By Don Finn, Special to The Review
The Lake Orion hockey team finished the regular season beating Bloomfield United (Lasher/Andover) 7-2 Saturday night at the Troy Sports Center. This gives the young Dragons momentum as they enter the state playoffs with 18 of the 21 players getting their first taste of play off hockey.
The Knights of Bloomfield United are always dangerous and the Dragon’s had to come out ready to be the aggressors right from the start. Mission accomplished as they peppered the Knights net with 17 first period shots yielding 3 goals staking them a 3-1 lead as the period ended. Getting things started less than 4 minutes into the game was Sophomore Nick Balavich. His power play goal ignited the crowd and fueled the the surging Dragons. Assisting on Balavich’s goal were Shane Stockwell and Zachary Koonce. Brett Reed kept things going scoring at the 5:50 mark of the period after a beautiful combination of passes from Calvin Vaughn and Stockwell. Balavich finished the first period scoring banging home a rebound while being mauled by three Knights players. Getting his third helper of the period was Stockwell.
The second period saw the Dragons control the action as they recorded 19 shots to only 4 for Bloomfield, resulting in two more goals for the Dragons. Corbin Rainey took a tape to tape rink wide pass from Brett Reed at the red line and then drove wide around the Knights defenseman and buried a low shot to the corner of the net. Getting things started on the play was Ryan ‘The Jet? Liddicoat. His heads up play in the Dragon defensive zone started the the chain reaction resulting in Rainey’s goal. Balavich completed his ‘hat trick? by again doing the little things right and banging home yet another rebound to finish off the second period scoring. This time Balavich got help from Rainey and Reed.
The Dragons continued to control the play into the third period as they outshot the Knights 18-7 and scoring the two final goals of the game. Junior Jessie Cameron scored both, one an empty netter, to finalize the score at 7-2. Goaltender Dominic Juncaj turned away 20 of the 22 shots he faced.
The Dragons finish the regular season 11-11-2 and begin the state playoffs 5:30pm, Thursday (3/4 ) night at the Detroit Skating Club. They face the winner of the Clarkston/Grand Blanc, scheduled for Tuesday.