Houghton's Tanner Flachs moves the puck across the ice during a loss to Cranbrook in the Division 3 semifinals Friday, March 8, 2024.

PLYMOUTH — On Friday, the Houghton Gremlins hockey team continued their pursuit of a second state title. Standing in their way, a familiar rival in the Bloomfield Hills-Cranbrook-Kingswood Cranes. When the final buzzer sounded, the Cranes were the team advancing to the title game, thanks to a 5-0 win at the USA Hockey Arena.

For Houghton, their third loss of the season was the hardest one to swallow.“(The game) kind of steamrolled on us,” said Gremlins coach Micah Stipech. “We kept battling, but we had some lapses and breakdowns; breakdowns that haven’t happened to us this year really.”

The Gremlins finished their season with only two losses coming to teams in state out of the three they surrendered.

“We felt prepared,” said Stipech. “We felt confident, and it just didn’t go our way, but we’re proud of them. It was a terrific group that had a terrific year.”

The first period saw Houghton draw an early power play, but they could not get pucks through to Cranes goaltender Garrett Dudlar other than one shot from co-captain Michael Maillette, whose shot Dudlar stopped with his blocker into the crossbar. After that, the Gremlins continued to put pressure on the Cranes’ defense, but again and again, they bent, but did not break.

Had that shot from Maillette gone in, the Gremlins felt they would have had the momentum.

“Getting the first one in a game of momentum is important,” said Stipech. “Mikey’s shot that went off the crossbar goes in, and we get the first one, maybe it’s a different game.”

Things finally settled for the Cranes when Gremlins defender Jack Rudak was whistled for a penalty at 11:06. It took a little over a minute after the call, but a broken play led to the Cranes getting on the board.

Forward Michael Horton jumped on a puck to Lee’s left near the goal line. He tried to feed the puck over to forward Nick Timbo, who was crashing the net. Timbo could not hold the puck, instead tipping the pass out into the high slot. Forward Gianluca DiSalvo, who was positioned at the left point, dropped down to the high slot after picking up the puck, and wristed a shot through traffic that beat Gremlins goaltender Bryan Lee at 12:14.Houghton played well after the Cranes’ goal was scored, continuing to put pressure on Dudlar. With just 45 seconds left, Dudlar made what felt like 10 saves in a matter of seconds. Junior winger Jace DeForge tried a wraparound and was stopped. Sophomore winger Connor Arko jumped on the rebound, but his shot, and his own rebound, were both stopped by Dudlar. The puck bounced back to DeForge, who fired another shot. The rebound bounced out into the slot to senior defenseman Noah Kreipke. Kreipke’s first shot attempt was blocked, but he got the puck back and fired another shot that was kicked away by Dudlar.

That sequence was a turning point in the contest for the Cranes.

“They picked up a goalie from Compuware halfway through the year,” Stipech said. “He was really good. He was huge. First time this year we got shut out. So, there’s a lot of first time this year situations. We kept battling, but getting one to fall would have been huge.”

One bit of bad news for Houghton going into the second period was the loss of senior defenseman Wyatt Jenkins, who was injured in the first and did not return.

In the second period, the Cranes were awarded a second power play when junior center Jay Halonen was called for roughing. The Gremlins held Cranbrook off the board until the final 10 seconds, when Timko got the puck back to defenseman David Schmitt at the right point. Schmitt wristed a shot along the ice that found its way into the back of the net at 3:26.

Halonen was whistled for another penalty at 5:41, and while the Cranes did not score on that power play, they did score about a second later, while he was still making his way out of the box.Forward Caleb Goldstein scored for Cranbrook at 7:42 when he knocked a rebound past Lee. At that point in the contest, the shots were even at 14-14. After that goal, Stipech called his timeout to try to rally. From there, Houghton dominated play, outshooting the Cranes 8-1 over the next six minutes, but still had nothing to show for it.

In the third period, the Gremlins, who still had nine seconds of power play time left from late in the second, nearly scored eight seconds in when co-captain Michael Maillette fed the puck from behind the net out front to DeForge, but Dudlar was there again to make the save.

Just 16 seconds later, the Cranes took a 4-0 lead when Lee fell trying to stop a wraparound from Timko. The puck hit the post to Lee’s right and bounced right to DiSalvo, who buried it.

Up 4-0, the Cranes took advantage one last time at 8:51 when Horton took a lead pass and skated down the left boards past a pair of Houghton defenders. He fired a wrist shot from near the left faceoff dot that beat Lee over the glove for the goal.

The game’s final seven minutes slowed down as both teams played more physically, leading to multiple penalties being called each way. However, neither team found the net again.

Lee finished his afternoon with 16 saves in the loss. Dudlar stopped all 35 shots the Gremlins threw his way.