Brother Rice Hockey Headed to Semifinals With 10-3 Win Over Waterford Mott

NOVI – The rest of the Division 2 bracket better have their goalies ready during the state hockey tournament, because Brother Rice is coming.

The Warriors dominated Waterford Mott on Tuesday night with a 10-3 win in front of a packed crowd at the Novi Ice Arena.

The win continues Brother Rice's dominant run through the playoffs. During the past four games, the Warriors have outscored their opponents 33-5 and scored nine or more goals in three of those games. The team is looking for its third state championship in school history and the first since 2005.

Seven different players scored for Brother Rice during the quarterfinal match. In fact, the game turned into a scoring clinic for the Warriors, but it didn’t start out that way. In the first period, Mott started strong and had a handful of scoring opportunities in the first few minutes.

But it was Brother Rice's Mackenzie MacEachern who scored the first goal of the game, just seconds after Mott killed a penalty around the six-minute mark. However, just as Mott's J.D. Clemence skated back on the ice, Brother Rice's Robert Lauro centered the puck for MacEachern from behind the net and the junior forward scored.

“We came out slow,” MacEachern said. “I scored the first goal and that kind of got us going. In the first period it was kind of back and forth, but then we pulled away.”

Mott answered with a goal of its own just 25 seconds later when Clemence scored on a breakaway from Scott Cuthrell and Austin Mass. Brother Rice would go on to close out the period with two goals in the final five minutes.

Despite a 3-1 lead during the first intermission, Brother Rice head coach Lou Schmidt let his team know he wasn’t happy.

“I was a little worried after that first period,” Schmidt said. “I thought they had too many offensive opportunities. We were a little lazy in the first period.”

Mott would go on to score two more power-play goals in the second period, but that was about it.

“We picked it up in the second and third,” Schmidt said. “We played the kind of hockey we’re accustomed to and pinned them back in their zone.”

 Mott attempted eight shots in the first period, but only had eight or nine shots the rest of the game, Schmidt said. Brother Rice would go on to score five goals in the second period and two more in the third. Mott switched goalies to break up the scoring — with Myles Grix starting and Jon Furton playing for a 10-minute stretch in the first period — but neither had much luck. Grix allowed seven goals, Furton allowed three.

Both goalies heard it from the large Brother Rice student section that showed up for the game. Brother Rice's Thomas Ebbing said the team calls the group of students the “Goon Squad,” while MacEachern credited the spirited group for making the quarterfinals feel like a home game. 

“They come every game and support us,” MacEachern said. “I think they’re the reason we win some games because they motivate us.”

The group will be needed again Thursday at the Compuware Arena in Plymouth for the Division 2 semifinals. Brother Rice will face off at 7:30 p.m. against Kingsford, which beat Muskegon-Mona Shores 5-3 on Tuesday.

Just 20 minutes after his team left the ice, Schmidt said the boys are already focused on what’s next.

“We still have our goal set of playing on Saturday,” Schmidt said. “This helps us build a little bit of confidence going into Compuware, but I think the guys have already forgotten about it. I think we’re going to worry about our next game.”