Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Prep Saturday night at the Joe Louis Arena.

The defensive effort was particularly important since freshman JV goalie, Spencer Wright, got the call to be in net as sub for CC’s regular two goalies, benched for what Coach Todd Johnson called “an internal discipline issue.”

“He got the job done,” said Johnson. “He’s going to be a good goalie for our program.”

If Wright had any jitters, he got rid of them right away, blocking a couple of Eaglets’ rushes in an intense first period that was what one would expect from teams ranked 1 and 2 respectively in Division 1 by the state’s hockey coaches association.

St. Mary’s was the first to flinch when, with just 22 seconds remaining in the period, CC’s Nolan Gluchowski rifled the puck from the blue line past Eaglets’ goalie, Austin Julvezan.

OLSM’s Sean Harrington slipped a power play goal between Wright’s pads three minutes into the second period to even up the score. But that’s when the game’s complexion changed.

The Eaglets were whistled for a pair of back-to-back penalties lasting nearly three minutes, including a 1:15 portion when the Shamrocks had a 5-on-3 opportunity.

Nine seconds after OLSM was back at full strength, Joe Steele put CC back on top, 2-1.

OLSM was called again for two penalties, once again offering CC a minute-long 5-on-3
chance. And, although to its credit St. Mary’s successfully fought off the Shamrocks’ charges, the wear-and-tear of doing so appeared to take a toll down the stretch.

Gluchowski opened the third period scoring from almost the same spot on the ice as his first goal to increase CC’s lead to 3-1. St. Mary’s Michael Mueller connected to revert the score to a one-goal difference.

Charlie Green and Max Wanko completed CC’s scoring, while Cooper Anstett got St. Mary’s third goal.

CC outshot the Eaglets 29-15, but there were moments – such as a 9-2 CC surge in the second period and a 7-2 differential in the third – when the Shamrocks defense refused to let St. Mary’s get its offense into any rhythm.

Catholic Central is 19-3, including three wins this season over St. Mary’s, whose record drops to 12-10.

Marian's ski team poses following its CHSL victory. | Photos by Mr. Mack Photography

White Lake Township – Life without Katie is just fine for the Bloomfield Hills Marian ski team.

“Oh, we do miss her,” said Coach Rob Rhodes.

It would be hard not to. Katie Thibideau’s accomplishments on Michigan’s prep snowy slopes are legendary: three years in a row CHSL slalom and giant slalom winner; 2010 and 2011 state giant slalom champion; 2011 state slalom champion, leading Marian to state Division 1 team championships the last two winters.

In the aftermath of Marian’s fourth consecutive CHSL ski title last Monday at Alpine Valley, seniors Kelly Lunghamer and Morgan Kavanaugh credited “hard work” for the team’s success this year. “We have a tradition of winning at Marian, and we want to continue it.”

“Our young kids stepped up,” said Rhodes.

Lunghamer, sophomore Kat Streng and junior Haley Goeckel were 1-2-3 in the slalom. Goeckel and Lunghamer flip-flopped finishes in the giant slalom. Streng took second again for another 1-2-3 finish for Marian. Sophomore Madison McCready took fifth in both races to round out Marian’s top four and account for its winning 23-point total.

Caroline Grubbs placed fourth in both races to pace the Pontiac Notre Dame Prep’s runner-up finish with 58 points.
On the boys side, Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, also coached by Rhodes, reclaimed the CHSL title it lost a year ago to Novi Catholic Central.

Graham Berry, Matt Wellman, Robbie Cort and Geoff Becker were 2-3-6-7 for the Warriors 18 points in the giant slalom. Berry, Cort, Griffin Dahl and Wellman finished 3-4-8-13 for 28 points to give Rice its winning total of 46 points, nearly doubling the 83 for another runner-up finish by Notre Dame Prep.

Catholic Central’s Damon Rotermond won both slalom and giant slalom races. He is the defending state giant slalom champion.

In last week’s regionals, Brother Rice won the boys title, and Marian finished runner-up among the girls’ teams. Both will proceed to the state finals Feb. 27 at Nubs Nob, where Marian will be out to defend its 2011 championship.

GIRLS TEAM STANDINGS:

Marian 23, Notre Dame Prep 58, Farmington Hills Mercy 99.

BOYS TEAM STANDINGS:

Brother Rice 46, Notre Dame Prep 83, Catholic Central 84.5, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 108.5, Detroit U-D Jesuit 123.

GIRLS SUPER SIX RACERS(combining slalom and giant slalom):

Lunghamer (BHM) 77.36; Streng (BHM) 77.53; Goeckel (BHM)78.93; Grubbs (NDP) 80.87; Rachel Dawson (NDP) 81.17; McCready (BHM) 81.41.

BOYS SUPER DOZEN RACERS(combining slalom and giant slalom):

Rotermond (CC) 72.94; Berry (BHR) 74.00; Becker (BHR)74.71; Cort (BHR) 74.73; Matt Recker (OLSM) 75.21; Ian Pierce (CC) 75.60; Kevin Ziegler (NDP) 75.47; Andrew Lauer (NDP) 76.85; Brandon Fagnani (OLSM) 77.12; Nick Lipinski (U-D) 77.31; Ken O’Brien (U-D) 77.66; Wellman (BHR) 77.69.

After all, the two teams had met twice during the regular season, each winning by nine points on the visitor’s floor.
Mercy built an 11-8 lead on the strength of triples by a pair of sophomore sharpshooters, one by Sam Bauer and two by Allie Gorcyca.

Then Divine Child got over its “beginning jitters,” said Coach Mary Laney, and put together an 8-2 run in the closing two minutes of the first quarter, and continued with a 16-8 second quarter for a 34-22 halftime lead.

In that stretch, four different players hit triples in six attempts, including two by Rosanna Reynolds, who scored a dozen of her game-high 20 points in the first half, and a couple by a zoned-in Morgan Blair, who scored all of her 14 points in the first half.

“I felt confident about our defense,” said Laney, “but I was leery about our offense. When they started hitting their shots (the team was 12 for 18 in the first half), it felt good.”

Mercy’s coach Gary Morris was hoping for a quick start that lasted a lot longer than it did. “We were a half-step slow, not getting our hands up, digging a hole for ourselves. They shot well.”

The Marlins were forced to play perimeter ball. “Their size inside and the zone made a difference, too” Morris said.

Essential to Divine Child’s defense was “taking out” Mercy’s two top scorers, senior Candice Leatherwood (limited to nine points, all in the first half) and Gorcyca, a team-high 10.

The Falcons went on a 14-0 run from midway through the third quarter into about half of the last quarter to build 53-28 bulge. The CHSL championship is the fifth in Divine Child’s history, the first since 1999.

Divine Child is the defending Class B champion. “I don’t want to talk about that (the upcoming state tournament),” Laney said, “but we are definitely playing good basketball.”

The Falcons host their district beginning Feb. 27 against Melvindale. The winner will play Allen Park Cabrini two nights later.

Novi Detroit Catholic Central overwhelmed a field of eight other schools to win its 18th consecutive CHSL title.

The Shamrocks won 36 of their 43 matches to rack up 279.5 points, nearly doubling the 154 of co-runners-up Warren DeLaSalle and Detroit U-D Jesuit, which hosted the event.

Two champions from a year ago successfully defended their titles: Pontiac Notre Dame Prep’s James Yanik in the 171-pound class and CC’s Robert Coe in the 285-pound rank.

Two other 2011 champs won again this year, but at a different weight: Andrew Napieraj, of Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, won the 135-pound title to go with last year’s 130-pound crown, and CC’s Alex Goings, a 135-pound champ last year, won the 140-pound title.