DIMONDALE — It was the sort of performance Brighton hockey coach Paul Moggach had feared on Wednesday night.
The Bulldogs were caught looking past Lowell-Caledonia at The Summit in Dimondale, but, try as they might, Lowell-Caledonia couldn’t catch Mathew Kahra, who scored four goals, two on the power play, in a 7-0 victory.
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The Bulldogs (22-6-1) will take on Detroit Catholic Central in a Division 1 semifinal at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth at 7:30 Friday.
To get there, Brighton got past a scoreless first period and saw a goal hit the back of the net and bounce out without the referees noticing it.
It didn’t matter, despite determined play by Lowell-Caledonia.
“I didn’t think it was our best game,” Moggach said. “I think we struggled. Every year in the playoffs, we have a game where we lay an egg against a team that’s not as competitive.”
The Brighton scoresheet was full. Tim Erkkila had a goal and five assists, Adam Conquest had three assists with Kyle Cogan and Nate Przysiecki adding goals.
“We aren’t that proud of this game,” Kahra said. “It could have been a lot better. We started out pretty slopped. We’ll start a lot faster on Friday.”
Kahra used his speed to regularly find seams in the Lowell-Caledonia defense.
“He’s so much fun to watch,” Moggach said of Kahra. “He’s creative. He’s scoring goals. He’s doing all the little things.”
Kahra said his team knew of Catholic Central’s earning a semifinal berth, which it did by beating Cranbrook 7-0 at Yost Ice Arena, before the Bulldogs took the ice.
It was the second year in a row the Bulldogs had beaten Lowell-Caledonia in the quartefinals by a 7-0 score.
With that game out of the way, the Bulldogs now turn their full focus to Catholic Central, whom they beat in last year’s Division 1 championship game. The Shamrocks, 26-3-1, haven’t lost to a team from Michigan this season. They beat Brighton 3-0 in the KLAA-MIHL showcase in December.
“I think we can play with them,” Moggach said. “We respect them, but we don’t over-respect them. They’ve got game. We’ve got game. We’ll see who has the best game on Friday.”
