MUSKEGON - Before the season started, Reeths-Puffer hockey coach Bill Zalba said nobody should judge his young Rockets by the results of games in November or December, while they were still figuring things out.
He said the team had talent and predicted it would really shine later in the season.
Wednesday’s game – only the third of the season – demonstrated what Zalba was talking about. Reeths-Puffer grabbed the lead four different times, lost it each time, and finally ended up with a disappointing 5-4 overtime loss to Grand Rapids Christian at Muskegon’s Trinity Health Arena.
R-P fell to 1-2 on the season while GR Christian improved to 1-1. The Rockets will return to action on Friday night on the road against Grandville.
R-P goalie Bear VanDyke watches the play behind the net. Photo/Jeremy Clark
Zalba was upbeat after the game, because he saw a lot of good signs in the way his team played.
“Like I just told the guys, we are learning,” he said. “We are going out there and figuring out what pieces fit. I really thought a lot of great things happened tonight. We had a lot of great (scoring) opportunities, we just didn’t bury enough of them, and we had a freshman goalie out there standing on his head.
“We have a lot of inexperience, especially on the back end, and a lot of new line combinations. It’s going to take a minute, but we’re all right.”
If there was a bright spot for the Rockets through the haze of their disappointment, it was definitely effort.
On Saturday, following a 9-2 loss to Troy United, Zalba said his team had been outworked and it showed in the final result.
R-P's Connor Anderson tries to skate around an opponent. Photo/Jeremy Clark
On Wednesday the Rockets had lots of reasons to get frustrated – blown leads, lots of penalties and defensive lapses that led to GRC goals – and could have given up.
Instead they kept grinding and battling all the way to the end.
An R-P shot that probably would have resulted in a win hit the left post of the GRC goal with just over a minute left in regulation.
The Rockets also had a 5-1 advantage in shots on goal in overtime, but all five of their attempts were stopped, while the Eagles' first and only shot got through and ended the game with 1:57 left in the eight-minute extra period.
R-P's Hayden Taylor looks to pass. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The end result wasn’t the preferred one, but there was no lack of effort
“You want to see that fight,” Zalba said. “I asked them before the game if they wanted to hunt or be hunted, and they went out and scored right away. I was more upset about the last game because of the lack of work ethic and lack of opportunities, and tonight we gave ourselves opportunities to win. I was proud of the effort.”
The Rockets showed some real offensive ability throughout the game, and it started right away in the opening seconds, when Eli Cuti got to the puck to the left of the GRC goal and sent a nice pass to Hayden Taylor in the left circle.
Taylor buried his shot just eight seconds into the game, and it looked like it might be a really nice night for the Rockets.
VanDyke reacts to the play in front of the net. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The Eagles broke through about four minutes later, however, when Theo Partridge scored on a breakaway to knot the score at 1-1.
R-P took a 2-1 lead with 3:13 left in the first when Dom Switzer scored with a wrist shot from close range.
The Eagles made it 2-2 when Grahm Behen scored with only 21 seconds remaining in the first period.
R-P freshman goalie Bear VanDyke did a very nice job in the first period, stopping 10 of 12 Grand Rapids Christian shots.
Reeths-Puffer scored the only goal of the second period with only 1:14 left on the clock, when Switzer, camped out near the GRC goal, took a nice crossing pass from Rohan Moyer and blasted it in, giving the Rockets a 3-2 edge headed into the third.
The Rockets celebrate a goal. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The Eagles tied the score again at 3-3 with a goal just over four minutes into the third.
R-P went up 4-3 only 18 seconds later. There was a scrum in front of the GRC net, several Rocket shots were blocked, then the puck bounced out to Thomas Grasman, who ripped a shot from the left circle and found the back of the net.
Partridge scored again for Grand Rapids Christian with 10:59 left in regulation, and the 4-4 game went to overtime.
R-P controlled most of the OT period, but GRC’s Cash Laufer gave his team the win when he scored with 1:57 remaining.