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Brother Rice Heading to State Hockey Finals After 4-1 Win Over Kingsford

The Warriors have championship in their sights after Thursday night's semifinal win at Compuware Arena.

PLYMOUTH – A scoreless first period in the Division 2 hockey semifinals against Kingsford Thursday night had Brother Rice head coach Lou Schmidt feeling some déjà vu. Just as the Warriors opened up with a slow start, his team did the same thing against the Kingsford Flivvers Thursday.

But just like Tuesday, Brother Rice came out looking like a different team in the second period. The Warriors scored twice in the second period en route to a 4-1 win over Kingsford at the Compuware Arena in Plymouth.

“I thought we were kind of feeling each other out a little bit in that first period,” Schmidt said. “There was a lot of emotion. In the second period, we played a Brother Rice game. We kept them pinned in their own zone and we were able to get some solid opportunities.”

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Schmidt’s description of the second period was modest. It was like target practice for Brother Rice on the ice, and Kingsford goalie Jake Coe was the target, with the Warriors (23-5-1; 10-3-1 Michigan Interscholastic Hockey League) determined to strike first.

“Eventually, you take enough shots, one of them is going to go in,” Schmidt said.

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Brother Rice’s top line made it happen when Mackenzie MacEachern set up John Hickman from behind the net for the first goal of the game (9:52). Hickman was cutting right in front of the net and flipped it over Coe’s glove for the goal. Thomas Ebbing was also credited with an assist.

Brother Rice didn’t wait long to add a second goal. Ebbing scored (13:24) on another assist from MacEachern to extend Brother Rice’s lead to 2-0.

“In the second period we really started coming out — we got all the nerves out in the first period,” MacEachern said. “We perfected our forecheck and kept it deep in their zone. That led to all of our goals.”

Brother Rice outshot Kingsford 19 to 3 in the second period. Considering the amount of shots, Kingsford was lucky to escape the second period down only two. The Flivvers (21-4; 10-0 Lake Superior conference) couldn’t do anything to clear the puck out of its zone and didn’t have a single shot on goal for the first 12 minutes of the period.

“They picked up their intensity and we didn’t match it,” Kingsford coach Jim Peterson said.

Brother Rice wasn’t perfect in the second period, though. A mental lapse by goalie P.J. Bridges was almost enough to give Kingsford a goal on an untended net. Bridges left the net to shoot the puck back into the Flivvers zone; instead he centered it back across the ice to a Kingsford skater.

“I actually just thought I could get it over him,” Bridges said. “I usually handle the puck pretty well, but I got new sticks the last couple of days and I’ve been feeling them out. It almost cost me.”

His teammate Chris Wilberding made a diving save to prevent a sure-fire goal.

“Big kudos (to Chris),” Bridges said, laughing.

In the third period, both teams traded power play goals. Brother Rice scored (5:29) on the faceoff following a tripping call. Kingsford answered with a goal from Ted Pietila just three minutes later (8:29) after a holding penalty on Jonathan Reschke. 

It wasn’t enough for the Flivvers, though, and Brother Rice's Andrew Sohn put the icing on the cake for the Warriors.

Sohn scored a goal in the final minutes (13:58) to close out the win and send his team to the finals on Saturday. for the Division 2 championship at 10 a.m., a game Ebbing and his teammates will be ready for.

 “We have to show them what Brother Rice hockey is all about,” Ebbing said.

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