By JASON SCHMITT
@JasonESchmitt

TROY — Make no mistake about it, Wednesday night’s 5-3 win over Troy was a big one for Rochester United.

Every game in the Oakland Activities Association is going to matter. And if United wants to make a run at its fifth straight division title, it knew it couldn’t afford to fall two games behind first place Troy.

“This was probably our most complete game of the season,” Rochester United coach Jason Kowalski said. “Our goal is to try and win every period. Yes, we lost the second period, but most of the time if you win two out of three, usually you end up on top.”

Rochester used a balanced attack to lead from start to finish. Five different players scored goals and nine players scored at least a point in the win. Cameron Klinger, Niko Mantzios, Matt Hawke, Kon Mantzios and Drew Dishinger scored for United, which improved to 4-1 in league play. The team is 6-3 overall.

Taking a one-goal lead into the second period, Rochester scored a pair of goals (Niko Mantzios and Hawke) just 1:03 apart to extend its lead to 3-0. The game looked as if it might turn into a route, but Troy answered with two straight goals – from Cameron Mercer and Merrick Witkowski – to close to within 3-2 after two periods.

“This team will battle back, no matter what,” Troy coach Tim Zimmerman said. “No doubt about that.”

Rochester United righted the ship in the third, once again using their speed up the middle to create scoring chances. Kon Mantzios’ goal with 11:06 left in the game created separation. Zimmerman said that was the goal that hurt his team the most.

Dishinger scored just under two minutes later to all but put the game away.

Troy added a goal by Noah Chimpouras, but it was too little, too late. The loss was the first of the season for Troy (6-1 overall, 5-1 OAA Red), which remained in first place by two points. Zimmerman said he hopes his team will learn from this loss and bounce back the next time these two teams face off on Feb. 10.

“I’m hoping we’ll look at what we did today, talk about it, and learn from it,” Zimmerman said. “That’s what we coaches are supposed to do. Teach the kids, and go from there.”

This is Troy’s first year back up in the OAA Red after winning the White division the last couple years. Rochester United has been a steady force atop the Red in recent years. Last year it shared the OAA Red title with Berkley and Farmington. The division may once again be a three-team race in 2016-17, as Lake Orion, Troy and United all have just one loss – each suffering that one loss to each other.

Kowalski likes his team’s chances if it plays like it did Wednesday night.

“Our deficiency this year has been our blue line back in (to goal), so we tried to make sure we took care (defensively),” Kowalski said. “And we have four good forward lines. You saw it today, where if we stay out of the (penalty) box, we are a very good team. We only took a couple penalties today. When we are playing 5-on-5, we are a better team. That’s what it boils down to.”

Troy is now off until after the holiday break, when it will face Midland Dow on the road. United will take part in a holiday tournament at the Onyx Ice Arena. Kowalski’s team will face Utica Eisenhower on Tuesday, followed by a matchup against defending Division 2 state champion Romeo on Wednesday.

ROCHESTER UNITED 5, TROY 3

RU 1 2 2 — 5

T 0 2 1 — 3

First period: 1, RU, Cameron Klinger (Alex DiMarco)

Second period: 2, RU, Niko Mantzios (Kyle Crutchfield, Michael Rittner); 3, RU, Matt Hawke (Drew Stempien); 4, T, Cameron Mercer (Merrick Witkowski); 5, T, Witkowski (Noah Chimpouras)

Third period: 6, RU, Kon Mantzios (Stempien); 7, RU, Drew Dishinger (Andrew Carol, Rittner); 8, T, Chimpouras

GOALIES: Rochester United, Adam Doran (14 saves); Troy, A.J. Moceri (21 saves)

RECORDS: Rochester 6-3 overall, 4-1 OAA Red; Troy 6-1, 5-1