For the second straight year, the Cranbrook-Kingswood hockey team ended a stellar Brandon hockey season in the state quarterfinals.
The Cranes? Chase Langlais scored two goals and two assists as Cranbrook-Kingswood earned a 7-1 win against the Blackhawks March 10 at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s. The Cranes (19-7-2) took on the winner of the Grosse Ile-Dearborn Divine Child quarterfinal match March 12 at Plymouth Compuware Arena.
Junior Mike Cybulski scored the lone goal for the Blackhawks, who finished 21-5-3.
Cybulski helped the Blackhawks earn a repeat regional championship in the program’s fourth year of existence, scoring the first four goals of the game and five altogether, as Brandon defeated Auburn Hills Avondale 8-1 in the regional final March 6 at Flint IMA Arena.
In capturing the regional title, the Blackhawks got some strong production from the line of Cybulski, Mike Ross and Joel Pappas.
‘They’ve been playing some great hockey for us,? Brandon coach Brian Moore said.
Cybulski tallied a natural hat trick in the first period, scoring 4:19 into the period (on assists from Ross and Chris Nuccio), with 1:16 left (on an assist from Nuccio), and with 21 seconds left (on assists from Kyle Jackson and Brandon Newman) to put the Blackhawks up 3-0.
The Blackhawks continued their assault in the second, as Cybulski tallied his fourth goal of the game with 6:51 remaining (on assists from Alex Hockey and Pappas).
Avondale scored its only goal of the game with 6:21 left in the second, as defenseman David Hill scored unassisted.
However, Stephen Tallman and Ross added goals before the end of the second to put Brandon firmly in command of the game, 6-1. Cybulski and Pappas added the icing on the cake in the third period with a goal apiece for the Blackhawks.
Two days earlier, it was Ross? turn to shine, scoring five goals as the Blackhawks defeated neighboring Goodrich 8-3 in the regional semifinal.
Like Cybulski against Avondale, Ross scored a natural hat trick in the first quarter, including one shorthanded goal. Pappas added a goal with 28 seconds left in the first as the Blackhawks took a 4-0 lead at the end of the period.
Ross and Pappas added goals in the second to give Brandon a 6-0 lead with 1:45 left in the second. Nick Meyers put Goodrich on the scoreboard with 30 seconds left in the period, with Lance Keene and Steve Tangney drawing the assists.
Brandon answered at the beginning of the third, as Ross tallied his fifth goal of the game to put the Blackhawks up 7-1. Goodrich scored twice in the third on goals from Keene and Ryan Mortimer, but Pappas put the finishing touches on the Brandon win, scoring with 5:37 left in the game.
Goodrich coach Doug Van Kuren said the Martians had to fight off nerves heading into unchartered territory.
‘Basically, I think we were a little uptight,? he said. ‘We’ve never been that far before. ‘It was a different feeling for them. We got into penalty trouble in the third period and that hurt us.?