Goodrich hockey coach Doug Van Kuren is ‘pretty confident? the Martians? 4-4 tie against Lapeer West Jan. 2 will be overturned.
In a phone interview Jan. 5, Van Kuren said he has filed an appeal of the game with the Genesee Area Conference regarding a last-second goal by Lapeer West’s Phil Hill.
Van Kuren said the game-ending buzzer sounded before Hill’s shot crossed the goal line, and also said he has video evidence that will back up his claim.
‘The scorekeeper said the time had expired, but the refs overruled them,? he said. ‘The shot came after the buzzer. I’m pretty confident we’ll get a win out of it.?
The Martians followed up the controversial tie with a 15-0 rout of overmatched Mt. Morris in two periods Saturday, Jan. 3, improving their overall mark to 8-2-2.
Against Lapeer West, the Martians took command in the first period with two goals, as Lance Keene scored an unassisted goal with 7:36 left in the period. Ryan Mortimer followed up with a goal with 6:14 left off assists from Scott Hollingsworth and Danny Daugherty.
Early in the second period, Matt Hill increased the Martians? lead to 3-0, scoring at 14:01 on assists from Max Hawkins and Brian Van Kuren. However, West scored later in the second to cut the Martians? lead to 3-1.
Hill scored again with 5:19 left in the third period on assists from Mortimer and Derek James to put Goodrich up 4-1.
However, West scored two goals in the next three minutes to trim Goodrich’s lead to 4-3, setting the stage for the disputed last-second goal.
Several Martians got in on the fun during the rout of Mt. Morris. Keene led the charge with four goals, while Mortimer added one goal and four assists and Hollingsworth and Hill contributed two goals each.
Reece Geml had one goal and two assists, while Brian Van Kuren and Derek Powers added two assists each.