Red Devil skaters fighting for league title

The Grosse Ile hockey team has enjoyed a great 2022-23 season, winning 16 of its first 19 games and spending the entire season at or near the top of the Metro League West standings.

Despite that, the Devils find themselves in a dogfight with Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard for the league championship.

Heading into a Feb. 4 meeting against Wyandotte, Grosse Ile held a 6-1 league record. Gabriel Richard was 5-1 in league play.

The Red Devils beat the Fighting Irish in their first meeting in mid December, but the Grosse Ile team stumbled recently with a loss to Riverview, throwing the race into turmoil.

The Devils and Irish met on Feb. 6 at the Ice Cube in Ann Arbor. The winner likely will claim the championship.

Grosse Ile bounced back from its first league loss of the season, a 4-1 setback to Riverview on Jan. 18, by beating Ann Arbor Pioneer for the second time this season on Jan. 31.

The Red Devils scored single goals in the first and second periods and two in the third to skater off with a 4-1 win. The Devils beat the Pioneers 6-1 in their first meeting.

Travis Symons and Hunter Proctor each scored two goals in the win. Tate Hubler drew two assists. Braden Chessor got the start in goal and he stopped 11 of 12 shots to earn the victory.

Prior to the league win over Pioneer, Grosse Ile knocked off non-league rivals Southgate Anderson 7-0 and Allen Park 5-4. The win over Allen Park came in overtime.

The Allen Park game was a pretty wild, back-andforth affair with the Jaguars leading 3-1 after one period and Grosse Ile leading 4-3 after two. Allen Park scored the only goal of the third period forcing the game into extra time.

Grosse Ile outshot the Jags by a wide margin – 5733 – but Allen Park goalie Jack Miller held his team in the game. Wyatt Thompson manned the net for Grosse Ile and he stopped 29 of 33 Allen Park shots and earned the victory.

Nolan Karn (2), Symons, Gavin Worsley and Owen Hennessey had goals for the winning Devils.

The Southgate game was pretty much a walk in the park for the Devils, who, after leading just 1-0 at the first intermission, scored five times in the second period to ice the game.

Hubler and Fisher Gurney each had two goals against Southgate and Hennessey, Ashton Sobiechowski and Landon Swieniak had the other goals.

Chessor stopped all 14 shots for the win.

After facing AA Richard, the Red Devils have just four regular-season games left to play. They face SMCC at home on Feb. 8 and Dearborn Divine Child at home on Feb. 10. The team travels to Southgate to play Woodhaven on Feb. 15 and closes out the 2022-23 regular season against Huron at Mike Modano Arena in Westland on Feb.18.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association state tournament begins Feb. 20.

The Red Devil will play in a regional hosted by state-ranked Gabriel Richard at the Yack Arena in Wyandotte. Also in the tournament will be SMCC, Riverview and Divine Child.