12/26/2006

TC Central claims its first hockey title

Trojans won final four playoff games all by one goal

BY JAMES COOK

jcook@record-eagle.com

Record-Eagle file photo/Douglas Tesner
Traverse City Central's Justin Sterk (18) battles for the puck during the Trojans' playoff-opening win over Muskegon Mona Shores.

TRAVERSE CITY — All other northwestern Michigan hockey teams will have to follow in the footsteps of Traverse City Central.

The Trojans became the area's first high school hockey team to win a state championship, culminating an amazing run of 19 straight games without a loss to end the season.

Central lost its opener and then dropped only one other game the rest of the year — an impressive accomplishment magnified by hockey's very nature, where a single bad bounce can turn the tide of a single game or an entire playoff run. The Trojans kept themselves one step ahead of those bounces, going 26-2-1.

But it was one — or rather, two — of those wins that raised an eyebrow with Trojans coach Chris Givens.

Central was rolling at 15-2 when the Falcon Invitational come around on the schedule.

Awaiting the Trojans was a field stacked with state-ranked teams.

Central came back with one of many trophies from the season after knocking off Grosse Pointe South 4-1 and host East Kentwood 3-0.

"On the bus after the game, we told the kids that this is something to take note of, and if we can keep this up, we've got as good a shot as anyone,” Givens said.

Keeping it up was just what the team did, failing to lose a game the rest of the year, including a five-game trek through the state championship tournament.

Virtually all five of those wins were one-goal affairs. The win that started the Trojans' run was 4-2, but an Alex Smith empty-netter in the final minute against Muskegon Mona Shores was all that separated it from the other one-goal decisions.

"The big thing for us was team chemistry,” Givens said. "We had three freshmen who stepped in and played key roles. The seniors could either look down on them or treat them with respect and bring them into the fold, and the latter is what happened. That's definitely the best team chemistry we've ever had.”

Central ended up with four all-state players — forwards Alex Redmond and Eric O'Hearn, defenseman Alex Read and goalie Tyler Stricker, who didn't lose a game the entire season and ended the year with a 16-0-1 mark and a 1.40 goals against average.

Part of what kept Central one step ahead of the bad bounces was a power play unit that made opposing teams pay dearly for spending time in the box, striking 39.8 percent of the time.

The Trojans also won the Big North Conference by going 9-0-1. Their only blemish was a tie with rival TC West.