Royal Oak Beats West Bloomfield on Penalty Shot

Royal Oak senior forward Zach Mickus was given the opportunity to be the hero in Wednesday's wacky game against West Bloomfield.

He didn't disappoint.

The senior forward was chosen by head coach Bob Thibeault to take a penalty shot awarded to the team with 0.8 seconds remaining in overtime. Mickus buried a shot to the top right corner that was the game-winner in Royal Oak's 5-4 victory against West Bloomfield Wednesday night.

"It was my first penalty shot ever," Mickus said. "Everyone was saying that their goalie had a good glove, but I thought I could make it. I was pretty nervous. But it worked out for me."

Royal Oak (2-3-0) scored three of its five goals shorthanded, while West Bloomfield scored three goals on the 5-on-3 power play.

"Even when we were killing penalties, we had a lot of jump tonight," Thibeault said of his team's surprising shorthanded scoring ability. "The kids were really skating. That's how we want them to play."

Thibeault wasn't impressed with his team's work ethic in the Holiday Tournament in Grosse Pointe Woods last weekend, where his team finished in last place after losing two games. So, he said, he opted to start the week off with a pair of hard practices.

His team responded with a stellar first period on Wednesday. They recorded a season-high 16 shots in the frame, while holding West Bloomfield to six. The Ravens 16 shots nearly tripled its total from Saturday's game against University Liggett, where Royal Oak tallied a total of six shots through the duration of the game.

"That first period our best period this year by far," Thibeault said. "We were cruising. They got the message that they needed to play harder than they did over the weekend."

Despite the strong opening period, Royal Oak only carried a 1-0 lead into the first intermission, thanks to a shorthanded goal by senior forward Taylor Gabriel.

Junior defenseman Frankie Harlick gave Royal Oak a 2-0 lead early in the second period after a physical shift that had the West Bloomfield defense on its heels.

Then the penalty bug took over again for the Ravens. Royal Oak took seven penalties in the middle frame, five of which came in the offensive zone.

And West Bloomfield took advantage. The Lakers tallied three straight goals to take the lead – all of which were scored on the power play.

But the Ravens answered with two shorthanded goals to reclaim the lead in the second period, which featured less than three minutes of 5-on-5 play. Harlick tallied his second goal of the night with 6:40 remaining and freshman forward Evan Fall tacked on a highlight-reel goal with 5:35 just over a minute later.

West Bloomfield added yet another power play goal with 4:45 remaining in the second period to notch the score back at 4-4.

After a second period that featured seven goals, the third period was a scoreless affair, with both teams playing much more disciplined hockey.

An eight minute sudden-death overtime followed regulation. Royal Oak carried the play in the extra session and hit the post twice to go along with several other quality scoring opportunities.

With less than 10 seconds remaining in overtime, it seemed the game would end as a tie. But Royal Oak junior forward Evan Fall seized a West Bloomfield turnover in the neutral zone and the Ravens were off on a 2-on-1 odd-man rush.

Fall kept the puck and was dragged down before he could get a shot off, resulting in the officials calling a penalty shot.

"There was no question Zach was going to take the penalty shot at that point," Thibeault said. "I coached their goalie for a couple years, so I knew we couldn't deke him. He's that good, even though he gave up four goals."

Mickus followed his coach's advice and delivered a perfect shot to the top-shelf of the net.

"I knew [my team] wasn't going to hate me if I missed, but they would be disappointed," Mickus said. "But if I scored, I knew it would be great."

For the bench, the shot was almost too perfect. The team heard the "ping" of the puck hitting the bar in the back of the net and initially thought it may have gone off the crossbar and over the goal.

"We were all worried," Harlick said. "He came in and took a quick shot to the top right. The goalie had no chance. We didn't know what to do on the bench. So we just went out there and attacked him. It was an awesome finish."