Hartland wins 12th straight regional hockey title over No. 4 Clarkston
HARTLAND — On a team of 15-, 16- and 17-year-old high schoolers, some hockey traditions need to be amended.
Hartland’s hockey players came into the state tournament sporting new hairdos, shaving the sides of their heads. And some players pulled off the look better than others.
“Playoff cuts,” senior goalie Colin Babcock said. “It’s a tradition for playoffs.”
Aren’t playoff beards more of a hockey tradition?
“I just can’t yet,” Babcock said.
Maybe not, but Babcock turned in a grown-man performance in net to backstop Hartland to a 12th straight regional championship against one of the toughest opponents the Eagles have faced during their run.
The second-ranked Eagles beat fourth-ranked Clarkston, 6-1, in a Division 1 regional final Wednesday at Hartland Sports Center.
With Clarkston coming in with a 21-2-2 record, it was expected to be a much closer game. And it might have been had Babcock not shut the door repeatedly when the Wolves were battling back from an early 3-0 deficit.
“I thought it was his best game of the year, by far,” Hartland coach Rick Gadwa said. “He was dialed in, and he’s going to have to be. They outshot us. He was unbelievable tonight.”
Clarkston outshot Hartland, 30-24. The only goal the Wolves managed came with 11:16 left in the game when they were trailing 4-0.
“The boys were buzzing, so you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” Babcock said. “I started feeling good during it. We came out 6-1, played pretty well.
“It was pretty nerve racking. I was just trying to stay locked in. I know if we lose, we go home. It’s senior year, so you can’t do that.”
A major question hanging over the Eagles entering the season, and even heading into the playoffs, was whether they could get championship-caliber goaltending. Babcock and sophomore Brady Hubenschmidt split the start for most of the season before the senior emerged as the No. 1 goalie for the playoffs.
The Clarkston game was Babcock’s first big postseason start.
“I definitely grew a lot,” Babcock said. “I’m not fumbling big games, I guess. Here I am.”
While playoff pressure is new for Babcock, the Eagles have nine players who were part of last year’s run to the state Division 2 championship.
Clarkston, meanwhile, hasn’t won a regional since 2011, the last year Hartland lost a game in that round. The Eagles have won 30 straight regional games since losing 3-2 to Lakeland in the 2011 regional semifinals.
“You never know how they’re going to go,” Gadwa said. “I guarantee you before this game, no matter how much experience certain individuals have, there’s other individuals who don’t. You just never know what you’re going to get when the puck drops; that’s always the worry. That’s why we say, ‘Start on time.’”
The Eagles (21-6) heeded that mandate, made part of hockey parlance by former Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock.
Hartland jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first 14 minutes. Jacob Lewis scored at 8:54, Lucas Henry at 12:10 and LJ Sabala off a hustle play and pass from Henry at 13:59.
Jack L’Esperance scored the only goal of the second period at 12:43 to give the Eagles a 4-0 lead entering the third.
After Owen Croston put Clarkston on the board at 5:43 of the third, Lewis answered 1:16 later to reestablish Hartland’s four-goal lead. Hartland’s third power-play goal of the game on a shot by defenseman Braden Pietila from the line completed the scoring with 8:22 remaining.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” Henry said. “They’re a good opponent. We just had to stick to our game. It just clicked for us. I’m just glad we came out with a win and advanced.”
By winning, the Eagles were the recipients of another regional championship trophy which, as is their custom, they refused to touch. They took a team photo in which the players’ eyes were closed and the hardware was turned around.
Hartland will play in the state quarterfinals at noon Saturday against unranked Rochester Hills Stoney Creek at Suburban Ice Macomb.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Hartland wins 12th straight regional hockey title over No. 4 Clarkston
