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Sting rolls to 5-0 shutout of Canton in March 11 final at Southgate Civic Center

Special teams play can have a big effect on a game. Both bad and good work on the penalty kill can decide a team's fate, and the MAHA Midget A state final, played at the Southgate Civic Center on March 11, was a prime example.

The highly regarded Troy Sting killed off a penalty during the last two minutes of the first period, then came back in the second period to score two goals on the way to a 5-0 win over the Canton Crush to claim the state title.

With the Sting’s Tom Hansen in the box for an interference infraction, Troy goalie Jon Berti made a pair of saves with 22.8 seconds left in the period and penalty to keep the game scoreless.

Troy then broke the ice 8:18 into the second period when Steve Wiechec scored on a wrist shot to the top corner for a 1-0 lead. Kyle Junga and Jon Guracech assisted. Brandon Coley scored during a scramble in front of Canton goalie Mike Ciuffoletti 1:24 later to make it 2-0. Mike McGillivray and Wiechec assisted.

Troy went on to score three more goals in the third period, with Alex Jacobs netting two. McGillivray scored on a rebound 4:55 into the final stanza. Jacobs score his first unassisted on a breakaway when he put a wrister into the top corner glove-side to make it 4-0 with 5:26 to go. Jacobs then beat Ciuffoletti with a wrist shot over his blocker for the final tally with 2:38 to go.

"Once we got a goal, everyone on the bench got into the game a little bit more," Jacobs said afterward, before complimenting Berti on the shutout. "He's phenomenal. No goals, you can't ask for anything better."

"I'm just glad they couldn't get one by, the defense played great," Berti said.

Sting coach Fred Costello said that Canton had beaten his team earlier in the year, giving the players a little extra fire for this matchup.

"Their goalie's had our number, I give him all the credit in the world," Costello said. "They had beat us and tied us, so we were hoping to get a little revenge. Our forechecking was relentless and kept the pressure on, and we went hard to the net every chance we got. It was a total team effort."

Troy was 52-7-4 after the state championship and will be playing in the national tournament at Fraser in late March.

Midget A Notebook

Troy made the final after a 4-2 win over Garden City in one semifinal matchup. Alex Wargo had a goal and assist, while Alex Jacobs scored the game-winner 3:44 into the third period... Canton won the other semifinal in dramatic fashion, beating Flint IMA in a comeback, 4-3, overtime win. Alec Arthur scored the game-tying goal for the Crush with 4:40 left in regulation, and Kory Sosnowski got the game-winner :55 into the extra session... Troy won all three games in the round-robin portion of the tourney, starting off with a 2-1 overtime win over Flint IMA before beating the SouthSide Jr. Owls 7-2 and Traverse City 14-0. Brandon Coley had three goals and an assist in the win over Traverse City, while Brian Baker and Tom Hansen each added a pair of goals. Jake Harlick and Mike McGillivray also posted three assists apiece... Canton started off pool play with a 4-2 win over Marquette before downing Woodhaven 5-2 and Garden City 3-1. Alex Brewin had a pair of goals in the win over Marquette, while Mike Szuma added a pair of assists. The Crush trailed Woodhaven 3-1 going into the third period before five different goal-scorers answered the call, including Greg Taylor, who notched the game-winner. Ricky Stack scored the game-winner for Canton in the win over Garden City... Garden City made the semis by beating Woodhaven 6-2 and Marquette 5-4. Brandon Eldred and Dave Ciciora each had two goals, while Mike Downey notched three assists in the win over Woodhaven. Downey scored the game-winner against Marquette with 4:51 left in regulation, and Eldred scored Garden City's lone tally in the 3-1 loss to Canton... Flint made the semifinal by recovering from the 2-1 OT loss to Troy with a 13-2 trouncing of Traverse City and a 3-2 win over SouthSide. Andrew Richard led the way with a hat trick against Traverse City, while Ed Zaliagiris added two goals and an assist. Ben McParlan also had a goal and two assists. McParlan and Justin Henne scored in Garden City's loss to Troy.

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