Heritage moves to 5-0 on the season with a 4-3 OT winner scored by Sam Spaedt in front of a packed house at Saginaw Bay Ice Arena with 2:48 left in overtime play.

It was Heritage's season opener that ended up being a thrilling competitive game.  This was a team that needed a close game to help prepare them for an upcoming Holiday Tournament in Traverse City starting on December 28th where they will face off against Traverse City West.

Like in every game this season for Heritage, they managed to start off scoring quickly with a minimum of three goals in the first against every opponent they've faced.  It was Hunter Parasiliti that energized his team early when he received a nice feed from Gavin Dietrich at the 11:47 mark of the first.   This goal was followed up only three and a half minutes later from a wrap around move by Zach Dornseifer catching the goalie by surprise.  To complete their first period magic and lead 3-0, they scored again in less that two minutes.  It was a play that found Sam Spaedt making a pass before taking a good hit from Cay Wagner which put him to the ice, followed by a great pass from Chris Cornford who was on his behind when he made the play to a streaking Spencer Vondette on the breakaway goal.

To begin the 2nd period, Midland Dow began to build some momentum for a team that has seen its share of close games this year.  It appeared all they would need was a goal to turn things in their favor and that is exactly what Travis Nemeth provided at the 10:02 minute mark of the 2nd period.  You could see Midland Dow and their confidence grow in the 2nd period, while Heritage's coach JJ Bamberger felt his team was just out of sync for most the game.

Heritage was on the penalty kill to start the third period.  It was evident if Midland DOW could get an early third period goal it would be a fight to the very end for what was becoming a closely contested game from two local rivals.   That is exactly what Midland Dow did when Alex Ferrel knocked in a power play goal with 16:01 remaining putting them only down a goal.  With this momentum, it only took Midland Dow and Travis Nemeth less than three minutes to tie things up for a fun intense finish for what will be 1 of 2 meetings between these teams this season. 

For the remaining thirteen minutes of play the score would remain 3-3, both teams took their shots and both goalies stood strong (Heritage's Danny Yockey and Midland Dow's - Dom Nittolo).

The OT period proved to be just as intense as the last 13 minutes of play where Heritage and Midland DOW had their chances to win the game.  It wasn't until late in the extra frame where Heritage goalie Danny Yockey made an outlet pass to Harrison Jesko who turned and fired a pass from his offensive zone to the Midland Dow blue line.  Sam Spaedt quickly received this pass and made a nice move around the defenseman where he raced up in front of his home crowd and snapped home the game winner just pass the glove of the DOW goalie.

With this win Heritage moved into the Division 2 rankings at #9 in the state.  The news of them being moved to Division 3 this season has not trickled down to everyone just yet (soon to be corrected), but if they continue to play well they have a great chance to be ranked in Division 3.