Brighton pounces early, holds off Catholic Central for D1 State Hockey Title

By JASON SCHMITT
@JasonESchmitt

PLYMOUTH — Goals are always hard to come by when facing Novi Detroit Catholic Central. So when Brighton scored twice on the Shamrocks in the first 2:23 of Saturday night’s Division 1 state championship game, it left most of the packed crowd in stunned silence.

Or sheer joy if you were a Bulldogs fan.

Keith Wikman and Spencer Gehres each scored an early goal and senior goalie Logan Neaton helped his team maintain a lead from start to finish in Brighton’s 5-2 victory over Catholic Central.

“Everyone on the bench jumped up in the air, it felt great,” Brighton senior Jake Crespi said, talking about his team jumping out to that 2-0 lead. “It was just exciting to get going that early on. We knew we could build off that lead.”

Catholic Central allowed two or less goals 23 times this season. So to be behind that early caught everyone off guard – perhaps most notably head coach Brandon Kaleniecki.

“If we could take back the first two minutes of the game, I’d have been really happy,” Kaleniecki said. “Those first two minutes we were on our heels and they got two real quick. At that point, against a goalie like Neaton, who stops a lot of shots, it’s an uphill battle. Instead of needing two goals, you need three to have a chance to win.”

Brighton actually built a 3-0 lead early in the second on a goal by Adam Conquest. From that point, it seemed to flip a switch for the Shamrocks. Catholic Central got one back on a wrap-around goal by Brendan West with 10:59 left in the period. Despite outshooting the Bulldogs 13-3 in the period, it was the Shamrocks lone goal.

They would get another early in the third. Senior Michael Considine’s shot deflected straight out to West, who was staring at a wide-open net. He scored to make it a 3-2 game with 16:16 left to play. It looked like Catholic Central may have swung the tide.

But Neaton held his own, making save after save – he finished with 31 in the game.

“We knew they were going to have a push down one coming out of the locker room going into the third,” Neaton said. “We came out a little flat footed. I think our nerves may have gotten to us. But as soon as it turned into a one-goal game we started to pick things up and do the little things right.”

Brighton fans’ nerves were relieved when Gehres scored his second of the game with 11:44 showing on the clock. The Bulldogs themselves started to celebrate when Crespi added an empty-net goal with 1:08 left in the game.

The state title was the fourth in school history – all under head coach Paul Moggach – who deflected the praise back on his players.

“I was just along for the ride,” he said. “The players win games, championships. They sacrifice a lot. They put the time in. They do the things others won’t and that’s why they’re the state champions.”

Brighton finished the season 24-6-1. Catholic Central ended up 22-8-1.

“I’m incredibly proud of their effort,” Kaleniecki said of his team. “Especially going down 2-0 right away, We certainly didn’t roll over. We kept coming and like we said, in that second period, I felt we were really close to getting another one which would have made for an interesting finish. Unfortunately we didn’t. To their credit they held us off. That’s hockey.

“We’re just incredibly proud as a coaching staff how they competed ‘til the end.”

BRIGHTON 5, DETROIT CATHOLIC CENTRAL 2

B 2 1 2 — 5

CC 0 1 1 — 2

First period: 1, B, Keith Wikman (Joey Martini, Spencer Gehres); 2, B, Gehres (Adam Conquest, Brody White)

Second period: 3, B, Conquest SH (White, Martini); 4, CC, Brendan West PP (Zach Sprys-Tellner);

Third period: 5, CC, West (Michael Considine, Jared Lee); 6, B, Gehres (Conquest, Wikman); 7, B, Jake Crespi (en) (Mathew Kahra, Tim Erkkila)

GOALIES: Brighton, Logan Neaton (31 saves); Detroit Catholic Central, Sean Finstrom (15 saves)

RECORDS: Brighton 24-6-1; Detroit Catholic Central 22-8-1