For the second time in three years, Chelsea hockey arrived at Compuware Arena to play in the state semifinals. This year’s opponent was fancy-pants private school Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, an institution whose yearly tuition for full-day kindergarten is more than I paid for my car. FOR ONE YEAR OF KINDERGARTEN. No, I’m not kidding.

The game was at noon on a Friday, but Chelsea students turned out to support the hockey team.

When the game started, it was easy to see the contrast between Chelsea’s first-ever trip to the semis two years ago and this year. Two years ago the big stage seemed initially intimidating, but this year the team seemed comfortable in the semis. So comfortable, in fact, that the Bulldogs took an early 1-0 lead. And the students rejoiced.

Unfortunately, the Bulldogs eventually started taking penalties, and those penalties started turning into Liggett goals. That 1-0 lead turned into a deficit before too long.

Since hockey is such a Canadian game, it seems appropriate that a Tim Horton’s ad would be prominent.

Another photographer on duty that day noted that it was difficult to get a good shot of the coach without having it look like a Tim Hortons’ ad.

As time wound down in the third period, Chelsea’s frustration began to boil over. This resulted in an avalanche of penalties.

This also resulted in several ejections.

When the game ended, the coach gathered the team together for a word before the handshake line.

The team saluted the fans before heading off the ice following the 5-1 loss to Liggett.

Take note of the player all alone at the top of that photo. That’s the starting goalie. As a senior, he was preparing to leave the ice for the last time in his high school career. Those can be hard moments to watch and even harder moments to photograph, but the resulting images can be deeply meaningful.

This is how it looked when Chris left the ice for the last time.

Chelsea hockey traveled to Allen Park to face Allen Park in the state quarterfinal. The winner would get a trip to Compuware Arena. The loser — or, for you non-competitive types, the second winner — would have more time to catch up on all its favorite tv shows on Hulu.

Chelsea jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead, and before long things got even worse for Allen Park: the referees awarded Chelsea a penalty shot after a non-goalie Jaguar closed his hand on the puck in the crease. This was a dangerous moment for Allen Park.

“See here, he’s going to skate towards you with the puck, see, and he’s going to shoot the puck, see, and if you want — that is to say, if you’re so inclined to do so — you can maybe try to stop the puck from going into your net, see.”

Sadly for the Bulldogs but happily for the Jaguars, the goalie made the stop. However, later in the first period the Bulldogs did manage to score a second goal.

The first period ended with Chelsea enjoying a 2-0 lead, and the second period featured even less scoring than Michigan State basketball managed against Louisville. I know that’s hard to imagine, but it’s true. (Neither team scored in the second period.)

Though there wasn’t any scoring, there was good action and a few indelicate interactions…like this:

There were some good hits, too.

Much to the chagrin of the many Bulldog fans in attendance, Allen Park managed to score a goal in the third period.

This made the score 2-1, leaving Chelsea a lead of one lonely little goal. One scrawny goal in the third period of a hockey game in a single-elimination tournament. That’s it.

If you’re not a hockey fan, let me explain to you what a one-goal lead in the third period of a hockey game in a single-elimination tournament is for anyone with a rooting interest in the game: it’s miserably thrilling. You’re watching the game begging the clock to move faster, begging the puck to clear the blue line even if only by an inch so you can get a chance to breathe, begging that shot to be wide or high or directly into the goalie’s chest or in Lenawee County or really ANYWHERE BUT IN THE NET. In playoff hockey it takes only one shot to ruin everything, and you spend the waning seconds living both in fear of that one awful shot and in hope of the appearance of those glorious zeros on the clock before that one loathsome shot can be created.

Playoff hockey can lift your heart to absurd heights of joy, but it can also tear your heart out of your chest.

Much to the delight of the Chelsea faithful, the Bulldogs kept the puck out of the net to preserve the 2-1 victory. When time expired, they poured onto the ice to rejoice over their second trip in three years to the state semifinals.

As Chelsea celebrated, Allen Park mourned the end of its season.

This Allen Park team bore some resemblance to the Chelsea team of two years ago: both produced somewhat below-average regular seasons, but both surprised plenty of people by finding a way to win in the playoffs. The main difference: Chelsea’s team of two years ago reached the semifinals, while Allen Park’s 2011-12 team fell one goal short of that accomplishment. Just one scrawny little goal. It’s the thinnest of margins, but it looms large when you no longer have time to erase it.

Playoff hockey can lift your heart to absurd heights of joy, but it can also tear your heart out of your chest.

Back on the other side of the scoresheet, the Bulldogs received a rousing ovation from their fans as they walked through the lobby on their way to the bus.

When next you see photos of these Bulldogs on this blog, they’ll be in Compuware Arena facing University Liggett.

Chelsea hockey faced Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central in the regional final at Arctic Coliseum. This game wasn’t for all the marbles, but since high school playoffs involve multiple trophies, there were some marbles involved.

If you’re a dedicated Chelsea hockey fan, you might remember Monroe St. Long Name from two years ago, when Chelsea entered the playoffs two games under .500 and made program history with a hilariously unlikely and completely thrilling run to the state semifinals. Monroe Blah Blah Blah was the team Chelsea faced in the regional final that season, too. They were among the better teams in the state that year, so the odds were against the Bulldogs. However, Chelsea put forth a rousing effort…but MSMCC scored to take a one-goal lead with less than a minute to play, a crushing development that seemed to be the final blow. But wait! It wasn’t! Chelsea tied the game with under 30 seconds to play, and a few minutes into overtime the Bulldogs scored the winning goal to claim their first-ever regional championship.

This year the roles were a bit different: Chelsea came in with a stellar record, while MSMCC came in weaker than usual. Given the history I just recounted, I think you can understand why I was a little nervous. Or maybe a lot nervous. As I mentioned in a previous post, hockey single-elimination hockey playoffs are weird, man.

The game didn’t start well. The goalie made the above save, but MSMCC managed to score an early goal for a surprising and somewhat distressing early lead.

There was a bit of goalie encouragement going on before the second period started:

And while we’re away from the action, let’s all take a moment to appreciate Chelsea’s wonderful Angry Destructive Bulldog logo.

Back to the action.

Unfortunately, MSMCC scored another goal midway through the second period. Things were looking a bit grim, so the Chelsea coach called a timeout.

I don’t know what he said to the team in that timeout, but it worked. Boy, did it ever work. After a few solid hits, this (finally!) happened:

MSMCC held onto its 2-1 lead for the rest of the second period, but it was obvious Chelsea had found the on switch. The third period saw this:

And then this:

That goal gave Chelsea its first lead of the game midway through the third period.

As time grew short, MSMCC called its timeout to scheme its own miracle goal. While they did that, Chelsea schemed its anti-miracle goal.

After MSMCC pulled its goalie for the extra skater, Chelsea got ahold of the puck and — after several tries — put it in the empty net to seal its second regional championship in three years.

The goalie might have been secretly pleased about the win.

He might have had a little bit of company, too.

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t much of a secret.

With the win, the Bulldogs moved on to the state quarterfinals against Allen Park in Allen Park.

Having dispatched the Dreadnaughts, Lumen Christi returned to the Arctic Coliseum to face their thoroughly not-loved rival Chelsea for the third time this season. The teams split the season series, with Lumen Christi winning the last game in blowout fashion, 9-4. (SPOILER ALERT: that may be the final score of next’s fall’s LSU/Alabama football game.) Given Chelsea’s stellar record and earlier defeat of LC, the likelihood of another lopsided game was low…but single-elimination hockey playoffs are weird, man. They’re just weird. When it all comes down to one hockey game, one shot or one suddenly unbeatable goalie can screw up the whole thing.

As is the norm (NORM!) for rivalry playoff games, there was a big crowd. How big? So big that all the Blue Wheelchair Man Group parking spots were full! Come on, people. That wasn’t nice. You’re supposed to leave one for me.

What you don’t see there is the crowd standing along the boards all the way around the ends. It was a good crowd.

As is the norm (NORM!) for Chelsea/Lumen Christi games, there was plenty of violence. Most of it was legal, too.

The following photo is among my favorites of the entire winter:

Everywhere you look there’s some sort of awesome in the frame. Happy Chelsea player? Check. Ref signaling the goal? Check. Elated fans? Check. Child with the greatest facial expression in the history of humanity? Check. (Look just above the player’s shoulder.) If that picture were a pizza, it would be a Thompson’s Super.

While we’re on the topic of fun photos, here’s one of the goalie using the Force to make a save:

I know it might look like the puck is headed into the net, but he did make the save. The puck hit his leg and deflected straight up.

But let’s get back to the violence.

The Lumen Christi player looks deeply offended, but the referee wasn’t buying it. There was no penalty on the play. However, there were plenty of pleasantries from the Lumen Christi students in the background.

Oh, look. Another save.

The game remained uncomfortably close for far too long. Fortunately for my blood pressure and hair color, Chelsea finally pulled away.

With the game in hand late, two of the players had a brief conference.

The referees stepped in very quickly, so nothing came of it beyond a couple irrelevant penalties.

When time expired, Chelsea got happy.

With the 4-1 win over Lumen Christi, Chelsea moved on to face Monroe St. Mary’s Catholic Central.

Saline hockey visited its old home rink in Chelsea for a big game: Chelsea and Saline were at the top of their respective SEC divisions, so the game was a conference championship game of sorts.

I’d rant about the good old SEC days and how Saline used to be a huge rival for Chelsea but now they’re just an acquaintance that Chelsea says hi to every now and again when the divisions get together for coffee and how silly it is to have one conference with two divisions and how it would be so much better just to end the sham and have two officially separate conferences because things were better when I was younger dagnabbit and you kids these days have no idea what a real high school athletic conference is anymore, but…well, this is easier:

[insert humorous but bitingly effective rant about the good old SEC days and so on and so forth]

Okay, I feel better. On to the photos.

Take a look at the linesman in the background:

Is he:
A: Confused and calling the runner safe at second because he thinks he’s at a baseball game
B: Gesturing to the imaginary crowd that’s cheering his imaginary speech
C: Pretending he’s Hockey Moses parting the Blue Line Sea
D: Declaring the play onside

From L to R: “Hooray!”; “Hooray!”; “Nobody ever pays me in gum.”

Midway through the second period, the Saline goalie wandered far, far away from his net to play the puck in order to keep it away from a fast-approaching Bulldog. There were two problems with this strategy: first, the Bulldog was approaching faster than he thought, and second, the Bulldog had more on his mind than simply playing the puck. As soon as the goalie touched the puck, the Bulldog arrived, and…well, here, take a look at the next two photos:

The photos do a good job conveying the impact, but let me emphasize this: he hit the goalie hard. No, wait. He hit the goalie all-caps HARD. It would have been a big hit on a regular skater. It was devastating on a goalie.

As one would expect, the Saline players on the ice took serious exception to this breach of hockey etiquette and quickly let him know what they thought of his hit. The goalie stayed down and got attention from the trainer while the referees sorted out the penalties. The final tally for the feisty Bulldog: a whopping 17 minutes in the box. They gave him a 2-minute minor, a 5-minute major, and a 10-minute misconduct. Surprisingly, he didn’t get ejected, but here’s a bit of perspective: he spent the equivalent of one full period in the penalty box. That’s not something you see every day.

What became of the goalie, you ask? Well, as soon as the penalties were announced, he popped back up and skated around like he’d just had a 5-Hour Energy. In other words: he was fine.

(Fun fact: those two photos got top billing in the newspaper.)

Eventually they got back to the game, and…hey, look, Chelsea scored!

And then…uh oh, Jacob has the puck…

…and guess what? Yeah, another goal.

The game was tied at 2 when the Saline goalie got bulldozed, but Chelsea scored the next 3 goals and Saline scored the next zero goals, so…you get the idea.

With the 5-2 win and another win against Skyline three days later — don’t worry, you’ll see a couple photos from that game, too — Chelsea finished the 2011-12 season undefeated in the SEC.