Friday's hockey roundup: Cranbrook-Kingswood rolls in D-3
Plymouth — Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood has been on a mission to win a state championship ever since losing to Farmington in last year's quarterfinals.
On Friday, it took another step to avenging that defeat with an 8-0 mercy victory over Riverview in the Division 3 semifinals.
Cranbrook-Kingswood (24-2-4) looks to win its 17th state title when it takes on Houghton in Saturday's final.
"We've got that in the back of our minds and it's really motivating us," Cranbrook-Kingswood captain Cooper Stahl said of last year's loss to Farmington. "The goal from Day 1 was to win the state championship."
On Friday, Jack Blumberg had a hat trick, Shawn O'Malley scored twice, and captain Austin Alger had four assists and a goal as Cranbrook-Kingswood outshot Riverview, 53-2.
It was obvious early that Riverview goaltender Thomas Proudlock would have to be at his best to give his team a chance to win. Cranbrook-Kingswood pelted him with shots from the get-go. Proudlock stopped the first 12 he faced, but after Chase Matthews was called for tripping, squandering the last 41 seconds of a power play for Riverview, Cranbrook-Kingswood struck quickly on the 4-on-4.
Blumberg netted the first of his goals off a faceoff in the Riverview zone. One minute, 37 seconds later, Alex Lycett drilled a one-timer top shelf from the faceoff circle to beat Proudlock to give Cranbrook-Kingswood a 2-0 lead.
In the second period, Shawn O'Malley stretched the lead to 3-0 when he punched in a loose puck that got behind Proudlock. Alger scored his goal unassisted 2:34 later, and Blumberg got his second when he set up in front of goal and deflected a shot from Alger into the back of the net to make it 5-0. Blumberg's third goal and O'Malley's second pushed Riverview to the brink heading into the third period.
Determined to end the game quickly, Cranbrook-Kingswood scored 2:57 into the final period on a goal from Joey Dumas that made it 8-0, spurring the Michigan High School Athletic Association's mercy rule.
"The negative (in a game like this) is if you start to do too much and get away from your game plan and structure," Cranbrook-Kingswood coach Andy Weidenbach said. "The positive is you finish early and get a little bit of extra rest."
More Division 3
Houghton 4, Flint Powers Catholic 1: Erich Walter scored just 55 seconds into the game, one of three first-period goals for Houghton.
Also scoring goals were Reid Pietila, Wyatt Listo and Jacob Kruse, with Jonathan Bostwick adding two assists and Pietila one.
Conor Witherspoon scored for Powers Catholic in the third period.
Marcus Gloss made 17 saves for Houghton.
Division 1
Grandville 3,Bay City 2: Connor Fischer, Ryan Wolfe and Gianni Vitali all scored in the second period for Grandville (24-3-2). Myles Madden stood strong against a Bay City attack that unleashed 40 shots.
Geoff Robinson is a freelance writer; News staff contributed
SCHEDULE
At Compuware Arena, Plymouth
Division 1
Friday's semifinals
■Detroit Catholic Central 4, U-D Jesuit 3
■Grandville 3, Bay City 2
Final: 6 p.m. Saturday — Detroit C.C. vs. Grandville
Division 2
Final: 10 a.m. Saturday — Livonia Stevenson vs. Birmingham Brother Rice
Division 3
Friday's semifinals
■Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood 8, Riverview 0
■Houghton 4, Flint Powers Catholic 1
Final: 2 p.m. Saturday — B.H. Cranbrook-Kingswood vs. Houghton