Takeaways from first Brighton-Hartland hockey game of 2023-24
HARTLAND — Cam Duffany and Lane Petit are the easy choices.
When a hockey coach has two all-state forwards at his disposal, it doesn’t take the genius of Scotty Bowman to deploy them in a three-player shootout.
But what about Brighton’s third choice for a shooter?
Brighton coach Kurt Kivisto has several options who, though they aren’t as skilled as Duffany and Petit, can give opposing goalies problems.
For the second day in a row, Kivisto used senior forward Aiden Seiter in a shootout, and for the second day in a row, Seiter made his coach look brilliant.
About 24 hours after scoring the winning goal in a shootout against Clarkston, Seiter’s goal in the tie-breaking format secured a 5-4 victory over Hartland Saturday in the championship game of the Livingston County Thanksgiving Invitational at Hartland Sports Center.
Brighton led 1-0 in the shootout through two shooters before Seiter ended it.
“When we monkey around in practice and do some of that stuff, you can just see the confidence and some of the silkiness,” Kivisto said. “He just has the ability to put the puck in in those situations, where some guys will clam up a little bit, and it’s tough.”
Seiter, in his third season on Brighton’s varsity team, has 10 goals and 20 assists in 60 career games. He said he has never taken a shot in a shootout in a game situation until this tournament.
“It comes down to what the goalie gives me and take it,” Seiter said. “I tried to change it up both times. I was lucky both of them went in.”
100-point club
Brighton’s other goal in the shootout was scored by Petit.
While that goal doesn’t count on his official stats, his one goal and two assists during regulation time pushed him past the 100-point milestone for his career.
Petit’s second assist of the game on a goal by Duffany with 8:29 left in the first period was his 100th point. Petit’s 101st point was a goal with 4:30 left in the second period.
In 62 games, Petit has 58 goals and 43 assists, becoming the 18th Bulldog to reach 100 points.
“It feels great,” Petit said. “I’ve been in the program for three years. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without (Nick) Baker along the way, Dom Vincent and especially Cameron Dufany. It’s a huge milestone. It means a lot to me and my family.”
Petit was stopped on two breakaways by Hartland goalie Brady Hubenschmidt before scoring in the shootout.
“It’s definitely a lot easier having a lot more time and no pressure behind you,” Petit said. “Being able to come down, slow him down, see what he’s going to do, see how he backs into the net, that’s definitely nice to be able to see when you’re coming down on a penalty shot. Breakaways, it’s a little bit harder, a little bit more of a judgment call.”
Goalie perfect in shootouts
While Seiter was 2-for-2 scoring goals in shootouts in the tournament, Brighton goalie Levi Pennala stopped all five shots he faced against Clarkston and Hartland in the tie-breakers. He stopped shots by Michael Zielinski and Jake Pietila Saturday.
“It’s just kind of a game of patience,” said Pennala, a two-time first-team all-stater. “Let them make the first move and then react to the shot. Not too much to it.”
Parade to penalty box
Neither coach wants to see his team allow four goals in a game, knowing that could be a recipe for disaster come playoff time.
But the high-scoring game was more a result of the teams spending too much time in the penalty box than playing porous defense.
Hartland took nine penalties, and Brighton took seven, leading to three power-play goals by the Bulldogs and two by the Eagles.
“We’re so early in the season,” Hartland coach Rick Gadwa said. “There’s a ton of good and bad for both sides. We’ll all take a look at it. I’m sure they don’t want four (goals against) either. End of the day, we were tied 4-4 after regulation through special teams. There were some good special teams moments and some others that weren’t as good. Those are things you’ve got to clean up. That’s why it’s early in the year, so we’ve got a lot of time to fix it.”
Chasing the game
Hartland never led but was able to rally from deficits of 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 to tie the game.
Ian Kastamo’s goal with 11:17 left in the third period knotted the score at 4-4. The Eagles had tremendous chances during a scramble around the crease with two minutes left in the game but couldn’t get a clean shot on net.
“You want to be a resilient club,” Gadwa said. “We showed that today, which is good, so we can draw a positive there. Really, it’s just cleaning up how those four went in really.”
The Bulldogs and Eagles are scheduled to meet Dec. 16 in Hartland and Jan. 19 in Brighton. A fourth meeting could take place in the state tournament.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Takeaways from first Brighton-Hartland hockey game of 2023-24
