Trojans suffer first BNC setback

BY JAMES COOK
jcook@record-eagle.com

January 05, 2008 10:24 am

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TRAVERSE CITY -- Not much went as expected for Traverse City Central on Friday.

A goal that seemingly had a lid on it, another injury to a forward and a 5-0 loss to Alpena wasn't what coach Chris Givens had in mind.

Central outplayed No. 7-ranked Alpena for stretches of the game, but the breaks and the final score all favored the Wildcats.

"We played well enough to win," Givens said. "The first period we had our chances. In the second we had two break-aways. You don't get many better chances than that. I give Doug Snow a lot of credit."

The No. 6-ranked Trojans (8-2, 3-1 Big North Conference) outshot Alpena 29-26 and laid enough hits that the Wildcats were looking over their shoulders whenever venturing near the boards by the second period.

But a solid defensive effort, capitalizing on opportunities and a great effort by junior netminder Doug Snow, and Alpena (6-4-1, 2-1) came away with a 5-0 victory of TC Central, ending the Trojans' eight-game winning streak.

"I was very pleased to come to Traverse City and get a 5-0 win," Alpena coach Chris Limback said. "It's a tough place to play and Traverse has been on a roll."

The TC Central loss leaves TC West (9-3, 3-0) as the only team undefeated in league play.

Jason Souva played outstanding and led a Wildcat defense that forced many of Central's 29 shots on goal from outside. Souva assisted on Alpena's last two goals to give him 12 points on the season.

Central outshot and outhit Alpena for much of the first two periods.

Shane Darrow imprinted Trevor Denstaedt on the boards and returned to the bench, yelling, "Let's go!" at his teammates.

Central then had three prime scoring opportunities -- two by Darrow and another by Jared VanWormer -- that were snuffed out by Snow and the Wildcats' third-leading scorer, Jon Straley, left the game with an apparent right arm injury and didn't return. All the momentum seemed to be going the Trojans' way, despite trailing 2-0.

"That would have given them great momentum," Limback said. "In high school sports, momentum is so huge. Our goaltender made some really big saves. That was the key -- when we got chances we capitalized."

And the third period, which has been Central's ace in the hole this season, was coming up.

Then Alpena scored 10 seconds into the period to squash any momentum the Trojans gained in the second.

"The third period has been good to us before, so I thought we'd come out and play better," Givens said. "Then we get beat to a loose puck and it ends up in the net."

Zach Rousseau scored 10 seconds into the third, assisted by John Bracken and Jarrett Krajniak. Alpena's goal in the second period also came in the first minute of play.

The Wildcats added goals by Tyler Skiba and Krajniak in the final 2:05 to cap off the win.

Alpena went up 8:26 into the game on a Bracken shot into the upper corner of the net and added Alex Senchuk's goal 49 seconds into the second when a pass from behind the net hit the pipe and rolled into the crease. Senchuck pounced and tapped the puck through the five hole.

Snow finished with 29 saves.

Central, which had its full complement of players for the first time since Thanksgiving after getting Riley Huffman back from injury, went right back to being a forward short when Derek Gardiner went down with a shoulder injury on his first shift. Givens said Gardiner could miss a week or two.