Brighton beats Saginaw Heritage in penalty-filled hockey game
Brighton’s best players carried the load offensively in a hard-fought, penalty-filled 7-3 victory over Saginaw Heritage Saturday at Kensington Valley Ice House.
Second-team all-stater Lane Petit had three goals and one assist, first-team all-stater Cameron Duffany had two goals and three assists, and senior newcomer Dominic Vincent had a goal and three assists for the Bulldogs (5-2).
“Those guys were good,” Brighton coach Kurt Kivisto said. “They contributed significantly in the game.”
Heritage jumped out to a 2-0 lead just 7 minutes, 11 seconds into the game. Brighton, ranked No. 4 in Division 1, scored the next three goals to take a 3-2 lead into the third period.
The Hawks (1-2), ranked No. 7 in Division 2, tied it on a power-play goal by Cole Winters 42 seconds into the third period. Brighton took the lead for good when Vincent scored on the power play with 11:40 remaining. Duffany provided an insurance goal with 4:26 left, Petit completed his second hat trick of the season into an empty net with 21 seconds to go and Winston Lerch scored with the goalie back in the net six seconds later.
“We started slow and had a couple really bad turnovers in our zone that directly led to their first two goals,” Kivisto said. “We kind of got going from there. We tied it up at the end of the first, they tied it in the third. It was a good early-season test. They’re a good team. They’ll probably make a run this year in Division 2. It was a good matchup for us.”
It was also a chippy matchup, as the teams combined to rack up 20 penalties for 59 minutes. Heritage had nine penalties for 47 minutes, while Brighton had 11 for 22 minutes. The Bulldogs scored three power-play goals and one shorthanded goal.
“It’s just one of those games where it was a little bit testy,” Kivisto said. “Both teams were probably being a little bit undisciplined.”
Brighton will play Plymouth at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday at the Plymouth Cultural Center and Ice Arena before its state finals rematch against top-ranked Detroit Catholic Central at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Eddie Edgar Ice Arena in Livonia.
Howell 5, Canton 0
Playing his first game in 15 days, Howell junior goalie Jack Stawick made 31 saves for his first varsity shutout.
Stawick started in the season opener, a 6-4 loss to Novi, on Nov. 18. Junior Alex Herter started the next two games.
Howell held a 1-0 lead on a shorthanded goal by Karter Olson through two period before exploding for four third-period goals.
Evan Judd made it 2-0 just 45 seconds into the third. Howell kept pushing forward from there, getting goals from Hayden Sturos at 4:24, Joel Eskola at 7:58 and Cade Katlin at 14:34.
Olson, Judd and Eskola scored their first varsity goals.
Howell (2-2) was 8-for-8 on the penalty kill.
Canton fell to 1-6, scoring just three goals in its six losses.
Howell will host Byron Center at 6 p.m. Wednesday at 140 Ice Den before taking on Orchard Lake St. Mary’s at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Eddie Edgar Ice Arena in the KLAA-MIHL Showcase.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Brighton beats Saginaw Heritage in penalty-filled hockey game
