After South Lyon Unified hockey’s final game of the regular season, a 6-2 loss to Canton on March 12, all Jake Koth could do was analyze.

The junior goalie knew his team would face Canton again a few days later, when that meant more: the first round of the regional playoffs, so he and his team made adjustments and prepared for the worst-case scenario.

You train for the worst case scenarios and often it’s blow after blow after blow, ”Koth said. “You have to be conditioned and mentally prepared for it.”

That’s what Koth saw on Tuesday night: a barrage of Canton offense fire. But not a single one went by as South Lyon Unified took the 4-0 first-round playoff victory over Canton with the help of 47 saves from the goalkeeper.

South Lyon Unified won their first playoff game since the 2017-18 season, recording their second shutout of the year.

“(Koth) was just a rock out there for us, jump on the rebounds, put the pucks on the corner, make saves,” said South Lyon Unified head coach Bill McCreary. “I thought our defenseman did a really good job in front of him as well, helping him see the pucks, opening the shooting lanes and tying up the guys in front. I thought it was a good job for our team.

This schedule is something McCreary is used to.

A season ago, South Lyon Unified faced Novi in ​​the final game of the regular season, recording the draw before a 7-2 beating to open the playoffs.

In 2021, South Lyon Unified used this knowledge to its advantage. After allowing several power play goals against the Chiefs in the meeting, the team adjusted their approach, seeing what they needed to do and performing in a major way: kill four power plays in the first two periods.

And after countless opportunities by the Canton attack, South Lyon Unified broke the deadlock.

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In the last minute of the second period, senior forward Andrew Ineich, with a two-on-one streak, took assists from Dominic Dudek and JD Michaels and put the puck in the net: the first goal allowed by the Canton senior Michael Renzi after 16 saves.

With just over five minutes to go, southern Lyon junior Ryan Savanyu sealed the victory, putting the puck in front of Renzi for the second score of the day.

Lyon southern senior defender Michael Fosbinder and senior striker Shane Milligan added goals into an empty net in the final 81 seconds to add to Canton’s deficit, their biggest since the Feb. 12 loss to Livonia Stevenson.

“They took what we did and ultimately we had a ton of chances that we just didn’t bury them, but what they did that really killed us was clearing the puck, of us. ice the puck, ”Canton head coach Justin Maedel said. . “It slowed us down a lot and it frustrated us because we’re a going, going, going team.

After being ruled out of COVID-19 in November, when the season was originally scheduled to begin. Maedel said he was grateful for what Canton was able to do in 2021. The Chiefs have played their 15 regular-season games with their regional game without a hitch.

In this regard, Maedel takes no credit. If anything, he said, he’s been following what his players are doing.

“This year the team seemed more tight-knit than last year’s team,” said Maedel. “I don’t know if it was because of COVID, because of the closures. But I was so happy to see the camaraderie we had and it really is a blessing that these kids were able to play.

Despite playing the same team twice in five days, McCreary knew the potential of his squad. He knew what they could do and expected a different outcome when South Lyon Unified took the ice on Tuesday.

“We knew the last game against them wasn’t our best,” said McCreary. “Our guys were delighted to come back and have a different result.”

South Lyon Unified will face Novi in ​​the regional semi-final at 6:45 p.m. Thursday night at Novi Ice Arena.

Contact reporter Colin Gay at [email protected] or 248-330-6710. Follow him on twitter @ ColinGay17. Send game results and stats to [email protected]