Brother Rice falls to Catholic Central, 3-2

For the first period, Brother Rice  appeared to be in control of Wednesday's game at Redford Catholic Central.

But as quickly as the Warriors captured the lead, they fell, 3-2, at Compuware Arena in Plymouth to their Catholic League rivals.

"In the second period, they got a bunch of breakaways in a row because they were chipping the puck behind our defensemen. They caught us flat-footed and they're a fast team," said Brother Rice head coach Lou Schmidt. "They played with more energy and they seemed to win the battles."

Senior forward John Hickman notched his second goal of the season for the Warriors (1-1-0) with 9:32 remaining in the first period on a power play with an assist from sophomore forward Thomas Ebbing.

"They were a little nervous in the beginning of the game—the crowd, the game, everything else," said Schmidt. "We worked hard, we did things that we have to do moving forward, we executed well, but it's the little things that (Catholic Central) did."

The Warriors maintained the lead into the second period, when junior forward Eric Dibble scored on eve strength with assists from senior defenseman Jake Jaskolski and senior forward Matt Parker.

Senior goaltender P.J. Bridges also turned in a strong performance, stopping 21 consecutive shots in the first period en route to a 46-save game. Bridges maintained his .943 save percentage in the loss.

"Bridges really came through," said Schmidt. "That's what we tell the guys—we gotta win the battles to the puck and we gotta win the races along the boards. They had too many easy breakouts and too much easy offense for these guys."

The second period saw Shamrock forward Ryan Keller score twice on breakaways, with assists from defensemen Mitchell Gatt and Nolan Gluchowski. Those goals, combined with several stellar plays from Shamrock goalie Alex Nork, proved to be the Warriors' undoing in the second.

"Their goalie was outstanding for them as well and he made some big saves when he had to," said Schmidt. "But, I really like the little Babcock kid (Michael Babcock). He's a little guy, but he moves fast out there. He's got a bright future."

The sophomore forward Babcock put in the go-ahead goal with 5:53 remaining the third period. As the Shamrocks skated short-handed, forward Tyler Van Norman and defenseman Mike Downing strung together two passes to give Babcock the breakaway.

Catholic Central improved their record to 1-1-0 with the win.