MDHL Green Defeats MDHL Black for 2022 League Championship

The 2022 MDHL season came to an end today, with a great championship game between Green and Black.  In a back-and-forth game, Green eventually came out on top 6-4 to avenge last year’s final’s loss to Blue.

Black’s Path to the Finals:

Black earned their spot in the finals by beating Orange 9-1 in their quarterfinal game and by beating Red 2-1 in the semis. 
In the quarterfinals, they limited Orange’s top line to only 1 goal, while Chris Borg, Aidan Charron, and Dominic Vincent each earned 3pts apiece to lead the way for Black. 
In their semifinal matchup with Red, both teams were missing some of their top goal scorers, and it showed.  Red had 26 shots, while Black only had 24, and every goalie in the game had a save percentage of 90% or better.  Black jumped out to a lead just over a minute and a half into the game, with Timothy Hinkle finding the back of the net (assisted by Sebastiano Iavasile).  Just a little under a minute and a half into the 2^nd period, Black’s Chris Borg got the eventual game winner, when he scored an unassisted shorthanded goal at the 18:32 mark.  Red cut the deficit to 2-1 with a goal from Collin Dell with 7:37 remaining in the 2^nd, but they were held scoreless in the 3^rd period, on top of another solid outing by the combination of Black’s Kyle Moore and Levi Pennala in net.

Green’s Path to the Finals:

While Green had a quarterfinal bye, they had a tough semifinal against a determined, but shorthanded Blue squad.  Blue jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first 30 minutes behind goals by Marco Wolf, Andrew Urbain, and Graham Newton, but that would be all the scoring they could muster for the remainder of the game.  Green started chipping away a goal at a time, first with a powerplay goal by Ian Schweigert in the 2^nd period, followed by a Tobyn Wietfeldt goal with a little over 12 minutes remaining in the 3^rd. 
Blue continued to hold onto the lead, but Jackson Froysland finally tied the game with just over 3 minutes remaining in regulation after a barrage of scoring chances.  The game headed to OT, where it remained tied after the first 5-minute frame.  But just 30 seconds into the second OT, Green forced a turnover down by Blue’s goal line, and Froysland continued his hot streak, scoring his second consecutive goal and securing Green’s spot in the finals.

Championship Game Recap:

In the finals, Black jumped out to an early lead with a great passing play down low in the zone, w/ Devin McIntyre making a nice pass from just above the goal line to Peter Manginen, who scored on a bang-bang play to give Black the 1-0 edge.

Green answered back with just over 11 minutes left in the 1^st, when Jack Reelman fired a laser from the left faceoff circle, cleanly beating Black’s Moore.  Green added to their lead a little more than 3 minutes later.  After a scrum in front of the net, Tyler Sikkenga was able to poke the puck under Moore and into the back of the net to put Green up 2-1.  Sikkenga would then add his second goal of the game to put Green up 3-1, when he found the puck on his stick in the slot and sent a wrister past Moore.

Black wouldn’t go away quietly though and got back within a goal scoring a PP goal with a little under 6 minutes remaining in the 2^nd period.  Joseph Curtin sent a nice pass from the sideboard to Nathan Grondzieleski on the middle of the blue line, where he sent a low wrist shot that made its way through traffic and into the net.  With just under 10 minutes remaining in the 2^nd period, Black earned another powerplay when  Iavasile drew a penalty when he was taken down on a breakaway.  Wasting no time with the extra man opportunity, McIntyre got his own rebound, skated around the back of the net, picked his head up, and fired the puck top-shelf, tying the game 3-3. 

In what was a familiar theme for the game, Black earned another powerplay with a little over 3 minutes to go in the 2^nd.  After winning the ensuing offensive zone faceoff, the puck was again on Grondzieleski’s stick at the top of the umbrella, where he made a nice pass to Manginen on half board, who sent a bullet over Zachary Jaakkola’s shoulder to put Black up 4-3.

Black’s Levi Pennala made some big saves late in the 2^nd and early in the 3^rd to keep the score 4-3, but with 11:34 remaining in the game, Trent Benedict found himself all alone in the slot with the puck on his stick.  With enough time to pick his spot, he beat Pennala cleanly to tie the score at 4-4. 

After that, Green was able to continue to generate momentum and scoring chances, and with just under 3 minutes remaining in the game, Benedict sent a great pass on a zone entry to Reelman, who once again found the back of the net, scoring what would prove to be the game winner.  Benedict then added an empty net insurance goal with 10 seconds remaining, icing the championship for Green.

Congratulations to both teams for providing another great MDHL Championship game, and especially to the west Michigan based Green team.  They finished the season 12-2 and earned a well-deserved championship.

Good luck to everyone in the upcoming high school season, and thank you to EVERYONE involved with making this another successful MDHL season!