WYANDOTTE – It was a good, old-fashioned hockey game at the Yack Arena on Saturday night when the Downriver area’s top programs took to the ice.
Trenton and Riverview Gabriel Richard – known for their strong seasons and deep playoff runs – faced off in an MIHL showdown, a first after Richard came into the league this season.One team came in on a four-game win streak while the other came in on a five-game rut, but a fairly even showdown could only have one winner.
When the final buzzer sounded, it was the Pioneers continuing their recent winning ways by being on the right side of a 4-2 affair.
The win is a season-best fifth straight for Richard, one that head coach Ricky DeSana credited with having an almost fully healthy team. And Saturday’s heroics came courtesy of former two-time all-News-Herald honoree Santino Venturini, who missed a handful of games for the Pioneers earlier this season.
“(Santino’s) a heck of a player,” DeSana said. “We didn’t have him for a month and a half. We’ve still not played with a full team. But being 90 percent healthy I think really, really helped.”
Similar to some of their recent games, it looked promising early on for Trenton, who held the lead after the first 17 minutes of play.
Midway through the opening stanza, it was senior captain Donovan Durbin taking advantage of a Richard turnover and, with help from Zach Lamay, depositing a shot for what would be the Trojans’ only lead of the night.
It was a goal on just five shots for Trenton in the first period compared to 11 for Richard.
The Pioneers turned it around in the second. Goals to both start and end the period gave them the 2-1 advantage heading into the final 17.
Senior captain MIchael Taucher found the back of the net just 19 seconds into the period for the first tie of the evening. Alex Hoerle and Logan Swiercz assisted.Then with 1:53 to go, it was John Konecny firing a shot as he went to the net. The puck clinked the post, giving the hosts their first lead of the evening after two frames.
An active third period saw three penalties from Richard throughout as well as three goals in less than four minutes between the teams.
Trenton tied things up with 5:31 to play to make it a game. Grandon Echols tapped his stick quickly to ask for the pass from Lamay before delivering his shot for the second equalizer of the contest.
The game-winner for Richard, however, came less than two minutes later.
The aforementioned Venturini weaved his way through the Trojan defenders and deposited his shot. Konecny and Jacob Chiles each assisted.
With 2:45 left on the clock, the Pioneers’ Logan Swiercz was called for unsportsmanlike conduct. It led to a Trenton timeout as well as goaltender Theo Dull being pulled from net, giving the Trojans a two-man advantage.
The strategy, though, was unsuccessful as Richard’s Jason Mathews ripped a shot and the puck slid its way to the empty net for the short-handed goal.
DeSana said it was an all-around team win and gave kudos to the squad from top to bottom on the efforts. He also gave credit to his league opponent.
“I thought our seniors really played well,” DeSana said. “We have a really good group of seniors that work extremely hard with an excellent supporting cast. I’m proud of our group and their attention to detail – the details on the faceoffs and things like that can make all the difference.
“They are an excellent hockey team,” he added of Trenton. “We won’t see them again, but they’ve got some top end players that we haven’t even come close to face with and had to hold off.”
The loss was Trenton’s sixth consecutive, their longest losing streak in over a decade.
Trenton coach Keith Kneiding said it was a game that they hope can jump-start a turnaround sooner than later.
“I thought it was probably one of our better efforts of the season,” he said. “The team was committed, they were bought in, they played the right way and (Richard) just made better plays than us on a couple instances.”
Outcome aside, Kneiding talked about the energy level in Yack Arena for Saturday’s rivalry matchup.
“It was a great downriver high school hockey game,” he said. “It was a great crowd, a great atmosphere. We see this as a game where it’s similar to a playoff environment for us as we move to the state tournaments.
“This was a great game to help us prepare for that.”
Like most programs, the Trojans are just looking to improve as March creeps closer.
“We’re just trying to get a little bit better every day,” Kneiding said. “We’re trying to push our kids to focus on the playoffs and we’re trying to get ourselves peaking at the right time of the year like any other program.”
Trenton’s most recent matchups are doing just that. The Trojans’ opponents during their current losing skid are a combined 21 games over the .500 mark.
“We’re hoping through the schedule we play, through the teams we play, through the competition, we’ll be prepared come playoff time,” Kneiding continued. “Hopefully we can get into a regional situation that puts us in a positive environment, which hopefully gets us to a quarterfinal situation and maybe beyond that so we’ll see.”
UP NEXT
Richard (7-7-1) will look to extend their winning streak on Thursday, Jan 8 at home when they take on MIHL foe Warren De La Salle.
Trenton (8-6) meanwhile will continue their quest for their first victory in roughly a month when they take on local foe Gibraltar Carlson on Jan 6.
“We’re excited about the group we have,” Kneiding said. “We’ve got a lot of players and we’re currently in the process of making sure everyone’s bought in and playing the right way and seeing if they can do something special when it comes to the right time of the year.”
