November 5, 2012
MCRHL Weekend #1 Recap
Joe Dumars Weekend
Wrap-up
Condensation Problems
At approximately 7:00 pm, play was postponed due to moisture on the floor. The game between Grand Valley and Ohio State (DI) was halted with 13 seconds left in the second period. This game was rescheduled to finish the next morning. There was a problem still remained. Three games were scheduled to finish that night and the condensation showed no sign of going away. Luckily, The New Rink (site of this years and last years regional playoffs) was a short drive away and ready to be used. Games between MSU B vs OSU B and CMU vs UMich were moved there while the GVSU B vs EMU B will be rescheduled for another weekend. For now, problem adverted but lets all keep our fingers crossed for no more condensation on the floor.
Grand Valley looked Grand
Easily, the story of the weekend was the Grand Valley Lakers. Grand Valley went a combined 6-0-1 between their B and DI teams. Both teams look very strong and very tenacious.
GVSU’s B team came out ready to play in the two games verse MSU. The Lakers won the first game 4-3 (all be it an exhibition game) on the heels of some outstanding goaltending by Kevin Carron. GVSU was outshot nearly 2:1 but held the Spartans off the scoreboard enough to get the W. The second game was a slightly different story. MSU dominated the first half and took a commanding 6-2 lead. GVSU rallied back with two power play goals in the third, both by Scott Berry. The Lakers netted another goal with the extra skater with under a minute to go in the game. They looked like they were going to be buried by MSU early, but they clawed back to end the game 7-7.
Grand Valleys DI took care of business, sweeping the weekend. They handled Central Michigan and Michigan early before facing off against Ohio State and Eastern Michigan. Grand Valley took an early 3-0 lead but OSU came back with two of their own before play was suspended. Play resumed the next morning and both teams were deadlocked at 3-2 until Kyle Novak scored a beautiful wrap-around goal with under a minute left. An empty netter iced the game and the Lakers went on to win 5-2. Under three hours later, GV played Eastern in the last game of the weekend. The Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead but GV rattled off four unanswered goals. They finished off EMU by a score of 6-3.
Both teams looked very impressive in the first weekend, outscoring opponents 71-19 (combined). But as we all know, the season is a marathon, not a sprint. GV will have to sustain this for the rest of the season to win regionals and earn another bid to Nationals.
Stars of the Weekend (DI)
1st- Kyle Cross, GVSU: Cross had an outstanding weekend. He looked very solid between the pipes for the Lakers and the numbers back it up. He had a 2.50 GAA and a .871 save percentage against EMU and OSU and a 1.64 GAA and .898 for the whole weekend.
2nd- Dan Dukart, OSU: Durkart scored the most points over the weekend with 18. This all on the heels of playing only three games while everyone else played four. He had a 2 points per game higher average than second place. Your have to tip you cap to that.
3rd- Kyle Novak, GVSU: Anyone can pile on points in blow out games but I like what Novak did in the close games. As mentioned before he had a picture perfect wrap around goal to put the game out of reach for OSU. That coupled with his two other goals along with four assists makes it hard to keep him out of the three stars.
Stars of the weekend (B)
1st- Richard Kobylski, MSU: Kobylski lead the B league in points and goals for the weekend. He isn’t first star just because he scored five goals against GVSU in one game, but the way he did it. Kobylski has an absolutely wicked toe drag. Even when Grand Valley anticipated the toe drag, he still couldn’t be stopped. It’s really no surprise to see last years first team All-American here.
2nd- Jacob Walson, GVSU: You won’t find Walson in the top ten scoring or even in the top 15. He only had 3 goals and one assist for the weekend. So why is he the second star? He had the game winning goal against MSU in the first game and the game tying goal against MSU. There is something to be said for being clutch.
3rd- Kevin Carron, GVSU: Carron played only one game for GVSU and that was the exhibition game against MSU. His outing against the Spartans was so impressive he earned the third star. Carrons got peppered with 30 shots and saved 27 of them. Beyond the numbers, Carrons stood on his head, making one unbelievable save after another and gave his team a chance to win.
Looking forward
We will see Division I teams face off again November 10th and 11th at JCC in Bloomfield, MI. Grand Valley will get that weekend off but we will get our first look at Michigan State.