Leaf Ray headed off to Detroit this past weekend (9/25/21-9/26/21) for the opening weekend of MIHA. Both T3 and T4 teams had short bench with 6-7 players per team.
T3 started the weekend out strong beating Lockport Armada from Buffalo NY by a score of 5-7 and Indy Inline Hockey by a score of 7-3. They were the #1 seed in the playoffs and got knocked out in the semi-final game against Mid-Michigan Saints. The Saints scored a goal with less than 10 seconds left in the game to win. Coach Blaine said that the team just needs to keep their head in the game and they would have easily won the whole tournament. Leaf Ray Tier 3 finished the weekend in 3rd place.
T4 on the other hand had a rough start to the weekend dropping both round robin games. First to the Detroit Knights by a score of 4-5 and then to Chicago Animaniacs by a score of 4-6. With adjustments from coach JJ the team was looking better as the tournament went along. In the playoffs Leaf Ray beat Lockport Armada with Dan Fowler getting the game winning goal with 20 seconds left in the game. They then pulled out the final win against the Detroit Dark Knights with Scott Whiting getting the game winning goal in overtime.
Next tournament will be on October 23rd and 24th at Salt Creek Sports Center in Chicago Illinois. Both tier 3 and tier 4 teams will be at the tournament.
Picture Above: Leaf Ray (Tier 4) - MIHA Detroit Tournament Champions
Back Row (left to right): Gary Denton (door man), Matt Lynch (goalie), Dan Fowler, Levi Denum, Blaine Barker, Jacob Etzel, JJ Sanataga (coach)
Front Row (left to right): Matt Merigold, Lars Gunnerson, Scott Whiting