In the long, competitive history of the Dow High-Midland High hockey rivalry, Wednesday’s matchup was one of the strangest. What wasn’t so strange was the final outcome — a one-goal margin.

Carter Bean scored with just over seven minutes left in the game to give Dow a 5-4 victory in nonleague play at the Midland Civic Arena and helping the Chargers overcome Midland’s four-goal onslaught in the second period.

Dow coach Dick Blasy noted that the final score should come as no surprise.

“People always ask me for a prediction (when we play Midland), and I always say, ‘It’s probably going to be a one-goal game,’” Blasy said. “One way or the other, whether they’re better than us or we’re better than them, it’s always a competitive game.”

Competitive and infinitely entertaining.

In a game which featured a pair of scoring outbursts, several great saves, and even a couple of disallowed goals, the Chargers carried play for most of the night, yet narrowly escaped with a hard-fought victory.

“It was an entertaining hockey game,” said Chemics’ coach Jeff Brown. “ ... It’s tough to lose, but I’m not really disappointed (in how we played).”

Despite outshooting Midland 40-16, Dow found itself trailing for much of the contest, as Chemics’ goaltender Weondong Hwang stopped numerous good scoring opportunities for the Chargers, while Dow allowed a couple of soft goals.

“I just kept telling the boys (when we were trailing), ‘Keep playing our game, and there’s a lot of hockey left. The one thing you can’t do is panic,’” noted Blasy. “I thought the boys did a nice job tonight of working hard.”

The Chargers outplayed MHS throughout the first period, peppering Hwang with shot after shot. But Midland’s senior goalie was up to the challenge, stopping Travis Nemeth’s shot on a partial breakaway four minutes in, then denying Nemeth again a few minutes later and subsequently stuffing Nick Sleeper’s rebound attempt.

After Hwang saved another shot from close range by Brendan Holbrook in the 15th minute, Dow finally broke the ice at 15:39 of the first period when Alex Farrell made a perfect centering pass to Casey LaRue, who one-timed it past Hwang from the slot for a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

Brown had a feeling that the second period might go differently.

“I told them (my players) between periods, ‘There’s probably a lot more that’s going to happen (in the second period),’” Brown noted.

He was right.

Off the opening faceoff of the second period, MHS’s Noah Eller passed the puck ahead to Jacob Coffey, who found himself all alone on the left wing. Coffey snapped a hard wrister from the left circle which beat Dow goalie Dom Nittolo high to the glove side, tying the game at 1-1 only eight seconds into the period.

Only 43 seconds later, the Chemics struck again when Brendan Witt beat Nittolo from about 20 feet out, giving Midland a sudden 2-1 lead and prompting Blasy to replace Nittolo with Seamus Belisle in net.

It didn’t take Dow long to answer. Only 10 seconds, to be exact.

At 1:01 of the period, Holbrook fired a shot from the point through traffic and past Hwang to knot the score at 2-2.

The Chargers continued to carry play for the next several minutes but came up empty on a number of opportunities. And then came another flurry of goals.

At 10:04 of the second, Coffey picked up a loose puck off of a turnover and ripped a high shot past Belisle from long range for a shorthanded goal and a 3-2 Chemics’ lead. Seventy-seven seconds later, Midland’s Cheyne Maier gathered in the puck off of another turnover, skated in unchallenged, and flipped a shot past Belisle from close range to make it 4-2.

But, again, the Chargers answered quickly.

This time, Jon Baillargeon launched a long shot from the point which LaRue deflected in the slot, redirecting it past Hwang to cut the deficit to 4-3 heading into the second intermission.

“There were times tonight where we were trying to make lemonade out of oranges instead of just keeping it simple,” Blasy noted. “We had too many turnovers and gave Midland a lot of short ice. ... If we just keep it simple (we’ll be fine).”

Controversy struck early in the third period when Midland’s Matthew Gross snuck the puck through Belisle’s legs for an apparent goal. But after a brief discussion by the officials, the goal was waved off.

Brown took the botched call in stride.

“It seemed pretty clearly (that the puck was) in the net, but they blew the whistle,” Brown said. “ ... He (the official) thought it was covered (by Belisle), and he intended to blow his whistle.

“ ... You don’t have instant replay (in high school), and probably thank God for that,” Brown added with a chuckle.

A couple of minutes later, Hwang made another nice stop on a shot by LaRue, but Farrell slipped the rebound into the open net to tie the game at 4-4 at 4:33 of the period.

Less than a minute later, the Chargers appeared to take the lead, but Nemeth’s goal was disallowed when it was ruled that he touched the puck with a high stick.

That set the stage for Bean to win it, as he jabbed a shot past Hwang from the slot off of a centering pass from Johnny Wilson at 9:42, giving Dow its first lead since the first period.

“Just put the puck on net, and good things will happen,” Blasy said. “ ... Keep it simple, put junk on the net, and anything can happen.”

“In the second period, we got some momentum, and our goalie played well. ... But then we had that lead, and I think we just started ... playing almost like we were tentative or nervous or whatever,” Brown noted. “ ... I thought our goalie kept us in it.”

Hwang finished with 35 saves for Midland, while Belisle had 11 saves in relief of Nittolo for Dow.

“Weondong (Hwang) is a strong goalie, and I’m glad he’s a senior,” Blasy said with a grin.

Both the Chargers (5-2) and the Chemics (2-3) will head to Cheboygan this weekend for a couple of games. Dow will face Escanaba on Friday and Cheboygan on Saturday, while Midland will take on Cheboygan on Friday, then face Escanaba on Saturday.

“Both teams are still trying to figure things out. ... And the goal, as I’m sure Jeff (Brown) would say, is to be playing your best in February and not in December,” Blasy said. “And I think, based on the way this game went, neither one of us are playing our best hockey in December, but that’s OK.”