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Sasson scores in overtime, Cranbrook Kingswood defeats U-D, 4-3
Bloomfield Hills – Junior forward Joe Sasson’s goal with 1:05 left in overtime gave Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood a 4-3 victory over U-D Jesuit on Friday before a packed house at Cranbrook Kingswood’s Wallace Ice Arena.
Blake Johnson’s goal late in the third period sent the game into overtime for the home team and Johnson assisted on Sasson’s winner.
“I felt good and I really couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Johnson said of his late game heroics.
It wasn’t an easy win for Cranbrook, with U-D jumping out to a 3-1 lead in the first period.
Cubs senior forward Sam Knoblauch got things started for U-D with a goal 1:53 into the game. Assists came from senior defenseman Dylan Manning and junior forward Maxim Denomme.
The Cranes evened the score five minutes later as CJ Regula scored his eighth of the season off of a rebound.
Seconds later U-D took a 2-1 lead when senior forward Nick Gadowski scored off of a rebound. The assists went to senior forward Austin Evans and junior defenseman Lorenzo D’Agostini.
Senior forward Lucca Paletta scored on a power play midway through the period to make it 3-1.
The Cranes came out strong in the second period and their hard work paid off. At the 6:40 mark, on the power-play, defenseman Dawson Zahorian scored to pull his team within 3-2 at the midway point of the period.
Zahorian’s goal inspired the home team with a noticeable uptick in their game from that point on.
“We led after the first, and we got totally outplayed in the second period,” U-D coach Rick Bennetts said.
Heading into the third it was 3-2 Jesuit, with the Cubs killing off the remainder of a penalty to start the final stanza.
The Cranes kept the pressure on and, with 1:18 left, Johnson evened the score at 3-3 after a timeout by Cranes coach Andy Weidenbach.
“Against a team like that I think it’s a real credit to our guys to be persistent,” Weidenbach said.
The overtime period saw the teams really going at each other with five shots respectively for each side.
“We had a couple chances in overtime and didn’t get them in and they did so hats off to them,” Bennetts said.
