Midland Dow (7-7) hosted Flint Powers (13-4) in a mid-week conference matchup at the Midland Civic arena Wednesday night. The Chargers of Midland Dow haven’t quite been the same team since the exodus of talent in the 2022 seniors class, who won the D3 State Championship. And why would anyone think a one-time magical run in the history of the program would repeat itself two years later.

Powers sits at the top of the conference at 4-0 with the Midland Chemics and the Hawks from Saginaw Heritage still on the schedule. These next two opponents could be the spoilers of a fourth consecutive SVL title for Powers Catholic.

The Chargers of Flint Powers came out buzzing in the first period, keeping the strong league play rolling. The line of seniors Tom Lavoie, Mike Wenzel and Alex Rinoldo opened up the Chargers scoring. At 12:23 of the first, T. Lavoie banged in his first goal of the year with Wenzel and Rinoldo getting the helpers. The remainder of the period, Powers seemed to be running around a little aimlessly despite dominating puck possession and peppering the Dow goaltender.

Nearly as the puck was dropped in the second period, Brendan Sly handed out a dime to Caleb Doll who finished the execution to go up 2-1. At 15:38, Tom Lavoie notched his 2nd of the evening with the assist coming from Nolan Berner. Shortly after, Parker Bendall found Andrew Burny as he ripped a wrister off the iron into the cage. Powers found themselves in a 3 v 5 situation. The Pk unit did their job burning Dow’s two man advantage. At 8:28, the Powers Charger power play yielded a tally. Ayden Cook wheeled around the high slot, snapping it by Dow netminder Ethan Jones. Dow got on the board just before Powers Berner dispatched a quick release near the left face-off dot, bumping it to 6-1 (helper Brody Neelands). Dow sustained just enough pressure, countering with a couple more goals. However, Powers keep shutting the door. Gavin Vorwerk picked up his 6th goal of the season with the assist coming from Blake Dawson. Finally, Bendall notched the Chargers 8th and final goal just outside the crease with Sly getting the helper. Powers out-shot Dow 40 to 18. Netminder Blake Zloto picked up his 10th win on the season.

Final: Powers 8 Dow 3

Next game: Friday, January 26th v Orchard Lake St. Mary’s at Flint Iceland arena - 6pm.

(Teacher Appreciation Night)