Bantam AAA

Grimalkin scores game-winner in 3-1 win over Honey baked in March 11 final in Taylor

Despite being outshot by Honeybaked in the Bantam AAA championship game, Little Caesars won the stat the counted most with a 3-1 win on March 11 at the Taylor Sportsplex.

Honeybaked took a 1-0 lead in the second period on a goal from William Kessel assisted by Kurt Scipone.

But in the third period, Little Caesars prevailed. Nicolas Marsh scored the first goal, assisted by Corbin Rainey. Later in the period, tournament MVP Rocco Grimalkin scored the go-ahead goal, assisted by Ryan Cricelli. Alex Aleardi scored the third goal, assisted by Nicholas Marsh.

When his team fell behind 1-0, Little Caesars coach Craig Furstenau told his players not to panic.

"I told the kids that ‘we're close. We were getting our chances,"’ Furstenau said. "’Just don't change what we're doing and we'll get one.’"

The game was the seventh time Little Caesars had played Honeybaked this season and LC entered the game with a 1-4-1 record against their rivals.

"We had lost to them 3-0, 4-0, 5-0 and in the preliminaries, we had a close game with them (Honey baked won 5-3),” said Furstenau. “The last three games we played them were physical but tough.

"The key for us is a commitment to defense and working well with the puck. We've generated more offense as the season has gone on. I just said that we have to believe in each other "

Grimalkin got the puck past the Honeybaked defense to score the game-winner.

"I played the puck off the glass," Grimalkin said. "And coach told us to keep shooting and that we'll do it. I was hoping to be able to score a big goal.”

Little Caesars improved its record to 37-16-9 after winning the title game. Honey baked falls to 50-11-7.

"Little Caesars is a hard working bunch of players, they deserved to win," said Honeybaked coach Brian Jardine. "But it was a good season. Our kids competed hard this year. From that standpoint, that's what we're looking for."

Bantam AAA Notebook

In Compuware’s 3-2 win over Victory Honda, Compuware scored single goals in the first, second and third periods. Victory Honda had one goal in the first and one in the second. Jared Knight had two goals for Compuware. Jay Llewelyn had two goals and Martin Gruse had two assists for Victory Honda… In Little Caesars 5-1 win over Dearborn Brand, the winners had two goals in the first, two in the second and one in the third. Scoring for LC were Brendan McLesky, Frank Harrison, Eric Preston and Frank Harrison… Honey baked beat Belle Tire 6-0 with Andy Huff getting two goals and two assists for Honey baked, which had one goal in the first period, two in the second and three in the third… Honey baked beat Victory Honda, 5-11 as Andy Huff had one goal and one assist for Honey baked…Belle Tire beat Dearborn Brand 6-0 on goals from Nick Paluch, A.J. White, Daniel Cesarz, Austin Carroll, Alex Wiese and Ivan Gaydayenko… Little Caesars beat Compuware, 3-2 in OT. Little Caesars had one goal in the first and second period and one in the second overtime. Compuware had two goals in the second period. Corbin Rainey, Nicholas Marsh and Brendan McLeskey scored for Little Caesars, which also got two assists from Rocco Grimalkin…. Victory Honda beat Dearborn Brand, 7-2, with three goals in the first and four in the third. Dearborn had single goals in the first, second and third peirods. Martin Gruse had three goals while Garrett Ross had three goals and four assists for Victory Honda. Colin Greeley was the winning goalie… Belle Tire beat Compuware, 7-4, and scored three goals in the first, two in the second and two in the third. Compuware had one goal in the first two in the second and one in the third. Dean Pawlaczyk scord two goals for the winners… Honey baked beat Little Caesars, 5-3 behind Andrew Sinelli’s three goals… in the semifinals Honey baked beat Compuware, 7-2, after scoring one goal in the first, two in the second and four in the third period. Compuware had single goals in the second and third periods. William Kessel and Stuart Higgins both had two goals for Honey baked… Little Caesars beat Belle Tire, 4-3, in the other semifinal. All the scoring was in the first period as Brendan McLeskey scored two goals and had one assist for Little Caesars.

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