PLYMOUTH — The magic ran out.
The Bay Reps boys hockey team ended its third trip to the semifinals, falling 4-0 to the Houghton Gremlins in a Division 3 contest.
“Every game is a battle,” Traverse City St. Francis senior goalie Tyler Boynton-Fisher said. “I’m going to remember this team by the effort. We came into the season with a young team. Everyone came to work at practice, working hard, pushing throughout the day and got better throughout the year.”
The Reps struggled to get their offense going early and often in the semifinal loss.
They hung with the Gremlins for most of the first period.
The Gremlins easily killed the first penalty of the game with roughly eight minutes remaining in the first.
Houghton got the better of the scoring chances that were all turned away by Boynton-Fisher until the end of the first period.
With 1:30 remaining in the first period, a slicing puck found a wide open Houghton’s Connor Arko cutting down the ice to get the Gremlins on the board first to end the period 1-0.
Houghton ended the first period with an 8-4 shots on goal lead.
“This is the third time that our team has been here since 2019,” Bay Reps coach Mike Matteucci said. “This is the best game we’ve played. I’m so proud of them.”
The Reps had a chance early in the second period that went wide of the net. The Reps pressure caused multiple turnovers that didn’t turn into prime scoring chances.
The Reps would find themselves on the power play early in the second period, but again the Gremlin penalty kill didn’t allow any scoring chances.
Halfway through the second period, the Gremlins found the back of the net again when Gunner Gullstrand went top shelf right to stretch the Houghton lead to 2-0. Five minutes into the final frame, the Gremlins found the back of the net again by Arko and Jake Matson scored with 7:48 remaining to put the game out of reach. Houghton outshot Bay Reps 37-16 shots total.
Boynton-Fischer stopped 33 shots.
The Gremlins will be hoping for the 16th Upper Peninsula state championship Saturday.
The Reps end the season with a 14-12-1 record and graduate seniors including Boynton-Fisher, Eddie Walter, Carter Denoyer and Zach Gerlando.
“We are glad to be here,” Bay Reps senior Denoyer said. “This is our program’s third time being here, and we have a young team, and they’re looking forward to coming back next year and winning next year.”
Walter will always remember the memories made.
“I’m going to remember all the connections I built, all these kids from all these different schools. I thought we played hard today, and I know it’s not the way we wanted it to be, but I give credit to Houghton. They are a great team,” Walter said. “The practices have been phenomenal this year. It’s better than any other year. We’ve become ready to practice every day and every game, we were mentally prepared. We allowed 1.75 goals per game on average. I was really proud of that.”
Coach Matteucci credits his seniors for guiding the ship all season long.
“If it wasn’t for (Boynton-Fischer), we wouldn’t be in this spot. I’m really proud of our seniors and the way they competed all year,” Matteucci said. “We can do a lot of work in the offseason in the gym getting bigger, stronger and faster. When you put the skates on during the season, you just have to come in and play at the highest level you can every night.”