Hockey: Rough second period dooms Chargers

by Cory Butzin

An early Hawks goal took the wind out of the Chargers’ sails and four second period goals sank them, as the Midland Dow hockey team dropped a 6-2 contest Wednesday to visiting Heritage in the first round of the pre-regional tournament at Midland Civic Arena.

“Any time you’re the underdog, like we were tonight, you can’t afford to take shifts off,” said Dow coach Dick Blasy. “Because the moment we lose focus good teams will capitalize on it. Throughout the entire season we’ve had a habit of losing our focus for a little bit and tonight we paid the price for it.”

The Hawks got on the board early when Kyle O’Connor and Erik Jackson assisted on a Justin Lacy goal at 1:04 of the first to give Heritage the early lead.

Two minutes later, a Dow penalty put Heritage on the power play and the Hawks wasted little time capitalizing on the opportunity, as O’Connor tallied a goal fifty seconds into the penalty off a Charles Warner assist to give Heritage the 2-0 advantage.

“We played poor early, but we were still in the hockey game,” Blasy saide. “That’s what we were trying to tell them. We played poorly and we’re still in it, but we can’t continue to play the way we’re playing.”

Unfortunately Dow’s play didn’t change, and they paid the price.

A little over a minute into the second period Lacy scored his second goal of the night, and Adam Leibinger punched one in twenty-six seconds later to push the Hawks’ lead to 4-0.

“The game just got out of our hands from that point,” Blasy said.

At 8:13 of the second Leibinger got one past Nowak for his second goal of the night, and finished off the hat trick twenty-three seconds later to give Heritage a commanding 6-0 lead.

The Chargers finally got on the board at 9:50 of the third when Jordan Fairbank tallied an unassisted goal, and Alexander Bank punched in the rebound of a Michael Harris shot twenty-six seconds later to give Dow a little momentum, but it was not enough as the Hawks held on for the win.

“I wasn’t discouraged by the score,” Blasy said. “I was discouraged by the way we were playing. Unfortunately we didn’t go out playing the way we I know we can.”

The Chargers finish the season with a 10-11-1 record.

Meanwhile, Heritage moves on to the next round where they will face Midland High. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday at Midland Civic Arena.

To view the photos from Monday’s game, click on “Photo slideshow” in the top right corner of this article. The photos are also available for purchase by clicking the “Buy photo reprints” link.

And if you haven’t done so already, please remember to enter our MidlandSports.com Giveaway. You can enter by clicking the advertisement on the MidlandSports homepage. Wednesday is the last day to sign up for a chance to win free stuff from the Wackerly Road Quiznos and Blockbuster!

Photos by Cory Butzin