Senior captain Tony Thomas found the net on an assist by fellow senior captain Dan Brown less than a minute into the game to open a floodgate of goals as Catholic Central won their sixth boys hockey title of the decade and ninth overall beating an outmatched Howell team 7-0 in front of a raucous overflow crowd of more than 4,000 at Compuware Arena on March 14.
Senior captain Kyle Nelson took a pass from senior David Swierszcyk and scored 3:50 into the game to make it 2-0. The Shamrocks outshot the Highlanders 10-0 in the period.
“Once we got a couple of goals, nothing was going to stop us,” said Brown. “We were too motivated.”
The domination continued in the second as Catholic Central took a 3-0 lead on senior Nickolas Gatt's goal at the 8:17 mark. Junior Eric Fragoso got the assist. The shots on goal were 18-4 Shamrocks after two periods. The Highlanders didn't record a shot on goal until 11:33 left in the second period.
“Howell came out really strong,” said Nelson. “They matched our intensity, but we hit the accelerator — two feet on the gas. That’s what they preach to us.”
Howell simply couldn't solve Catholic Central's defense, as the Shamrocks worked a brilliant neutral zone trap for most of the game.
Junior Brent Darnell put the game out of reach 30 seconds into the third with a goal on an assist from Gatt. The Shamrocks made it 5-0 on a goal by junior Eric Winkler at the 5:25 mark. Junior Brad Wilhelm tallied two goals in the final minutes to make the final score 7-0. The Shamrocks outshot Howell 35-5 in the game
“People have kept asking us if we’ve fallen off and I’ve kept telling people we hadn’t fallen off,” said Catholic Central Head Coach Todd Johnson. “High school (hockey) just keeps getting better and better. We had a lot of good fortune when we won some of those (titles). We won a lot of close games. We don’t take them for granted. These guys are so generally thrilled and so excited. None of these guys have ever won a state title.”
Catholic Central put on one of the most dominant performances in
“A lot of us have been working our whole hockey careers for a feeling like this,” said Thomas. “To get it in our senior year, there’s no better way to go out.”
The Shamrocks finish the season at 25-3-2. Howell ends an excellent season at 25-4-1. It was the Highlanders' first hockey title game in their history and the second championship game overall for the school. The Howell girls basketball team fell to Bloomfield Hills Marian in the 1996 title game.
"We had a great season. I'm proud of my boys," said Howell head coach Randy Montrose. "They worked their butts off. We just ran across a superior opponent today, and I'll tell you what — (Catholic Central) did a great job. My hat's off to them."
Howell players and coaches sported either blonde or a blond-pink hair combination for the game, as they have throughout the playoffs.
Catholic Central won MHSAA Division
1 titles in 2005, 2003, 2002, 2001, and 2000. They won the Class A championship in 1999, 1997, and 1994. The Shamrocks were runner-up
in 2004 to
The title was the first for Catholic Central since they moved to
their beautiful new campus in
Novi Detroit Catholic Central varsity hockey
Head coach: Todd Johnson (198-38-20)
Associate coach:
Assistant coaches: Doug Itami, Mark Johnson, Tom Nugent, Danny Veri, Rick Buttery
Athletic trainer: Bob Ogar
General manager: Mike Giordano
Players
3 Steven Hensley, D, 6-2, 198, Jr.
5 Jake Downing, D, 6-2, 183, So.
6 Michael Szuma D, 5-11, 180, Sr.
7 Nickolas Gatt, D, 6-2, 181, Sr.
8 Eric Fragoso, F, 5-10, 183, Jr.
9 Dan Brown, F, 5-9, 160, Sr.*
10 Tony Thomas, F, 6-3, 192, Sr.*
11 Brad Wilhelm, F, 5-9, 152, Jr.
13
15 Mike Zylik, F, 5-9, 175, Jr.
16 Eric Winkler, F, 6-0, 164, Jr.
18 David Swierszczyk, F, 6-0, 183, Sr.
19 Ryan Obuchowski, D, 6-1, 171, Jr.
21 Davey Middleton, F, 6-3, 180, Jr.
22 Mitchell Gatt, D, 5-11, 168, So.
24 Kyle Nelson, F, 5-10, 195, Sr.*
25 Jimmy Botti, F, 5-9, 155, Jr.
26 Nicholas
30 Connor Pankow, G, 5-9, 150, So.
33 Chris Waterstreet, F, 6-2, 188, Jr.
39 Zack Cisek, G, 5-9, 155, Jr.
48 Brent Darnell, F, 6-0, 180, Jr.
Student manager: Mike Szybisty