HARTLAND – The Milford Mavericks won an 8-7 overtime thriller against South Lyon Unified in a hockey morning Sunday.

Mack Musialowski caught up with the game winner, firing a left circle shot with 5:18 left in overtime to give the Mavericks a much needed victory in the Lakes Valley Conference race.

Musialowski was the seventh different player to score for Milford in the game as the Mavericks spread the score across the depth board. In all, 11 different players scored a point for Milford. Dominic Leto scored two goals, while Kazuma Bowring and Adam Moule each had three assists.

“We are much deeper than we have been. We can run three lines, and all of them have the potential to score. Our second power play unit was pushing in torque, so it was nice to see, ”said Mavericks head coach Dennis Gagnon.

The Maverick special teams put Milford ahead in the first half. Trailing 2-1, Milford had a shorthanded goal from Bowring and two power play goals from Leto to lead 4-3 after the first period. The Mavericks would add a four-on-four goal in the second period, in which they scored three unanswered goals to build a 7-3 lead with 9:59 to go in the middle of the period.

South Lyon Unified’s transition game would get them back in on things, led by co-captain Mitchel Skamiera’s play. Skamiera would score the game’s next three goals – one in the second period and two more in the third, to shoot Unified in a 7-6 goal with 5:32 to go. Barely 30 seconds after Skamiera completed his hat trick, he set up teammate Ryan Savanyu for a power play goal that tied the score 7-7.

“Skamiera is a great leader for us. He’s having a great year. He’s a scoring machine, and his teammates do a really good job of congratulating him and giving him the puck, and they’re having a great year as a unit.

The two teams are now tied for second place in the conference with scores of 4-1-0-1 in the league, edging undefeated Lakeland.

“We have to beat Lakeland and we have to beat the Walled Lake teams. It will be between us and Lakeland, I guess, ”said Gagnon. “They (South Lyon Unified) are also in the mix, and they’re the back-to-back, well-trained reigning champions.

Milford is back in action Tuesday when they host the FNV Griffins in a non-championship contest.

South Lyon Unified has a few days to regroup before heading to Walled Lake Western for another LVC contest.

“Lots of goals, our defensive end of the puck continues to need work, but I was proud of the kids. They didn’t stop, ”McCreary said. “We didn’t have our A game at the start. We didn’t come out playing the way we wanted, and that’s what cost us the game.