Late in the first period in their regional championship game against the Lake Orion Dragons, Cougars goalie Justin Dudzinski found he'd cheated too far out of net.
With 4:29 left, the sophomore goalie scrambled frantically to get back—losing his stick in the process.
By the time he did manage to get back in place it was too late, as Lake Orion senior forward Corbin Rainey let loose with a hard shot just a few feet from the blue line that slipped between Dudzinski's pads and put the Dragons up 1-0.
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Things wouldn't get any easier for Dudzinski over the course of the rest of the match as the Dragons ultimately beat the Cougars 2-0 to win the region five championship.
"I'm always glad for the win but I wasn't really happy with our overall play tonight," said Dragons coach Clint Robert. "We really didn't embrace the forecheck like I would have liked. That's something we're going to have to work on next game."
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After triumphing over rivals Chippewa Valley 6-1 on Wednesday, Dakota coach David Koons commented on how tough the Dragons were, citing an earlier loss to them in the season.
"It's going to be really hard to beat them," he said at the time.
His words turned out to be prophetic.
The Dragons came out playing hard, dominating on offense and forcing the Cougars to play a large portion of the first period on defense in their own end.
The Dragons had several quality chances to score during the opening 15 minutes, but Dudzinski managed to turn every shot away but one.
For their part, the Cougars kept chipping away, but their best scoring chance came at 7:09 when no less than three Dakota players had a chance to put the puck in the net amidst a scrum in front of Lake Orion goalie Dominic Juncaj. The puck was ultimately poked away by Juncaj.
In the second period, both teams came out more settled, but it was the Dragons who scored again as Daniel Chapie and Justin McKelvey took a two-on-one down the length of the ice to knock one in at 9:50, putting Lake Orion up 2-0.
Much like the first period, the Cougars played the majority of the the second on defense in their own end. They did manage a few scoring chances, including a long shot from the left wing at 5:26 that forced Juncaj to perform an acrobatic glove save, but they never managed to put any points up on the board.
"We knew they were going to be a tough opponent," Robert said. "They played some really tough defense tonight. To their credit, they played us really tight."
With 1:33 left in the period, Dragons defenseman Elliott Rinke was called for a late penalty that gave the Cougars a man advantage. They almost managed to score with about 30 seconds left when junior forward Robert Haney let loose with a hard slap shot from the left wing, but it was deflected wide right.
Neither team scored in the final period, but the Dragons committed four penalties and found themselves down a man for much of the third. The Cougars did manage to garner a two-man advantage for 19 seconds late in the game, but couldn't do anything to get on the board.
The Dragons next face St. Clair Shores Unified on Wednesday, hosted by Lakeview High School in St. Clair Shores.
