Berkley/Ferndale Unified Hockey Team Wins Pre-District Final 4-2 Over Troy

TROY – Another playoff game; another thriller. 

The Berkley/Ferndale Unified hockey team scored two goals in the final five minutes to win 4-2 at Troy in the pre-district finals on Wednesday.

It was the second straight emotional win for the Bears (22-2-2). On Monday, they needed overtime to knock off Bloomfield Hills United 4-3 in the first round. 

“We had a talk, ironically, between the second and third period of both games where we said it had to be about sheer determination and teamwork,” Bears coach Jeff Fleming said. “We refused to go home without winning this game.”

In front of a hostile crowd at the Troy Sports Center, Berkley/Ferndale gave up one-goal leads in the first two periods. Going into the second intermission, the game was deadlocked 2-2.

Cody Schraffenberger and Noah Reiter teamed up to break the tie and send Berkley/Ferndale into the regionals for the first time ever.

The Colts (16-10) tried to clear the puck out of its zone with five minutes to go in the game. Schraffenberger made sure that didn’t happen.

He stole the puck from between two defenders and waited for Reiter to get back on offense. Reiter saw Schraffenberger’s heads up play and quickly skated back towards the net.

“I just started booking it, just taking off, calling for the puck,” Reiter said. “I was right down the seam on a breakaway.”

Goalie Alex Franchi tried to anticipate where Reiter would go with the puck; unfortunately, the senior guessed wrong.

“It was a great pass,” Reiter said. “I was wide open, the goalie was cheating a little to his blocker’s side so I thought I would go high over the glove.”

Franchi’s glove didn’t even touch Reiter’s shot. It dropped into the back the net to give his team a 3-2 advantage.  The Bears added an empty net goal (14:55) from Joey Leider with 5.5 seconds left on the clock. Luc Hammerle assisted on the goal.

It was Leider’s second goal of the game. He started the scoring off in the first period with a goal (4:52) from Bradley Zucker and Hammerle.

Troy answered with a goal in front of the net from D.J. Myers at the 5:44 mark. He scored when the Colts had a man-advantage due to a delayed penalty. Berkley/Ferndale goalie Stephen Wroe lost sight of the puck and Myers cleaned it up right in front of the net.

In the second period, the teams traded goals again. Schraffenberger scored with 5:45 to go in the period. Troy came right back less than 30 seconds later with a goal from Harrison Stoolmiller.

Once time expired, it was time to celebrate for the Bears. They won the Oakland Activities Association White division this year with a 10-0-2 record, but the team had its sights set on a playoff run to go along with its division title.

“It’s very exciting,” Fleming said. “It would’ve been absolutely disappointing to not get to regionals. They’ve accomplished something that no other team before us has done.”

It was extra special for Reiter, who is the first Ferndale student to represent his school on the unified team.

“It’s a huge deal, being from Ferndale, I’m the first kid from Ferndale, too, to ever do it,” Reiter said. “It’s a huge deal, it means a lot. Being my senior year, I want to play as long as possible.”

Berkley/Ferndale will play Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in the regional final on Saturday at the Eddie Edgar Arena in Livonia. Start time for the game is at 6 p.m.