In return trip to the D2 state title game, Brother Rice prevails

By Matt Bishop –

PLYMOUTH – After losing in the state championship game last season, Birmingham Brother Rice had a goal: Win the 2012 MHSAA Division 2 state title.

Brother Rice accomplished that goal Saturday at Compuware Sports Arena, dominating Grosse Pointe South from start to finish en route to a 4-1 win, capturing its first state championship since 2005.

“The boys stayed focused the whole time, they never panicked and came out and played hard every single game,” Brother Rice coach Lou Schmidt Jr. said. “We knew if we stuck to our game plan we’d be successful and we did it. I couldn’t ask for more as a coach.”

For South, which had gone unbeaten in its previous 19 games, it was a tough way to go out. South was clearly playing as hard as it could, it just ran into a juggernaut in Brother Rice and had trouble getting anything going.

“It’s been the story of our season,” South coach James Bufalino said. “We worked hard, we competed in all the games, we battled through penalties. The big thing with our team this year is we had three lines and (we have to) produce from all three lines. … Tonight we had to play a phenomenal competitor that was strong all over the ice. We matched up one of our lines and expected the other two to produce. It didn’t happen.”

Brother Rice got off to a fantastic start, scoring on the game’s first shot. Senior forward Eric Dibble put in a great individual effort, sweeping across the middle of the ice, getting South senior goaltender Christopher Schebil down and out and roofing it. The goal came at 1:50.

Brother Rice would dominate much of the period, holding South without a shot for nearly the first 10 minutes of the game. South’s first shot was a dubious one at that, as it was only a backhanded flip from its own zone during a penalty kill that happened to go near the goaltender.

If South proved one thing during the state tournament, it was the fact that you do not want to put them on the power play. Having scored nine power play goals in its quarterfinal and semifinal wins, South is dangerous with the man advantage With Brother Rice freshman forward Conner Jean in the box for slashing, South was able to muster some hope near the end of the period.

Junior defenseman Jake Corden took a pass from his twin brother, junior defenseman Maxwell Corden, and beat Brother Rice sophomore goalie Jack Bowman from the side of the goal to tie the game with 36 seconds left.

South, though, would not be able to maintain that momentum heading into the second period.

Brother Rice dominated the period, outshooting South 16-2. Junior forward Russell Cicerone scored at 6:08 and by the time Michigan State commit Mackenzie MacEachern scored on a great, patient backhand on the power play at 12:17, Brother Rice had more goals in the period than South had shots.

To their credit, South came out firing in the third period, but were turned away by Bowman on their two best chances of the game. Despite the light workload, Bowman was able to remain sharp, something Schmidt was happy with.

“He’s one of those guys you probably don’t notice a lot because he hasn’t seen a lot of shots,” Schmidt said. “I’m extremely proud of the fact he stepped up and played as well as he did today. … He stayed focused and stepped up and made the saves when he had to. Great job.”

Cicerone added an empty-net goal with 15 seconds left to seal the championship win for Brother Rice.

“It feels awesome coming here and doing what we wanted to do,” MacEachern said. “I can’t really describe it right now.”

The win capped a dominant tournament run for Brother Rice, which outscored its opponents 36-5 in six tournament games and finished the season unbeaten in 21 games.

“We came back from the winter break and it was very refreshing,” Schmidt said. “We had been going very hard, six days a week for two-and-a-half months. … I think it was just a well-needed rest. When we came back, we were focused and we kept winning, so it kind of built on itself.”