BRIGHTON — Hartland’s hockey coaches saw enough in Braelon Rodriguez as a freshman two years ago to bring him up to the big club late in the season, but baby steps were required at that time.
They knew that he would eventually become a player the Eagles would rely heavily upon, especially after he stepped into a regional semifinal game against North Oakland and scored a hat trick.
Rodriguez was pressed into a larger role in that game because of an illness that went through the team. And North Oakland (a.k.a. Oxford), which was blown out 9-0 in two periods, isn’t exactly … well, Brighton.
“Freshman year, I was a practice player just sitting on the bench during power play work,” Rodriguez said. “Now I’m a big part of the power play and a big part of the team in general, being out in clutch moments.”
Clutch moments like the final minute of a tie game against one of Hartland’s biggest rivals, a game the Eagles needed to get back on track after losing two nights later to their other rival, Howell.
Rodriguez scored with 23.5 seconds left in the game to snap a 1-1 tie for the game-winning goal in a 3-1 victory over Brighton on Friday, Jan. 23 at Biggby Ice Cube.
Brayden Stephens added an empty-net goal with 16 seconds remaining.
“It’s the best feeling in the world,” Rodriguez said. “There’s nothing like it. I can’t even explain it in words how good it feels.
“It was nice, especially against Brighton. It’s always a good game against those boys, especially in their own barn. It’s good to get the game-winner and come out with the dub.”
Moments before the winning goal, defenseman Vince Walkup nearly won the game for Brighton when he cut wide down the left side and went to the net for a close shot that was stopped by goalie Vinnie Sabala.
The puck went into the corner where Bryce Fletemier retrieved it and cleared it outside the blue line to Havi Sarcevich. Sarcevich fed the puck to Rodriguez, who gathered it at center ice and went into the Brighton zone one-on-one with a defender. Rodriguez cut to his right and fired the shot far side into the upper part of the net.
“It was huge for us,” Rodriguez said. “Coming off a loss like that, it’s rough to get two losses in a row. It’s nice to bounce back with another big win for the boys in another rivalry game.”
The goal was the 11th in 21 games for Rodriguez to go with 11 assists, exceeding the 10 goals he scored in 27 games last season when he also had 10 assists.
One of the coaches who spotted potential in Rodriguez two years ago was John Brown, the current varsity head coach who was the coach of the varsity “B’ team at the time.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations about Braelon about figuring himself out,” Brown said. “When we see the positive, like him scoring that goal tonight, he’s been very effective for us. Once he gets that through his head and the understanding he’s a very elite player, he really helps our group out.
“I’ve had him the whole way one way or another. It’s kind of getting the best out of Braelon and pushing him. He wants to be a great player. He wants to move on and play after high school.”
It was a bounce-back performance for the Eagles (17-4) as a whole, but particularly for Sabala. The first-team all-state senior allowed an uncharacteristic six goals during a 7-5 loss to Howell two nights earlier. He had 19 saves against Brighton, stopping all 15 shots he saw in the final two periods after Walkup gave the Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead.
“Games like this are fun,” Sabala said. “It was our last big rivalry game of the year. It was cool going against Brighton. We knew they were going to have a big student section; they do every year. Keeping my composure, giving my team a chance to win was all I wanted to do.”
Sarcevich scored Hartland’s other goal to tie the game 1-1 with 14:09 left in the second period.
The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for the Bulldogs (11-10), who are ranked seventh in Division 1. Reece Hutcheson made 26 saves, including some big ones, to keep the game tied for more than 30 minutes.
“We trust our process,” Brighton coach Kurt Kivisto said. “We know we’ve gotten better. It stinks to lose, but at the same time we’re working to grow. It is a step in the right direction; continue to grow, get better. A lot of guys get experience in a game like that. It’s going to be important come playoff time.”
Hartland has won its last three meetings with Brighton and is 14-4-2 in the teams’ last 20 matchups.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@livingstondaily.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Hartland scores in final minute, beats Brighton in rivalry hockey game
Reporting by Bill Khan, Livingston Daily / Livingston Daily
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
