Hockey: Chargers stonewall Grand Blanc

by Cory Butzin

The Midland Dow varsity hockey team brought a complete defensive effort to the rink Wednesday, shutting down Grand Blanc’s offense for most of the game to pick up a 3-1 win at Midland Civic Arena.

“They were firing it from everywhere,” said Dow coach Dick Blasy. “Our team defense played very well today. We worked intelligently tonight and limited their quality chances.”

The Chargers offense started slowly, only registering three shots on goal in the first. Luckily for Dow, one of them found the back of the net as Ryan Maddox’s backhand bounced off the back of the Grand Blanc goalie and in at 8:18 to give Dow a 1-0 lead.

Meanwhile, the Bobcats’ offense peppered Dow goalie Ben Nowak for much of the opening period, registering 15 shots on goal. They nearly got on the board late in the first when they had a 5-on-3 for two minutes, but the penalty killers played solid defense and Nowak refused to yield any scores.

“We’ve been really stressing it (team defense) lately, because it’s been our Achilles heel,” Blasy said. “Tonight was the first time that I was very pleased with our positioning.”

Offensively the Chargers picked up the pace in the second period, generating several quality scoring chances. They extended their lead five minutes into the second when Chad Archer tapped in a rebound to put Dow up 2-0. Alex Bank and Michael Harris assisted on the goal.

The Chargers weren’t done, though, as Bank added a goal of his own late in the second to make it 3-0.

Dow made a scheduled change in net for the third period, but defensively they didn’t see a drop off. Dan Livernois played stellar in goal, stopping several Grand Blanc scoring chances.

However, the shutout was ruined when Nicholas Desantis scored with five minutes remaining to put the Bobcats on the board.

That was the last chance Grand Blanc got, as Dow held on for the win.

“When you play intelligently you know when to play hard and when to back off and conserve your energy,” Blasy said. “I thought we did a much better job of that tonight.”

The win improves Dow’s record to 8-5-1. They return to action Wednesday when they travel to Bay City Central to take on the Wolves. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.

For more photos from Wednesday’s game click on “Photo slideshow” in the top right corner of this article.

Photos by Cory Butzin