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The Best Things I Saw From Week One

By Craig Peterson, 11/25/19, 4:00PM EST

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Too Many To Choose Just One Moment From The Opening Stretch Of The Season

Oh what a week the first seven days of the ‘19-20 campaign were! Teams across the state opened up regular-season action and there were plenty of moments that caught my attention. Check out these quick hits and catch up on anything you might’ve missed from Week One.

How about opening day? Jackson Lumen Christi with an impressive 2-1 upset over Flint Powers on Monday night. Saw some chatter on Twitter saying it’s the first time since the 1970s that the Titans had defeated the Chargers. I can’t confirm or deny that, but hats off to goalies Gavin Warner and Lucas Henderson who split duties in net and combined to make 29-of-30 saves. 

I spent Tuesday night at Grand Oaks Ice Arena catching the beginning of the KLAA season, with Howell and Novi skating to an exciting 4-3 finish for the Highlanders. Howell has some real heavy hitters on that team in Stefan Frantti and Dominic Rossi but Brent Wolf was the standout with a two-goal, three-point night to lead the Highlanders to a W in their first game. I really like this Howell team as one who could sneak up on some opponents this season and pull off a couple upsets.

Thursday, I caught the Saline-Plymouth game down in Ann Arbor. Brendan Allen’s four goals fueled the Panthers to a 5-4 victory. Ian Smith was a sensational watch for Plymouth as well; he was buzzing all over the ice and making a ton of things happen on offense while being very disruptive in the D-zone and killing penalties. Smith gained the blue line and made a stellar cross-ice pass, initiating the zone entry that ultimately led to Plymouth’s game-winning goal with 57 seconds left in regulation.

Just scoreboard watching here but a couple of really tight ones on the west side with Rockford topping Grand Rapids Christian 3-2 in overtime on Wednesday and Grand Rapids Catholic Central with a four-goal third period to beat Grandville 5-3 on Friday. As if that wasn’t enough, Byron Center defeated Forest Hills Central 4-3 in what I’m considering an upset, as I was expecting a big year for FHC. Could still very well happen, but BC certainly throwing their hat into OK Conference ring as well. 

Hey, and shoutout to Grosse Pointe South making moves this weekend. Big W over U-D Jesuit scoring three goals in the first six minutes of the game and then holding off the Cubs the rest of the way to earn a 4-3 victory on Friday. Brian McKenna and Adam Strehlke were major factors in that one with two points apiece and if that wasn’t enough, they turn around and mercy Warren De La Salle 8-0 on Saturday. That’ll make my ears perk up and got me thinking… The MIHL is stacked again this year but the Blue Devils could make things interesting come playoff time.

That’s some of the best things I saw this week! What’d I miss? What’d you like after Week One? Connect with me on Twitter and let’s talk about it.