FRASER, Mich. – The MHC had the potential game-tying goal waved off late in the third period Tuesday afternoon and wound up falling to the Wooster Oilers 6-4 at Fraser Hockeyland.
After Ethan Smith’s goal at 16:30 brought the MHC to within 5-4, a goal at 18:48 was nullified when the Wooster net was off the pegs.
Aidan Dempsey’s empty-net goal at 19:17 sealed the game for Wooster.
“We played very well the first two periods,” Jets associate coach Jamie Lovell said. “I actually don’t know what happened in the third. We did a lot of good things the first two periods and then shot ourselves in the foot in the third. The guys just had a seven- or eight-minute lapse and it cost us the game.”
The MHC and Wooster were tied 3-3 going into the third period.
Brent Wolf opened the scoring on the first shift of the game 28 seconds into the first period and Jackson Moleski added one at 10:16 of the first period before Gavin Walters (pictured) tallied at 8:14 of the second period.
The Oilers then put three on the board in the third period sandwiched around Smith’s goal.
“We were still right there at the end,” Lovell said. “The net gets knocked off, all that kind of stuff, but we shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place.”
Ethan Ryan finished with 36 saves in goal for the MHC, while Ronny Zamojski added two assists. Wolf and Smith had assists to record multi-point games.
For Wooster, Sebastian Smith and Nathan Kniesteadt each posted a goal and two assists, Colby Slate had a goal and an assist, Kyle Burke and Nicholas Krestan scored one apiece, and AJ Kandel tacked on two assists to back goaltender Luke Bell’s 27 saves.
The two teams will meet again on Sunday in Wooster at 2:45 p.m. from the Alice Noble Ice Arena.
“If they just play like they did the first two periods here tonight, we’ll have no problem,” said Lovell. “It’s about playing every shift, playing for 60 minutes, and not having those breakdowns in our own zone. We’ve given up too many goals with this group and it’s starting to wear on them.
“We have no problem scoring, but we have to do a better job in our own zone. We’re going to shore those things up and get the guys ready to go here on Sunday.”
All games are available on HockeyTV.com.
