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.