Unbeatable Goalie, Unrelenting Effort Earn Dow Memorable 1st Title
March 12, 2022
PLYMOUTH — When Collin Lemanski plays the way he did on the biggest of stages, his hockey coach is well within his rights to promote him to the fullest.
While identifying his players in a postgame press conference, Midland Dow coach Dick Blasy introduced the player seated to his left in full goaltending equipment as “best goalie in the state, Collin Lemanski.”
Care to elaborate?
“You can’t do this without goaltending,” Blasy said after Dow won its first MHSAA hockey championship with a 2-0 victory over Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in the Division 3 Final on Saturday at USA Hockey Arena.
“How many shots did they have today? 32? How many goals did they get? I think that speaks for itself. Orchard Lake St. Mary’s brought it. I don’t think it takes a rocket hockey fan to know they took it to us more than we took it to them.”
It was the seventh shutout of the season for Lemanski, who finished with an 18-3-3 record, a 1.29 goals against average and a .950 save percentage.
“I think it’s less about the shutout and more about the team just winning it, our first win,” Lemanski said. “It was great.”
Lemanski said he didn’t treat the championship game any differently than another game, going through his usual pregame routine.
One of the staples of his pregame ritual is this: “Just don’t talk to me,” he said.
With Lemanski putting up an impenetrable barrier in front of the Dow net, the Chargers hung around throughout the game until they got the break they needed.
Caden Chritz, who was robbed earlier in the period, broke to the net and took a shot that was stopped by Eaglets goalie Aidan Klingbeil. Nolan Sanders pounced on the rebound to score with 2:29 left in the third period.
“We knew we were gonna get our chances,” Sanders said. “They had their chances. My line took it into the zone, put it on net, got it in front and just tapped it home.”
With so little time on the clock, the Chargers couldn’t get caught up in thinking they had just won the championship.
“We’ve got to keep our composure, got to stay simple until the final buzzer,” Sanders said. “Just let things roll out.”
Dow couldn’t breathe easily until Ryan Pomranky banked a pool shot from his own end off the left boards and into an empty net with 17.7 seconds remaining.
Dow is the first of Midland’s two hockey teams to win an MHSAA championship. Midland High was a runner-up in 1994, 2008 and 2010. Dow reached the Semifinals three times without getting to the championship game, including in 2020 when MHSAA tournaments were shut down because of COVID-19 restrictions.
“It just doesn’t seem real, to be honest with you,” Blasy said. “I checked the scoreboard about 50 times; it’s still there. It’s still 2-0. It’s unbelievable, but it’s always about the boys. That’s all I really truly care about is the fact that they did this. Whether we won or we lost, it doesn’t really change things. I would’ve been just as proud of these boys if we would’ve come out on the other end, because they just worked so hard.”
Orchard Lake St. Mary’s reached the championship game by running a gauntlet that included defeating 2021 Division 3 champion Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood in the Regional Final and second-ranked Warren De La Salle Collegiate in overtime in Friday’s Semifinal.
The Eaglets were playing in Division 3 for the first time since winning that division in 2005. They reached three Division 1 Finals, winning two, before choosing to make the switch.
“We made the decision to change, just because we felt that Division 3 was probably the strongest route,” St. Mary’s coach Brian Klanow said. “Certainly, we’re not a team that runs away or hides from competition; we encourage it. It just makes us better for this time of year. Division 3 this year, we think it’s the deepest division.”
PHOTOS (Top) Midland Dow’s Nolan Sanders celebrates after sending a rebound into the net for what would be the game-winning goal of the Division 3 Final. (Middle) Sanders’ chip in made it just over an outstretched goalie’s glove. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Surprise Scorer Nets Powers' Unforgettable Championship Clincher
March 8, 2025
PLYMOUTH – Ethan Haley’s hockey season for Flint Powers Catholic could have ended in late January when he suffered a broken ankle.
“I thought I was going to miss more time than I did,” Haley said. “The doctor cleared me sooner, so it was very exciting to get back playing with everyone and going to practice every day.”
After missing only four games and a little more than two weeks, Haley rejoined the Chargers late in the regular season, putting him in a position to score one of the biggest goals in school history.
Haley’s shot from the right point 1 minute and 53 seconds into overtime gave Powers a 3-2 victory over Livonia Stevenson in the MHSAA Division 2 championship game Saturday at USA Hockey Arena.
It wasn’t a particularly hard shot, but the Chargers got traffic in front of the net, making it difficult for Stevenson’s goalie to track the puck.
“Before that, Coach said to get pucks on net, get pucks out of our zone, which we did,” Haley said. “I saw a guy on Cooky (Ayden Cook). He slid it down and passed it to me. I just shot it. I thank Parker (Bendall) for screening the goalie. He couldn’t see it.”
Haley, a sophomore defenseman, goes down in history as one of the more unlikely heroes to score an overtime winner in an MHSAA championship game.
It was his fourth goal in 22 games this season and the second in his last 19 games. He scored twice in the first three games.
“My role is definitely an energy guy, I would say,” Haley said.
The championship was the second for Powers over the last three seasons. The Chargers were perhaps the top program in Michigan not to win an MHSAA title until breaking through two years ago in their eighth appearance in a championship game.
Powers finally broke through that time when Mason Czarnecki scored on a breakaway with 4.6 seconds left in the third period, giving the Chargers a 3-2 victory over East Grand Rapids.
“It’s a lot different this time around,” Powers coach Travis Perry said. “The first time, it’d been 50 years of frustration, anger. I’d been coaching 17 years, and we lost a couple down here. That was really a monkey off our back. This one really solidifies our program. The biggest thing I told the guys is probably five years ago we came down here looking to compete, not just hoping to compete.”
The Chargers have only three holdovers from the team that was a Division 3 champion two years ago in seniors Andrew Parmentier, Brody Neelands and Andrew Burny. As sophomores, they learned how to win on a team that had 11 seniors and eight juniors.
“It feels like a dream,” Burny said. “We came here and made history twice. I wouldn’t have rather done it with any other group of guys.”
The Chargers finished with a 25-4 record and were ranked No. 1 in Division 2, but had to battle from behind in many of their games. The victory over Stevenson was their second in overtime during the playoffs, the other a 5-4 decision over Marquette in the Quarterfinals.
So, there was no panic when goals by Colin Stroble and Riley Rorabacher gave Stevenson a 2-1 lead with 12:53 left in the second period after Powers had taken an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Jack Johnson. There was no panic when Stevenson tilted the ice for most of the second, dominating puck possession.
Cook put Powers in a position to win in overtime when he tied the game with his 40th goal of the season with 6:45 remaining in regulation.
Stevenson (18-9-2) made a run to its first championship game since 2016 by winning its final five regular-season games, then four more in the playoffs. The Spartans lost four straight games prior to their winning streak, allowing 19 goals during that stretch.
Coach David Mitchell met with his four captains in early February, and they responded by leading Stevenson's late-season charge.
“We’ve all had our ups and downs, me included,” Stevenson senior forward Owen Hall said. “I just watched everyone on the team grow into the fine person they are today. I watched everyone grow on the team, even our coaching staff. It was successful, because we’ve grown so much over time. I couldn’t be more proud.”
For veteran Stevenson coach David Mitchell, it was gratifying to get the program back on the biggest stage. The Spartans made three Finals in four seasons from 2013-16, winning the 2013 Division 2 title.
“I told them they put Stevenson hockey, I don’t want to say on the map, because we’ve never really been off it,” Mitchell said. “But they got us back to the point we try to achieve to get to. I think they did that not only as players on the ice, but as a community. People like Mr. (Arnold) Muscat (Stevenson’s athletic director) and the Stevenson community not only made this an enjoyable ride, but made this a memorable one. It made it easier for us to get inspired to play for a bigger cause.”
PHOTOS (Top) Flint Powers Catholic players celebrate after clinching their championship with an overtime win Saturday. (Middle) The winning goal makes its way into the top corner of the Stevenson net 1:53 into overtime. (Below) Powers’ Ethan Haley (6) and Stevenson’s Riley Rorabacher chase a loose puck.