Reps howl back against Wolves
Dec. 4—TRAVERSE CITY — Reps beat City in a battle of bays Friday.
The Bay Reps handed Bay City its first loss of the season, 5-0, as the Northern Michigan co-op won its third straight game after an 0-2 start.
Bay City came into the game 4-0, outscoring its foes 24-7. That came to a screeching halt Friday when the Reps (3-2) took control early and largely cruised to the shutout victory.
"I like how we're playing good team hockey," Reps' third-year head coach Mike Matteucci said. "That's some of the best team hockey that I've seen since I've been coaching here."
Building that team chemistry could be a challenge, considering the players come from seven different schools. But that hasn't been an issue, said Gabe Classens, a senior defenseman from Traverse City St. Francis.
"We're in the locker room every day, a couple hours before practice and after practice, hanging out, doing film, team meals, team bonding experiences," Classens said. "We went out to this camp near Fife Lake and helped do some leaf work out there for the grounds crew, and that was great team-building experience."
St. Francis has the most on the 22-player roster with eight, followed by six from Elk Rapids, three from Kalkaska, two from Suttons Bay and one each hailing from Mancelona, Kingsley and Lake Leelanau St. Mary.
Kalkaska freshman Zander Griffore produced a goal and two assists, and junior Tyeson Griffore had a score and a helper.
Classens put the Reps up 3-0 in the second period off a feed from Zander Griffore where Tyeson his assist.
"Zander and Tyeson worked great beneath the net and got (the puck) up front," Classens said. "And then I just shot it with instinct and it went in."
Bay City didn't log a shot on goal for the first six minutes, by which time the Reps already guided five at the Wolves' netminder.
Riley Pierce opened the scoring, ramming in his own rebound past Cayden Kerkau's pad before a Wolves defender could get to the dribbling puck with 7:24 left in the first period.
The Reps burned off a five-minute boarding major to end the first period and still had an advantage in shots on goal. They ended up with a 26-11 advantage for the game.
Senior goalie Mack Barnhard made 11 saves to pick up his first win and shutout of the season.
"It's great to see that for your goalie," Classens said. "It builds a lot of confidence in him, especially in his first year as a starter. It helps a lot when you get those shutout wins, especially after a tough start to the season, but we're coming along very well."
Zander Griffore's unassisted goal with 2:45 left in the second period gave the Reps a 4-0 lead heading into the third. Aaron Ackerson rifled in a shot from the point in the third period to complete the scoring, and the Reps ran out the clock when Bay City was assessed a five-minute major for checking from behind with 4:30 remaining.
"I think it's important that we play a complete game and get everybody involved and everybody playing the same way," Matteucci said. "Tonight, we started slow, but we've had a tendency early on here to kind of feel out our opponent a little bit too long. It took us a while to get going, but I thought that we took over the game after their five-minute power play."
The Reps scored 24 goals in three games since a pair of one-goal setbacks against Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central and Saginaw Heritage.
The Reps host Rochester United at 3 p.m. Saturday.
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