Friday Shootout Results

West Michigan teams didn't fare too well in the Friday night games of the West Coast Shootout, with no wins and only 1 tie in seven contests. (The 8th team in the West bracket is Novi, which doesn't really qualify as West Michigan). The hockey was definitely "summer league" caliber -- it was, in a word, sloppy -- though there was some obvious talent on the ice. And there were no coaches on the benches, as the MHSSA clarified its rules about having coaches in tournaments after August 1st.

I saw parts of four games: Rockford looked very strong against Marquette, especially in the D-zone and the goaltending from Forrest Andrus, but 10 penalties in the last two periods killed them in their 4-1 loss. Forest Hills Northern/Eastern also got some great goaltending from junior to be Ian Jester in their OT loss. GRCC's game against Southgate Anderson was penalty filled and neither team got much flow in a 4-3 win for Southgate, with the game winner coming late on a deflection off a player. A young Hudsonville team was overmatched against a strong Lake Orion team.

I had to leave early, so I didn't catch Mona, Reeths-Puffer or Kalamazoo, but got reports on them. Mona Shores lost 3-1, but the caveat is they played a bunch of kids and, as a result, there wasn't much continuity. Puffer lost 2-0, with the goals coming on a penalty shot and the first shot after the coaches swapped goalies. "It looked like they never played together before, which is true," said RP coach and tourney organizer Eric Sikkenga. The Kalamazoo Blades were the only team from the West that managed to stay out of the losing column, managing a tie against Utica Eisenhower in what was described as a "fast and freewheeling, run-and-gun kind of game."

Don't have a final on the Novi vs. Riverview game, but Novi crushed their opponent and appears to have a great collection of talent this year. Scores, as reported to me, were:

Lake Orion 8 Hudsonville 0
Marquette 4 Rockford 1
Southgate 4 GRCC 3
Macomb Dakota 4 FHN/E 3 (OT)
Avondale 2 Reeths-Puffer 0
Lakeland 3 Mona Shores 1
Kalamazoo Blades 1 Utica- Eisenhower 1
Novi vs. Riverview