TI 14U#1 wraps up MWEHL Regular Season 

Headed back to Detroit for the second leg of its eastern tour, the TI 14U #1 team entered the last weekend of league play with two goals in mind. First, they wanted to finish in first place in the regular season and earn the top seed in the playoffs the following weekend. This would be no easy task as the team faced Honeybaked twice this weekend and was entering with a record of 0-2-1 against the second place team. The second goal the team had was to score at least 8 goals to bring their regular season total goals to 100.  

The first game was set for 8 PM on Friday night against Honeybaked at the Southgate Arena. This weekend the weather cooperated and the girls arrived well rested and ready to play what proved to be the closest game between the two clubs yet. The game was a fast paced back and fourth game with no score through the first period. TI drew first blood with 2:55 left in the 2nd period of play when a TI shot was deflected off a Honeybaked defenseman and into the goal. This proved to be the only goal of the game and gave TI their first win against Honeybaked this season. This win put the TI girls one step closer to both of their goals for the weekend. TI got a little help earlier in the week toward their first goal of winning the regular season when Little Caesars beat Honeybaked 3 to 0 increasing the point's gap between TI and Honeybaked to 3. 

With a 4 point lead in the league and three games to go, the TI girls got up early Saturday morning to play Little Caesars. The girls were looking forward to this game because it was at the famous Joe Louis Arena. After a brief look around the arena and a few pictures it was time to play and TI was not taking Little Caesars lightly as they have already knocked off Honeybaked once and tied them once. TI jumped out to a 3 to 0 first period lead and never looked back winning the game 5 to 2. 

That afternoon TI was headed back south to the Ice Box for the final regular season game against Honeybaked. TI had a 4 point lead on Honeybaked and two games to go. A win or a tie would assure TI the first place finish in the regular season. TI and Honeybaked picked up were they left off on Friday night a fast paced game. TI drew first blood again with a goal at 10:05 in the first period. This was followed by TI's 100th regular season goal just 17 seconds later. Honeybaked struck back with 6:37 left in the first to cut the TI lead in half. The score remained 2 to 1 after the 2nd, a period in which TI successfully killed off 4 penalties. With the time winding down in the 3rd and TI still in the lead 2 to 1 TI was called for a penalty with 3:13 left in the 3rd. Seven seconds later TI was assessed a second penalty giving Honeybaked a 2 person advantage for one minute and fifty three seconds. TI successfully killed off the first minute of the 2 person advantage when during a stoppage in play Honeybaked pulled their goalie giving them a 6 on 3 advantage. Or in this case, a disadvantage because just 15 seconds later TI put one in the empty net. Now down by 2 goals and 1:37 left in the game Honeybaked decided to keep their 6 on 3 advantage leaving the net at the far end vacant. 30 seconds later TI netted its second empty net goal putting the game out of reach for Honeybaked. With the two person advantage over and the teams back to even strength TI put the icing on the cake netting its fifth goal of the game with 5 seconds left on the clock. This victory assured TI of the first place in the regular season league play.  

On Sunday morning TI finished up regular season play with a win over Victory Honda, formally the Ice Dogs, with a score of 4 to 0. The TI 14U #1 team finished the weekend accomplishing both of the goals they set their sites on the week before. They finished up the MWEHL season with 107 goals for and 30 goals against and took first place in the league with a record of 20 wins and 1 loss. Now it was time to head home for a few days of rest and practice before heading back to Detroit the following weekend for the playoffs and the potential to play Honeybaked, yet again, in the championship game.