The Flint Powers Chargers went toe-to-toe with a hard-hitting Mt. Pleasant Oilers team in a Saginaw Valley league contest last night at the Crystal Fieldhouse. Powers got on the board first with a goal at 5:47. Junior defenseman Mac Diver executed a perfect one-timer from the point off a feed from Freshman forward Mason Weiss. Mt. Pleasant’s netminder never saw Diver’s hard, rising slapper. With less than 2 seconds to go in the first, Junior forward Jon Thomas found the back of the net on the power play. Junior forwards Conor Witherspoon and Brendan Smith had the assists on the Thomas goal. The teams went to intermission with the score 2-0 in favor of the Chargers.

Early in the 2nd period, Senior forward Charlie Start made the score 3-0 with Sophomore forward Josh Warda and Junior defenseman Hans Hering assisting on the play. Mt. Pleasant began their comeback with 1:33 left in the 2nd, when Sophomore forward Cole Smallwood got one past Powers goalie Junior Brady Stebbins, who was making his debut for the Chargers. Junior forward Kyle Trucks and Senior defenseman Mitchell Haines had the assists on Smallwood’s goal. The score was 3-1 after 2 periods of play.

Mt. Pleasant continued its comeback in earnest at 11:52 with a power play goal by Senior forward Maxwell Trucks. Senior forward Zachary Heeke and Junior defenseman Kaleb Ramone assisted. Just 23 seconds later, Mt. Pleasant converted another power play opportunity to tie the game at 3-3. Mt. Pleasant Junior defenseman Isaac Angera scored on Zachary Heeke’s second assist of the evening.

With the game tied, tension mounted until 6:09 when Sophomore forward Josh Warda scored the pivotal goal of the game, unassisted, with a great individual effort. Warda carried the puck into the offensive zone with a Mt. Pleasant player on him like a coat. In the slot, Warda managed a spin move and fired an unexpected backhand shot past the goalie to put the Chargers ahead to stay 4-3. Junior forward Brendan Smith added two insurance goals, the first at 2:45 with assists from Sophomore forward Cam Lieffers and Junior Jon Thomas (his second point of the game). Smith came back, unassisted, and found the empty net with 40 seconds left on the clock, to cap off his three-point night, for a 6-3 final.

The Chargers head to Cleveland to play Gilmour Academy and Lake Catholic on their annual Father-Son trip this weekend. On Wednesday, January 27, they take on their Saginaw Valley rivals Davison at the Dort Event Center.