Hancock (7-4 overall) had a huge night from sophomore goaltender Dawson Kero, who made 30 saves on 31 Brighton shots. Kero did a commendable job keeping rebounds to a minimum, much to the pleasure of head coach Dan Rouleau.

"Dawson was our best player tonight, no question about it," said Rouleau. "He had a lot of help tonight His best game by far this year."

Article Photos

Daily Mining Gazette/Daver Karnosky
Hancock's Cory Tourtillott attempts to beat Brighton's Brody White to the Brighton goal in the first period of a game at the Houghton County Arena Friday night. Tourtillott scored an empty net goal to seal a 3-1 win for Hancock.

 

 

 

Rouleau's squad, currently ranked No. 8 in Division 3, has had its share of overtime contests this season, and as the game headed into the third tied 1-1, his team had a statement to make in the locker room first, then on the ice.

"The biggest thing they said when they went to leave the locker room was 'We're not going to overtime,'" said Rouleau. "They did not want to go to overtime. We did not want any more of it against a really good team like that."

The declaration would prove prophetic.

Late in the third, Hancock captain Dylan Paavola got the puck in the left corner. The senior wired a pass to the right point to junior Reid Hamar. Hamar showed incredible patience skating the puck into the right circle before unleashing a wrist shot that beat Brighton goaltender Tyler Roy over the glove at 10:53 of the third period.

"We expected him to come in and just be solid defensively," said Rouleau. "He's starting to contribute offensively for us now. He's watching these guys in practice. We have an offensive defensemen mentality and Reid is starting to fit right in with that."

Brighton, the No. 2 team in Division 1, got off to a quick start when Brad Halonen got the puck behind the Hancock goal. He skated out front and first faked a wrap around before firing a shot from a higher point in the slot that slid through Kero and in just 1:24 in.

It would have been easy for Hancock to shut down at that point, but instead, they rallied around their young goalie, and stormed back as the period continued. If not for the play of Roy between the pipes and collection of shots that sailed over the Brighton net, the hosts could have skated away with a 4-1 lead after one period.

A minute and a half after Brighton scored, Devyn LaCourt had a chance to tie the game when he picked up the rebound off a shot from Paavola. The junior's shot beat Roy, but caromed off the post.

About two minutes later, Hancock assistant captain Jack Fenton fired two shots from the left point. The second bounced out front and right to Bryan Lepisto, but the junior could not quite corral the puck.

Five minutes later, Teddy Randell took a pass in the slot from freshman Alex Nordstrom, but the sophomore's shot sailed over the night from right in front of Roy.

In the second period, Brighton took control of play thanks in part to a number of penalties whistled against Hancock. However, it was the hosts who found the back of the net during the first advantage.

With Paavola off for interference, Nordstrom picked up the puck near the Brighton blue line, skated it into the zone. He then drove around a defender to find himself alone with Roy, but his shot was stopped.

Randell won a puck battle shortly after and then found Nordstrom on the back door for a tap-in goal shorthanded at 3:06.

Hancock killed off two more Brighton power plays in the period. On the first one, Lee Pietila, Brighton's candidate for Michigan's Mr. Hockey, found Joey Clifford in the slot. Clifford's one-timer was stopped.

Just after that advantage, Pietila drove around a Hancock defender and into the slot alone, but his shot just climbed over the crossbar.

During the second power play, Jay Keranen got the puck at the left point. He skated it into the slot and wired a wrist shot that hit Kero square in the mask.

Late in the period, after Hancock had killed off its third penalty, senior Cory Tourtillott took a lead pass near the Brighton blue line. He spun to his forehand, skated in alone, deked to his backhand, but found his shot tracked well by Roy.

Hancock needed to come out strong in the third period if they wanted to follow through on not facing another overtime, and they did just that.

Thanks to an early power play, Hancock had good possession time in the offensive zone about three minutes into the the period. Brighton did get one good scoring chance while shorthanded off the stick of Jake Crespi, but Kero was there to make the stop.

After the power play, both teams had chances at each end usually as part of a shift of possession.

A strong effort from the line of Tourtillott, Brody Budweg, and LaCourt led the turnover Paavola snatched up before feeding Hamar for the game-winning tally.

Brighton, looking for the game-tying goal, found their collective hands tied with four minutes left when Joey Mancini was whistled for kneeing at center ice. Pietila did what he could shorthanded, out battling Fenton for a puck at the blue line before skating the puck the rest of the length of the rink and firing a shot that Kero stopped.

Just after the power play ended, Pietila got loose again, deked around two Hancock skaters, and fired another shot at Kero.

Brighton pulled Roy with 1:10 remaining, but 25 seconds later found themselves going back to the penalty box as they attempted to tie the game with seven skaters deep in the Hancock zone.

Roy was pulled again as soon as Brighton cleared the puck out of their own end. Randell attempted a shot at the open goal, but his shot did not make it through the pipes. He got the puck back and moved it over to Tourtillott, who iced the game with an empty net goal at 16:56.