FRUITPORT TWP. - Inactivity can be a momentum-killer for any team, but a never-say-die attitude can make up for some of the rust.
The Reeths-Puffer hockey team demonstrated that on Saturday when it hosted Grosse Ilse in a cross-state matchup at Lakeshore Sports Centre.
The Rockets, who had won five of their six previous games, but had not played in over a week and only once since Jan. 17, fell behind by two goals early, raced back and took a lead, fell behind by two goals again, then nearly completed a second comeback.
But they failed to capitalize on three power play opportunities in the third period, including one that took them to the final second of the game, and lost 5-4 in their final outing before the O-K Conference tournament.
R-P's Tyler Cuti watches his shot head for the goal. Photo/Jeremy Clark
“We kind of knew they would come out slow,” R-P assistant coach Nolan Convertini said about the players. ‘We tried to get them as prepared as they could be, but you kind of lose how the game feels when you don’t play for a week or so.
“But they don’t quit. I give them a lot of props for that. They never mail it in or call it a day. I think at the beginning of the season they learned a lesson when some guys just kind of mailed it in, but now we know if we get down we can come back in any game.”
Tyler Cuti led the R-P effort with a pair of goals while Hayden Taylor and Rohan Moyer each had three assists.
R-P goalie Bear VanDyke deflects a shot past the goal. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The Rockets, now 12-8-1, will return to action in the conference tournament opener against Caledonia on Wednesday.
The Rockets looked kind of rusty and listless in the first period on Saturday. Adalar Hovis and Nathan Taulbee scored goals for Grosse Isle, and Reeths-Puffer trailed 2-0 heading into the second.
The Rockets roared to life in the middle period, however, collecting three unanswered goals to steal the lead.
Tyler Cuti found the net about midway through the period, with assists from Taylor and Moyer.
R-P's Jordan Benkert uses his stick to try to stop an opponent. Photo/Jeremy Clark
Chase Strunk tied the score with 3:39 left in the period with an unassisted power play goal, then Cuti scored again with a power play goal just 36 second later, to give R-P a sudden 3-2 lead. Taylor and Moyer again assisted.
Hovis checked in with his second goal for Grosse Ilse with 3:01 left in the period to tie the score at 3-3 heading into the third.
The final period started out rough for the Rockets. Dom Cucinella and Taulbee both scored for the Red Devils about midway through the period, and suddenly R-P trailed 5-3.
The Rockets kept digging, however, and pulled within a goal when Dom Switzer scored with 4:35 remaining in the game, assisted by Taylor and Moyer.
R-P's Hayden Taylor brings the puck around the Grosse Isle net. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The Rockets failed to score on three power play opportunities in the third period, including the last one that came with 2:01 remaining and took them down to the one-second mark.
They actually thought they had scored the equalizer twice in the final 2:29 of the game, but both goals were called off by officials, once because play had apparently been whistled dead before the puck when in the net, and the second time because the Grosse Ilse goal came off its moorings before the goal.
The Rockets were upset about the calls, but Convertini said the coaches really had no way to know exactly what happened for sure in either instance
“Obviously we wanted to get the tying goal, but from the bench you really don’t have a clear look,” he said.