Bantam A

Wild defeats archrival Rochester, 2-1, in March 4 final in Traverse City

Taylor’s Derric Guriel wasn’t in uniform in for the Bantam A state championship game, but his uniform was there, a witness to his Wild teammates winning the state title 2-1 over the Rochester Rattlers on March 4 at Traverse City’s Centre Ice.

Guriel, one of the team’s top defensemen, missed the weekend trip north after his appendix burst the day before the state tournament. In honor of their missing blue liner, the Wild had his No. 14 jersey hanging above the team bench during the contest.

“We were playing for him,” said Taylor forward Jake Jaskolski, who had nine points in five games. ”We were determined to win.”

Not only were the Wild without Guriel, but less than two minutes into the game, captain Joey Mathews was given a five-minute major for spearing and ejected from the game.

The Wild killed off the entire five minutes without giving up a goal, and only gave up one shot on net in the process. With a shortened bench, Taylor made only three line changes in the five-minute kill.

“That gave us some momentum,” Taylor right wing Joey Emery said.

“They galvanized behind that call and just wouldn’t give up,” Wild coach Joe Emery said. “This is a special group of kids and we just had a great season.”

The Wild not only overcame missing two of its better players, but also defeated a team it hadn’t been able to beat in three previous meetings this season. The Rattlers had eliminated Taylor from the Silver Sticks en route to winning the entire tourney. The Rattlers and Wild tied in two league matchups, with Rochester claiming the Little Caesars Ranked D1 league title.

“It was their turn,” Rochester coach Drake Turcotte said. “They’re a good team and they deserve it.”

The game was scoreless until more than halfway through, when Jaskolski banged in a pass from Scott Wawrzyniak with 7:05 left in the second period.

The Wild then went up 2-0 when Wawrzyniak hit Josh McPartlin with a pass from behind the net and McPartlin roofed the one-timer redirection shot past goaltender Tyler Everlove from the doorstep with 8:06 left in the game.

Taylor survived Rochester’s first five power plays, getting two of their own in return. Rochester scored in the final minute after a delay-of-game penalty against Taylor and a pulled goalie resulted in a 6-on-4 for the game final 40 seconds that Mathew Buccellato turned into a goal with 7.9 ticks left to draw within a score.

But Taylor won the ensuing face-off and was able to dump the puck to run off the clock.

Taylor goaltender Chase Schmittou - who surrendered only five goals in five games - was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

“We just couldn’t get it going on the power play,” Turcotte said. Their goalie played outstanding.”

Taylor also got by another team that had haunted them, topping Grand Rapids 3-1 in the seimfinals. Taylor hadn’t beaten the Griffins in two years. Nick Serafini scored two goals and McPartlin the other, as Mathews assisted on both of Serafini’s goals.

Bantam A Notebook

Ian Pichel had a goal and an assist for Rochester in a 3-2 semifinal win over the USA Eagles, with Austin Rust and Justin Henry adding goals. Jarret Friedland had a goal and an assist for the Eagles… Rochester got goals from Mathew Buccellato, Taylor Jones, Josh Hosking, Connor Lyons and Donovan Gardiner in a 5-1 win over Flint... Taylor’s Joey Mathews had two goals in a 6-1 win over Traverse City, with Jake Peacock scoring TC’s lone goal... Donald Sund scored two of Grand Rapids’ three second-period goals as the Griffins beat Flint IMA 4-1. Trevor McSween had a goal and an assists for GR. ... Dan Sakalian had a goal and two assists for the Eagles, while C.J. Reuschlein, Zach Rogow and Matt Sweet each had two points in a 7-1 win over Keweenaw. ... Brett White scored a hat trick and Zelenka had two goals in Grand Rapids’ 9-0 win over the Northern Huskies. ... Peters notched a hat trick in Taylor’s 6-1 win over the Eagles. ... Jake Peacock scored twice and had three points and Dustin Derrer had three points for Traverse City in a 5-1 win over Keweenaw. ... Carlo DeGrazia and Scott Wawrzyniak had hat tricks as Taylor topped Keweenaw 10-1. ... Ryan Griggs had a goal and two assists and Nick Webb added two points in Flint’s 6-3 win over the Huskies, who received two goals and an assist from Reegan Quaal.

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