So that’s why Detroit Catholic Central is ranked No. 1 in the state.
The Reeths-Puffer hockey team, coming off an amazing 13-game winning streak with numerous comeback victories, had dreams of traveling to Plymouth on Friday, upsetting DCC and advancing to Saturday’s Division 1 state championship game.
But the Shamrocks put a quick end to that dream by coasting past the Rockets 8-0 in a mercy-rule shortened state semifinal game at the USA Hockey Arena.
Detroit Catholic improved to 20-1 and will face either Brighton or Canton in the state title game.
Reeths-Puffer ended a great season with a 21-8 record, which is pretty impressive considering the Rockets started out slow with a 2-4 mark after six games.
R-P finished tied with Sparta at the top of the O-K Conference Fischer Division standings in the regular season, but technically finished second due to goal differential.
The Rockets won a Division 2 regional championship in the postseason with impressive victories over Rockford and Sparta.
The Shamrocks gave the Rockets a quick taste of their brand of hockey in the first period on Friday, getting the first seven shots on goal and outshooting Reeths-Puffer 26-7 in the first period.
R-P goalie Huck VanDyke did a great job stopping the majority of those shots, but three Shamrocks (Andrew Atala, Collin Dell and Tyler O’Brien) found the back of the net to give DCC a 3-0 lead heading into the second period.
Detroit Catholic finished the game off quickly in the middle period with goals by Sam Masek, Nolan Galda, Cael Rogowski, Jackson Walsh and O’Brien. The last score came at the 14:50 mark and ended the contest on the eight-goal mercy rule.
Overall DCC had a 44-13 advantage in shots on goal.