The Reeths-Puffer hockey team exploded for three late goals on Wednesday to beat Sparta 5-2 in a big O-K conference game at Mercy Health Arena.
Jaxon Stone collected two of those three late goals, which all came in the final 3:15 of the game.
The victory avenged R-P’s loss to Sparta in December and tightened up the title race in the O-K Fisher Division.
Sparta remains in first place with a 7-1 conference record but has played more games. R-P is now 4-1 and in second place.
Avery Freeland
R-P’s Avery Freeland scored the only goal of the first period, then led off the second period with another tally to put the Rockets up 2-0. Sparta scored before the end of the period and R-P led 2-1 heading into the third.
Sparta tied the game early in the final period, then Stone exploded for a pair of goals in the final minutes and Connor Stawski topped off the R-P attack with an empty-netter.
Tyler Tindall had two assists for the Rockets while Eli Cuti, Gavin Pastotnik, Vincent Pollock and Aiden Hartzell each had one.
Jaxon Stone
Huck VanDyke got the win in goal.
"Sparta is a hard-working team,” said R-P Coach Dustin Langlois."They tied the game, but our boys showed how resilient they are. We had a couple of bad plays that they scored on, but we had each other’s backs. We kept our composure and battled through it."
Reeths-Puffer will take on Grand Haven in another important conference game next Wednesday.
