Prep highlights: Brighton, Hartland beat state-ranked hockey foes
Brighton coach Kurt Kivisto hopes he hasn’t seen the last of Salem’s hockey team this season.
That would mean each state-ranked team would have advanced to the state Division 1 quarterfinals on March 5.
The second-ranked Bulldogs would also want the same result, having shut out a red-hot Salem team, 3-0, Wednesday night at Victory Ice Center in Plymouth.
Sixth-ranked Salem (9-7) has won six straight games and nine of 10 after an 0-5 start.
“We talked about that going in,” Kivisto said. “It was a big game for us coming off the last game against Hartland (a 2-1 loss Saturday) and moving forward, not only in the league, but in a potential matchup with them in the playoffs, depending on how things shake out in the playoff run. It’s definitely a big game in that sense.”
Brighton (10-5-1) scored its first two goals on the power play. Nick Baker scored his 13th goal of the season 4:41 into the game and defenseman Jack Sexsmith scored his first goal with 2:40 left in the second period.
Sophomore Lane Petit finished the scoring by scoring his 12th goal with 2:51 left in the game.
“(The power play) is something we’ve worked on the last couple days in practice,” Kivisto said. “We spent some extra time on it. It paid off tonight. We got two power plays on four opportunities. We talked about it before the game that we have to capitalize on it. We were able to do it today, so that was good.”
Sophomore Levi Pennala made 15 saves for his second shutout.
“They had a couple two-on-ones and partial breakaways,” Kivisto said. “Even though the shot volume was not huge, he had to make some very big saves throughout the course of the game.”
Hartland 6, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 4
Isaac Frantti scored two third-period goals, as Hartland rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the final eight minutes.
Frantti scored with 7:48 remaining to cut the lead to 4-3. After Jack L’Esperance got the tying goal with 2:37 left, Frantti got the go-ahead goal with 1:40 on the clock.
Jack Paweski made it four goals in the last 7:48 when he scored into an empty net with 30 seconds left.
The game was tied 2-2 before Case Kolbusz scored twice in the first 4:14 of the third.
Hartland (13-3) is ranked No. 1 in Division 2, while St. Mary’s (11-4) is No. 3 in Division 3.
Pinckney 9, Ann Arbor Huron 0
Evan Drus had two goals and three assists and Riley Evan had one goal and four assists to lead Pinckney (7-6).
Also contributing to the two-period rout were Brendan Sullivan with two goals and one assist, Jacob Meade with two goals, Bennett Sheppard with a goal and two assists, and Derek Turner with one goal.
Wrestling
Eaton Rapids duals
Fowlerville beat Eaton Rapids, 78-0, and St. Johns, 45-34.
Levi Baker and Dalton Daniel each had two pins for Fowlerville. Jonathen Davis won by decision and by a pin for the Gladiators.
Swimming and diving
Plymouth 106, Hartland 80
Hartland’s Issac Davis won the 50-yard freestyle in 23.15 seconds and the 100 freestyle in 50.67.
The Eagles’ other first-place finish was by diver Jack Losert with a score of 232.0 points.
Competitive cheer
KLAA West meet
Brighton won the first league meet of the season with a score of 774.08 points.
Hartland was second at 769.96, posting the top score in the final round with a 312.1. Brighton had the top scores in the first two rounds.
Howell was fourth at 648.88.
Boys bowling
Mason College Prep Tournament
Fowlerville finished eighth out of 14 teams, led by Brent Wood’s score of 202.
Fowlerville 16, Eaton Rapids 14
Johnathan Miller rolled a 164 for Fowlerville.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Prep highlights: Brighton, Hartland beat state-ranked hockey foes
