Midget AAA

Squad notches two close wins over Compuware March 10-11 at Taylor Sportsplex

Honeybaked used timely goalscoring and top notch goaltending to win the first two games of the best-of-three series against Compuware in the MAHA Midget AAA state championship at the Taylor Sportsplex.

The hardworking Honeybaked squad notched a 4-3 win on March 10 and came back with a 2-1 victory the next afternoon to win the title.

Compuware scored the first goal in Sunday’s deciding game with 12:16 left in the

first period on a shot by Chad Pietila. Honeybaked answered with two straight goals, the first by Joshua Bussell scored the first assisted by Austin Accettura. Michael Voran scored the winning goal, assisted by Austin Balko and Anthony Leone.

Honeybaked goalie Matt Margitan had 35 saves in the championship game and earned tournament MVP honors.

"It was two excellent teams battling hard all season long," said Honeybaked coach John Kisil. '"We did everything we could to get the win. We've had a lot

of one-goal games against Little Caesars.

While Kisil pointed out that Margitan "is a great goalie who played very well,” he didn't do the job all by himself.

"We have no superstars. It was a team effort," Kisil said.

When Compuware took a 1-0 lead in the second game, "I knew my guys would get a couple of goals," Margitan said. "If I could shut them down, I figured we had a good chance."

Margitan said it was critical that his team beat Compuware in Game 2 and not go to a third game on Sunday night.

"We had a similar game yesterday against them," Margitan said. "It was easier coming into this game. It was really important to end it now. We're going to the nationals and we'll have some momentum gong in with two straight wins.”

The victory in the second game of the series "was a good one for me because of its importance. It was a great win," Margitan said.

Midget AAA Notebook

The state tournament schedule had a hole in it as the Chris Coury-coached Belle Tire team was ruled ineligible to play in the state tournament after officials determined in a pre-tournament meeting that they had surpassed the 75-games played limit this regular season. Despite not participating in the tournament, at press time Belle Tire, who are hosting both the USA Hockey Midget U16 and U18 Tier I national tournaments, had received a favorable ruling on an appeal to USA Hockey that will allow the players to play (Coury was suspended) in the nationals at Great Lakes Sports City on March 28 – April 1 as the host team. As state champion, Honeybaked is the Michigan entry… Marquette beat Capital Centre, 4-3, and Collin Saint-Onge had a goal and assist for Marquette… In Victory Honda’s 5-4 win over Honeybaked, Grant Blakely scored two goals for and Michael Merrifield had one goal and two assists for the winners… In Compuware’s 5-1 win over the Soo Indians, Andy Yarber had two goals for Compuware… In Little Caesars 3-2 win over Compuware, Reed Seckel had one goal and one assist for the winners… In Victory Honda’s 4-1 win over Marquette Mark Silverman had three goals for Victory Honda… Honeybaked beat Capital Centre 4-2 and Chris Dyer and Michael Vallier had one goal and one assist apiece for the winners… Honeybaked shutout Marquette 6-0 and Greg Wolfe had two goals and one assist Christopher Dyer had one goal and two assists in the win… In Little Caesars 4-3 win over the Soo, Timothy Opie had one goal and two assists for Little Caesars….Joshua Bussell helped Honeybaked to a 5-4 win Little Caesars in one semifinal… In the other semifinal, a rested Compuware, whose game against Belle Tire was a forfeit (see above), beat Victory Honda, 5-2. Compuware scored four goals in the second period and one in the third period. Jonathon Puskar had two goals for Compuware. Michael Merrifield had a goal for Victory Honda. Baker was the winning goalie for Compuware… In game one of the best-of-three final series, Honeybaked scored two goals in the first period and two in the third. Compuware had one goal in the first and two in the third. Michael Vallier scored two goals for Honeybaked. Jonathan Puskar scored two goals for Compuware.

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