Icers finished their season to Lake Orion in the MHSAA Pre-Regionals, Feb. 26, 5-3.
The Wolves opened the game with the lead off a power play goal by junior Jacob LaPorte off an assist from junior Garrett Polish and senior Adam Johns.
“We played a good first period,” said Clarkston Varsity Hockey Head Coach Bryan Krygier. “Then, the second period we got into penalty trouble again. It was a little bit recurrence from previous trouble in the season.”
The Dragons tied the game at the beginning of the second period. The lead was short lived as junior Eric Matynowski pulled the Wolves back into the lead off a power play goal from Polish’s second assist for the night at 14:29 left in the period.
Less than two minutes later, Lake Orion scored on a power play goal and added three more goals before the period finished.
“We dug ourselves a hole by that point and couldn’t get ourselves out of it,” said Krygier. “In the second period we lost. Orion had two power play goals, then they picked up a few other goals that were soft on our defensive zone. There was no reason some of those goals went in. We didn’t clear the pucks out of the zone. We didn’t give our goalie Jack Viazanko any help. It was mental breakdown and our positional play wasn’t there when it should have been.”
Johns ended the game with a power play goal with 1:35 to go in the third period, with an assist from Matynowski.
The boys finished the season with a 12-12-2 overall record.
They have 16 players returning next season with 11 becoming seniors next year.
“They should have the message on what they need to do,” said Krygier. “They should also have the experience of what not to do again. I think it should be a lot better season next year based on the experience of the players we have. They will understand the systems better. They will understand the concepts better. They will understand the process of what we go through on the ice to make things work better. ”
The team loses five seniors to graduation – newcomers this year John Foust, A.J. Kowal, Matt Denny and Joe Smith and four-year veteran Johns.
“He helped out us tremendously in senior leadership,” Krygier added.