Saline Hockey Slips by Pinckney

The big win for the Saline hockey team on Thursday night kicked off a showdown between SEC Red’s leading Hornets with SEC White leading Chelsea (7-4-1) on Saturday night.

The Hornets beat Pinckney 4-2 on Thursday to stay ahead of Ann Arbor Pioneer in the Red series and staged a key match against the Bulldogs at the Arctic Coliseum at 7:30 a.m. Saturday night.

Mateo Iadipaolo put the Hornets first when Pirates failed in the power game. Iadipaolo grabbed the puck and slipped into the net for a short-handed finish and a 1-0 lead to Saline.

The Pirates would respond late in the first and would make 1-1 after one.

The teams went back and forth in the second set, but Griffin Clark found the net for a power game goal with 6:25 left in the second set and made it 2-1.

Pinckney responded quickly with a power goal with just over five minutes left, but Clark made another night with 4:51 left, giving the Hornets a 3-2 lead into the final period.

The Hornets would get an assuring goal when Jake Honan took the center pass in front of the net and bombed it home 6:43 left, making it 4-2 and it ended.

Clark finished with two goals and fed the Hornets into the lead.

Iadipaolo added a goal and two passes, while Colton Cundiff gave three passes. Aidan Rumohr and Tristan Tier each gave one entry point in the Hornets.

Drew Helmer stopped Saline from 24 shots out of 26 on the net.

The Hornets improved to 5-1-1 on SEC Red and 8-3-1 overall.