The Reeths-Puffer hockey team will head into Division 2 regionals next week with a lot of momentum, following a pair of payback victories this week to wrap up the regular season.
The latest win came on Friday night, when the Rockets shut out Kenowa Hills 6-0., avenging a disappointing loss to the Knights earlier in the season.
On Tuesday R-P downed a very good Sparta team 5-4 in overtime, to make up for an OT loss to the Spartans in the second game of the season.
R-P wrapped up the regular season with three straight wins. The Rockets are now 16-7-2 and will play the winner of the Grand Haven-Hudsonville game next Friday in regionals at Lakeshore Sports Centre.
On Friday, the Rockets led Kenowa Hills 1-0 after the first period, following a goal by Hayden Taylor.
Tyler Cuti, who had two goals in Friday's victory.
Taylor, Connor Anderson, Tyler Cuti and Trenton Hanks scored in the second period, making it 5-0 in favor of R-P.
Tyler Cuti scored the only goal of the third period.
Goalie Huck VanDyke recorded the shutout. Taylor, Tyler Tindall and Eli Cuti each recorded two assists while Hanks, Ayden Hartzell and Hunter Fritz each had one.
“Not the kind of game we wanted to play with 19 total penalties, but our boys kept their foot on the gas and wore them down," said R-P head coach Dustin Langlois. "We were moving the puck well and getting pucks on net and creating a lot of traffic in front of the net. We have been working on that the last couple of weeks and it’s paying off.
"We had a couple of our guys get more minutes than usual and step up when we needed them. Now our focus is on preparing for next week. We will be ready come Friday!”
Hunter Fritz, who scored the game-winner in overtime on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the Rockets won a come-from-behind thriller over Sparta.
Bucky Aney scored the only goal of the first period, giving R-P a 1-0 lead.
Tindall scored early in the second period to make it 2-0, then Sparta got on the scoreboard. R-P's Eli Cuti added a goal later in the period and the Rockets headed to third with a 3-1 lead.
The Spartans exploded for three unanswered goals to take a 4-3 lead late into the game, then Tindall found the net for R-P with 52 seconds left to force overtime.
Fritz scored three minutes into the extra session to ice the win for Reeths-Puffer.
VanDyke got the win in net. Hartzell, Tindall, Anderson, Eli Cuti, Jordan Benkert and Gavin Pastotnik had assists.