Jaguars Pounce on Hornets at Ice Cube

The high-flying Saline Hornets were brought down to earth by the Allen Park Jaguars Saturday night at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube.

The Jaguars stormed back from a 5-3 deficit with three goals in the third period to defeat the Hornets, 6-5.

Saline fell to 5-3-1.

Down 4-3 after two evenly matched periods, Allen Park came out skating and hitting in the third, outshooting Saline 13-3 in the third period.

“I don’t know if it was a conditioning issue or a mental issue, but Allen Park came out in the third and earned it,” said Saline head coach Drew Denzin. “Our defensive play tonight was subpar. We played a team that fundamentally sound, that made passes on the tape and was relentless on the puck.”

DJ Aben scored three goals and had an assist. James Olsen scored once and assisted on two others. Trevor Carey also scored for Saline. Grant Ellis had two assists. Neil Flavin turned aside 23 of 29 shots.

The Hornets met a team that was every bit as fast as they were. For two periods, it was fast-paced, back-and-forth hockey.

The Hornets scored early in the first, with Olsen setting up Aben.  Allen Park’s Aaron Porter tied it, from Troy Magier and Nick Mann.

The Jaguars took the lead after a defensive breakdown early in the second sent Richie Pinkowski in on a breakaway. Flavin made the first save but Nick Metropolous got to the rebound first and put it away for a 2-1 lead.

Saline wasted no time responding as 16 seconds later, Aben corralled Olsen’s wraparound attempt and put it past the Jaguar keeper to tie the game.

The Hornets regained the lead midway through the period. Antonio Diaz and Colin Cederna did great work behind the net. Cederna brought it out front for a shot on goal. Carey found the rebound and the side of the net and sent it past the sprawling keeper for a 3-2 lead.

Allen Park tied it two minutes later on an odd-man rush. Saline’s defense stopped prevented the head man, Pinchowski, from making his way to the net. But the puck went right to Donnie McLellan, whose knuckleball shot seemed to flutter over Flavin and into the goal.

Once again, Saline wasted no time responding. Just 10 seconds later, Aben completed his hat trick. Off the faceoff, Olsen skated in up the left wing and fired a wrist shot. Ellis was well covered as the second man in and couldn’t swat the puck on goal. The puck went right to Aben, who was uncovered as the third man in. Aben’s wrist shot from the slot found the twine for a 4-3 lead with 5:41 to play.

In the third, Allen Park took over, skating hard and knocking several Hornets down with hard hits. Flavin made several tough saves to maintain the one goal advantage during the first four minutes.

About six minutes into the period, the Jaguars finally broke loose. Tyler Kuehn, from the right wing boards, put a perfect pass through the teeth of the Hornet defense and on to the stick of Magier, whose slapshot from the slot beat Flaving to tie the game at 4.

Once again, Saline responded immediately. Wyatt Ford got to a loose puck after an offensive zone faceoff and tried a wraparound that didn’t work. Ford maintained possession though, and sent a nice pass across the slot to Olsen, who one-timed it past the sprawling goalie for a 5-4 lead just 19 seconds after Allen Park had tied it.

But the Jaguars continued to skate and hit and break up plays at their blueline.

With 9:18 to play, the Jaguars banged home a rebound from the side of the net to tie the game at 5. David Pischke was credited with the goal.

With 1:15 to play, the Jaguars scored another goal by winning the battle in front of the net. Travis Pippin’s goal proved to be the winner.

Saline had a powerplay for the final 52 seconds but couldn’t generate any scoring chances.

Denzin said his team can learn from the defeat.

“It’s exactly what we needed. I think we may have read to many of our Patch articles (during the hot streak). As a coach, you want to win every game, but this is one that we need. We need to see where we are at against the good teams,” Denzin said.

He was pleased with his top line players.

“Our best players were the best players on the ice. But our next tier of players needed to be better than theirs, and I don’t think that happened,” Denzin said. “Around the net today, I think we just looked a little to soft.”

He hopes it happens Tuesday, when Saline takes on Woodhaven at the Ice Cube.

“It’s going to be a test to see how we rebound,” Denzin said.

The puck drops at 7:45 p.m.