Hockey Locks Up Bye in WHAC Tournament After Split With Wolverines

(Howell, MI)-- The Cleary Cougar hockey team made made it interesting, but ultimately were able to get the job done, as they earned a series split with the Michigan-Dearborn Wolverines this weekend en route to a regular season second place finish.

In Game 1 at UM-Dearborn: The Wolverines would score the first two goals of the game to take a 2-0 lead.  Cleary's Bennett Sheppard would get the Cougars on the board midway through the second period, after he scored a power play goal, with an assist from JC Garbacik, to make it 2-1.  The Wolverines would answer late in the second period, regaining their two goal advantage heading into the third period.  In the third period, Steve Miller would get a goal back for the Cougars when he scored, with an assist from Jared Salminen, to make it 3-2.  Unfortunately for the Cougars, that would be the end of the scoring for the game, as the Wolverines went on to win 3-2.

Nick Meyering would suffer the loss in goal, making 25 saves on 28 shots faced.

In Game 2 vs. UM-Dearborn:  Friday's loss would set up a must-win game for the Cougars, as the winner of this game two would earn the #2-seed in next weekend's WHAC tournament.  Steven Miller would open the scoring for the game when he scored, with an assist from Jared Salminen, to make it 1-0.  UM-Dearborn would tie the game two minutes later, but the Cougars answered halfway through the opening period.  Brett Woolcott would fire a shot from the blue line that beat the Wolverine goalie, making it 2-1 Cougars.  Cleary would hold on to that lead through the rest of the first period.  After the Wolverines tied the game in the second period, Cleary would get their lead back on a Zane Rydel goal, sending the teams into the second intermission with a 3-2 score.  Cleary would score three more goals in the third period to take control of the game.  Collin Kerchoff scored in the first minute of the third period, and Braeden Bzovey fired a perfectly placed shot into the net, with assists from Landen Engles and Brayden Goddard to make it 5-2.  After UM-Dearborn scored on a power play, Cleary answered with Collin Kerchoff's second goal of the game, with an assist from JC Garbacik to make it 6-3.  The Wolverines would score one more goal, but it happened too late in the game, and Cleary was able to see out the victory.

Nick Meyering made 38 saves in the game en route to the win.

The victory means Cleary finishes the regular season with an 18-8-4 record, and 12-6-2 in the WHAC.   The Cougars finished the conference season with 40 points, and with tonight's win, clinched a bye in the WHAC tournament as a 2-seed.  The Cougars will next play on Saturday, February 21, when they take on the winner of 3-seed Lawrence Tech and 6-seed Rochester Christian, who play Friday evening.  Cleary's game will be played at the UM-Dearborn Fieldhouse on Saturday at 8:00 PM.

*Picture Courtesy of Bad Cat Media*