Mona Shores 4 East Kentwood 3

Blogger's Note: A filing from my raving reporter up in the Shores area. If you don't like his prose, you can refer to the box score or my own mundane report. Honestly, though, this may be his best effort yet -- in the humble opinion of the WMHSH Blogger. Without further ado...

Doc TG Boyd (no relation to MS coach Bob White-Boyd) in Muskegon knows hockey. So when he labeled me a grinder several weeks ago, it came as a surprise. I’ve always wanted to be known as a finesse player, with flashy moves, color coordinated uniform, sleek, aerodynamic helmet, and just enough flair to capture the imagination of WM hockey moms. But a grinder? A brute with no fear of mucking it up in the corners, who’ll take out the body for his skilled wingman to pick up the puck and garner the glory. The guy who doesn’t get the ink, but throws his body around the rink without regard and does all of the dirty work that only his coach will remember. Me?

Then he told me that I was grinding my teeth and from what he’d heard, I was more like a pylon on the ice than a finesse player. According to Doc Boyd, my dentist, I would need to wear an appliance at night to avoid turning my teeth into pop rocks. I theorized that the grinding was a result of a grueling Sailors’ season alternating between heroics and despair, of the ever-present danger of running out of blog nicknames for the players, and from being too thinned skinned to foes who took pot shots against the raving reporter over the course of the year. He said no, it’s just that I was getting old and this was one more item on the checklist before checking into the nursing home.

What does my headgear have to do with Friday night’s EK vs. MS hockey game for the Tier 1 OK Conference Crown? Nothing, really, except this game, too, wasn’t pretty for the Sailors. But the jaw dropping effort put forth from the waning moments of the second period on by the gritty (gritting?), determined Sailors to snake bite the Falcons was nothing short of heroic and representative of the hunger and heart of this year’s Sailors.

It’s said that familiarity breeds contempt. And it was with contempt that the visiting but unwelcome Sailor loyalists watched storied East Kentwood build a mountainous three goal lead, reminiscent of the January 11 battle at the Lakeshore which followed the same script. With Kentwood icon and former coach Ron Baum looking on, the Sailors started out tentatively, like dogs with shock collars confronted by an invisible fence. MS was content to send a lone forward into the zone to harass the puck carrier, with the rest of the team observing from somewhere around the safety of the blue line. EK kept their attack simple, satisfied to dump the puck as they crossed center ice and chase, looking to create turmoil and turnovers in the Sailors’ zone. Over and over, it worked for the Falcons, who pounced on pucks gifted to them by the charitable Sailors and transformed them into goals. The Kentwood locomotive horn sounded so often it seemed to be one continuous blast from a hell train, loud enough to cause bleeding from the ears of Sailors fans as it wormed its way into their skulls like a brain-devouring earwig.

Fist pumping and pig piling by EK began precisely at 7:36 of the first period, when Anthony Pino scored the first of three unanswered goals on a centering pass from Taylor Sting. The Sailors continued to defy their coaches by skating by the front of the net and squandering scoring opportunities. Captain Tyler Copeland followed Pino’s lead in the second period at the seven minute mark, taking advantage of Shores’ unwillingness to clear their defensive zone, assisted by Freshman Travis Miller; and then diving to steer Matt Herman’s shot from the circle past the outstretched Scottie “Tee Rex” Tiefenthal. Three-naught Kentwood; and the fat lady had one foot on the ice as she began warming up her vocal cords in the tunnel.

In the second, officials took roll call for the Falcons and came up with six on ice participants at 2:05, putting MS on the PP for the games first penalty. Four shots over the two minutes yielded no results against Junior tender Ben Belton, who continued to deny MS. Enter, stage left, #16 Taylor “More Ink” Moore, who plays much bigger than the 132 lbs listed in the program. Fresh from a well placed timeout by Shores, Moore’s goal, in close quarters with 3:05 remaining in the second was massive, providing a lift to the comatose but not yet legally dead Sailors. He was assisted by “Pet Brock” Carlston and Tyler “Easy Mac” McCarl. Thus began the Rocky-like, 12th round, second period comeback by the guests who were determined to mute the deafening EK air horn.

To win games, you have to capitalize when your opponent provides you with opportunities. The third period was a succession of opportunities presented to the Sailors, who exploited them like a baby wielding politician in front of a photographer. Senior “Adamant About Scoring” Meloche punished the Falcons and confounded the Fox 17 reporter who had already beat a hasty retreat, confident in the game’s outcome, first at :23 in the third. Meloche was assisted by JC “Boyd Wonder. ” Not yet content, Meloche recharged for six minutes and struck again at 7:44, with love from Carlston and Boyd. Three all, and the fat lady went into hiding somewhere behind the idle zamboni.

As the third period waned, the scheming Kentwood coach Todd Bell, successor to the throne of Ron Baum, in a move which confused those unfamiliar with the complex scoring system in the OK Conference, created a diversion in the Sailor zone and banished his goalie to the EK bench. Complete with extra attacker, the Falcons quickly turned a faceoff caused by a pileup in the Falcon’s net into a mad breakout up the ice with 18 seconds remaining in the game. Sailor fans looked away or gouged out their eyes, unable to watch, but though outnumbered, the undaunted Flyin’ Ryan Mylenek stood his ground, tied up the Falcon puck carrier, and banked a perfect lead pass off the spectator’s boards to Boyd. Boyd raced up the ice to claim the empty net game winning goal with point one and change left on the scoreboard.

Shots for the game were in the vicinity of 33-31 EK. The hit of the game came with 5:26 gone in the first, and was delivered by JC Boyd, who dropped a Falcon like a cheating girlfriend just inside the EK blue line. Unconfirmed sightings of the Lord of the Blogs, Brian Edwards, and his bodyguards were reported throughout the evening. The fat lady, with a Sailor white scarf around her neck, was last seen sneaking out the player's entrance under cover of night.

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