Do Eagles have large talons? Lakeland High School varsity hockey answered the age old question on Monday afternoon when they hosted South Lyon Unified at the LIA.

With the LVC League championship on the line the Eagles took their time building a 1-0 lead in the first. After 10 plus minutes of scoreless hockey, junior Luke Weinberger grew tired of goose egg hockey and won a left circle faceoff to himself, walked the puck through three stunned SLU defenders, and beat goalie Jacob Koth's left pad.

Coach Tim Ronayne: "We were coming off of a couple of bad games. But we've been up and down all season so getting out on the right foot was important. Luke got us going and our D and Jason (Slicker) kept them off of the board."

The second period featured a lone goal as well. Midway through the period SLU took advantage of several failed clearing attempts and lofted a shot from the blue line to make it 1-1 teeing up a nail-biting third.

Just two minutes into the pivotal period, senior Kyle Sierota tipped a Weinberger clearing pass over a Unified defender and took it to the house beating Koth on a deflected shot over his left shoulder. A marginal tripping call on captain Kyle Baker led to a tying SLU strike. But the Sierota-Weinberger-Fisher line saved their best work for the final four+ minutes of the contest.

Sierota found himself cruising through the slot with the puck. As he headed east towards the SL bench, Sierota dumped the puck to a waiting Elliot Smith. Smith snapped a low shot on net and then things got weird. The rebound off of Koth's pads went spinning 15 feet into the air with a re-entry window just outside the crease. A South Lyon defender swiped at the puck but whiffed as it was outside his strike zone. Fortunately for the Eagles, Weinberger (also a member of the LHS baseball program) was on deck. Weinberger picked the puck out of the air past the sprawling Koth to give the Eagles a one goal lead.

The final goal of the game came thanks to Weinberger's fourth point of the night when he found Fisher Christian in the high slot. Christian calmed the puck down, walked in for a better look at his spot and casually snipped the SLU goalie for a very important insurance goal. Coach Matt Busterna on Weinberger's effort: "He brought it. No doubt."

Jason Slicker was outstanding in net allowing two goals on just under 20 shots. Final score 4-2 and the LVC Championship.

Coach McElwee's thoughts on the win: "Winning the league is all about the seniors. And they all showed up today to make us back to back LVC champs. Our three senior defensemen took their top line out of the game. Pierson, Baker and Hubs (Huebner) didn't get on the scoresheet but when you hold a team like South Lyon to 2 goals you know it is the D and the goalie. Baker took it upon himself to make sure their guy 22 had an uncomfortable afternoon. Bakes has been a rock on D for us all year."

Lakeland meets Birmingham United on Wednesday for a pre-regional tune up.

Photo credit: Chris Wall, Spinal Column News