Hudsonville 4 Forest Hills Central 3 (OT)

Games like this are the reason that goalie parents have high blood pressure. Both tenders had high-highs and low-lows tonight. FHC goalie Derek Hess had a horrible first period. He gave up a goal on the first shot he faced and let in another on the just third shot fired at him. Just like that it was 2-0. Then, early in the second period, the Forest Hills Central defense left Hudsonville's all-state forward Alex Host alone in front of the net on the powerplay, and it was 3 to zip with less than six minutes gone in the second.

Rather than hang his head, Hess buckled down. He was spectacular in killing off penalties, especially a 5-on-3 (pictured above). His work seemed to give the Rangers energy, and they closed the second period with a three-goal barrage in the final 5:07 to tie it.

The Eagles' goalie, Pete Herman, was no slouch either. He faced 42 shots and, except for that brief stretch at the end of the second, was a wall. The FHC goals came when senior defenseman Aaron Byers popped the water bottle (literally) at 9:53 on the PP (assists to Cam Pulling and Drew Preston), and then Preston netted an even strength goal at the 12:13 mark (assist to Grady Heinz). With two of his teammates in the box, Preston tied the game at 13:34 with a beautiful shorthanded tally.

Herman rebounded after the tough stretch. In the face of a heavy attack by FHC, Herman turned away 13 third-period shots, and he was also perfect in OT. Hudsonville got the game-winner at 4:58 of overtime on a shot from the right circle by Robert Decker that seemed to redirect into the goal. John Keersan, who scored the first goal for H'Ville, got an assist on the game-winner.

Give both goalies credit. They responded to adversity. Also, give Hudsonville credit for the gut-check. They lost their first game of the season to Kenowa Hills on Wednesday, a 3-1 heartbreaker. Then to be up 3-0 and see FHC tie it up; well, they could have folded. They didn't. One of my coaching friends has a phrase for this type of performance: gutty. That fits.