Muskegon Catholic Central 3 Grand Haven 1

Hatfields and McCoys. Hillary and Obama. Grand Haven and Muskegon Catholic Central (or more specifically Spring Lake, part of the co-operative effort that makes up the MCC team). Only the Grand River separates them, but when these two teams meet it looks like a MASH unit. MCC edged Grand Haven last November 4-3 and the Buccaneers were looking to even the score.

At 2:54 of the first period Buccaneer Luke Reenders found the back of the net off a pass from Derek Moore to give Grand Haven a one goal lead that they would hold into the third period. Grand Haven played a solid defensive game but generated little offense, outshot 29-9 by the Crusaders. The penalties stacked up and the bodies were flying, but at 5:34 of the third period Crusader Adam Pieczynski scored their first goal, assisted by Noah VanBergen and Aaron Duplissis. The tenor of the game changed, and the Crusaders stepped up the offensive pressure. Grand Haven had three visits to the penalty box in the third period and at 10:15 of the final period Crusader Evan Valk scored the power play game winner on assists from Jeff Musselman and Kyle Zeppenfeld. VanBergen added an insurance goal on an assist from Musselman to seal the Crusader victory. Grand Haven goalie Sean Kittridge played an outstanding game to keep the Buccaneers in the lead for two periods, but the MCC offensive effort was too much to overcome.