Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Kenowa Hills 5 Reeths-Puffer 2

It sucks when you're late to a game, but it's even worse when you walk in with less than 5 minutes gone and the score is already 2-2. Puffer had scored just 10 seconds in to the game on an unassisted goal by Joey Sterrit. Kenowa answered back 36 seconds later on a Ryan Gerke goal (assists to Jared Folkringa and Joe Hankins). The teams waited for another four minutes before the red light came on again, as Kenowa's Tanner Gilbert scored, assisted by Travis Nichol and Kevin Visser. Reeths-Puffer answered back 12 seconds later on a tally by Ben Sikkenga, assisted by Adam Hastings.

To recap: 4 minutes and 16 seconds into the game, and the score is 2-2. About 30 seconds later, the WMHSH Blogger showed up. Dang it! Must have been a full moon or lunar eclipse or something going on tonight.

I wandered down to the end of the rink to take pictures and was greeted by a contingent of Forest Hills Central players, including Player of the Week Derek Hess. They were scouting Kenowa for Friday's game (8 p.m. @ Patterson, good seats still available). I asked the Ranger players who they wanted to win the game tonight and there was no hesitation: "Kenowa Hills!" The inference: FHC wants Friday's game to be do or die for the OK Tier 2 conference title - you have to love the competitive spirit.

Looks like the Rangers got their wish. After playing it even for the first period, Kenowa Hills got two goals by Andy Vanderklok in the second period, including a short-handed tally, to pull away from Reeths-Puffer. Noah Rettig added an empty netter to make the final score 5-2, earning Kenowa Hills a shot at the title this Friday night. Final shots were 36-23 in favor of the Knights, with Zac "Fuzzy" Smith earning the win between the pipes.

Friday's game should be a good one because it means something, and because FHC and KH have two of the best student sections in West Michigan. It should be a noisy, rowdy atmosphere at Patterson Friday night. Did I mention that good seats are still available?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

early bird gets the worm, looks like mr.blogger is going hungry

Anonymous said...

This game should be one of the best games all year without a doubt. You cannot get any better when both teams are playing for a confrence title in the last game. Its going to come down to who wants it more, simple as that.

Anonymous said...

Apparently FHC wanted it a helluva lot more, 9-1? Ouch...