UnBEARable: Trojans head into tough stretch with win over Cadillac
Jan. 27—TRAVERSE CITY — In the end, Traverse City Central was more than Cadillac could bear.
The Trojans picked up a 7-1 win over the Vikings in Big North Conference hockey action Wednesday night at Howe arena.
The TC Central Student Senate sponsored a teddy bear drive between the first and second periods. Bears were collected off the ice and will be donated to the Father Fred Foundation — a Traverse City nonprofit that provides food, clothing, household goods and financial assistance to those in the five-county region.
The Trojans lit up the scoreboard twice in the first two minutes of the game with goals from Chase Adams and Owen Dawson and then proceeded to pile on five more in the second and third periods.
Cadillac got one back in the second period with a goal from Logan Collins to make it 3-1, but a pair of breakaway chances that followed were unsuccessful. The Vikings also held off the Trojans with a two-man advantage for a little over a minute before Folgmann scored on a power play to make it 5-1.
"Spotting two in the first two minutes made it difficult to climb out of a hole like that, but not necessarily insurmountable," Vikings' head coach Scott Graham said. "It was just a matter of us being able to try and crack at some point. As the game wore on, it felt like there were moments where we balanced things out a bit, but they capitalized on our mistakes and we didn't capitalize on their mistakes."
Mitchell House had the assist on Collins' goal. Dakota Vail finished the game with 23 saves.
All seven goals were scored by different TCC players. Adams, Dawson and Folgmann joined Shea Harmeson, Tyler Cooper, Koen Burkholder and Cam Peters. Folgmann had two assists. Scott Barnhardt, Burholker, Gavin Graczyk and Devin Harner each had assists. Grant Neuhardt made 15 saves.
Central head coach Chris Given said one player particularly stood out to him — and he wasn't even on the scoresheet.
"That was probably Colin Benedict's best game he's played for us this year," Givens said of the sophomore left wing. "Didn't score, didn't pick up a point, but he just had really good, smart plays — especially in the defensive zone."
The Trojans (10-5-1, 3-2-1 BNC) hold steady at fourth place in the league with four conference games to play. They play Gaylord twice and close out the season with the McCullough Cup against Traverse City West, Feb. 17, and at Alpena, Feb. 19.
Defending their three-year BNC run is just one task in the mix of a grueling three-week stretch to close the regular season that includes eight games and two long bus trips.
"We just have to keep getting after it," Givens said. "Obviously, we can't afford another loss. ... We'd still have a chance with two. We need some help with teams beating each other, but we don't have control over that, so we just try and worry about taking care of her own business and see how it shakes out."
TC Central hosts Saline at 1 p.m. Saturday. After that, it's Gaylord on Wednesday for the last regular-season home game before traveling to play in the MIHL Showcase in Trenton Feb. 4.
Givens said the bulk of games in a short period of time is akin to the state playoffs.
"This will be good preparation," he said.
Cadillac (7-13, 0-8 Big North) hosts Mt. Pleasant, Friday before it heads back into Traverse City to face TC West for a rare 3:45 p.m. game, Tuesday.
Follow Andrew Rosenthal on Twitter @ByAndrewR
