Portage Central 2 Jenison 1

The Jenison Wildcats traveled South to Kalamazoo tonight to play the Portage Central Mustangs in the Pre-Regional Championship game. Portage Central's Jared Hook started things off tonight with an unassisted goal at the 9:36 mark of the first period. Hook's linemates Cody VanderVeen and Erik Hoffman were forcing the Wildcats to dump the puck out of the zone, when Hook intercepted a clearing attempt and fired a wrister over the shoulder of Jenison goalie Kyle Valkema. Portage Central outshot Jenison in the 1st period 11 to 3 and it appeared the Mustangs were off and running at this point, but Valkema had another plan for this game.

Period number two was almost a carbon copy of the opening period. Chris Sandmeyer grabbed a loose puck deep in the Jenison zone, toe dragged around two defenders and then roofed a backhand shot for a 2-0 lead. Jenison players protested the goal, but from my vantage point right behind the net it was clearly an outstanding shot by Sandmeyer. Although the Wildcats would be outshot 13-4 in the second period they never acted like they were going to lose this game. Senior Trent Mingerink made sure the third period was going to be hotly contested. He scored with :01 remaining in the period with the help of linemates Josh Jose and Josh Camiller. The Wildcats headed to the intermission with confidence and momentum.

Period #3 proved to be what is the best about playoff hockey. Both goalies played like it was sudden death in the Stanley Cup Finals. PC's Tony Zimmerman stopped two great scoring chances late in the game after Jenison had pulled Valkema. PC defenders Todd Miller and Chris Sandmeyer cleared the zone 3 times in the last 45 seconds to prevent Jenison from tying this game. Valkema (#1 Star) and his defenders stopped 39 of 41 shots in the loss. Zimmerman (#2 Star) stopped 13 of 14 for the victory.