Suddenly red-hot Hartland junior scores twice in hockey win over Livonia Stevenson

LIVONIA — Ben Pouliot was a little concerned when the goals weren’t coming his way during the first half of Hartland’s hockey season.

Eagles coach Rick Gadwa didn’t lose a moment’s sleep fretting about it.

“I wasn’t worried at all,” Gadwa said. “You know it’s coming in a player like that. Guys go in streaks, right? He just started a little slow with putting the puck in the net, but his game’s been phenomenal all year. Now they’re starting to fall for him, so we’ll take that now.”

The goals have been coming in bunches lately for Pouliot, a junior forward who scored two more in Hartland’s 3-1 victory over Livonia Stevenson Wednesday at Eddie Edgar Ice Arena.

Pouliot, who had five goals as a sophomore, had only one through 11 games this season. He now has 10 goals in his last eight games, including a late game-tying goal and overtime winner Saturday against Muskegon Mona Shores.

“It’s on you, but the one thing you’ve got to do is just forget about it, go out there and have fun,” Pouliot said. “The more you think about it, the worse it’s gonna get. You’ve just got to go out and play your game and the goals will start coming.”

Pouliot had the game’s first goal on the power play with 28.4 seconds left in the first period. He was camped out to the right of goalie Zach Waldo when he buried the rebound of a shot from the point by defenseman Braden Pietila.

“I like to play down low, get the rebounds,” Pouliot said. “You don’t always need the pretty goals. The dirty goals will do the trick sometimes.”

Pouliot was in the penalty box when Stevenson tied the game on a shot from the left point by Andrew Elliott with 13:04 left in the second period.

Hartland reclaimed the lead with 6:15 left in the second on a goal by defenseman Jack L’Esperance, who scored on a long wrist shot after carrying the puck over the Stevenson line.

“I was just trying to get it on net,” L’Esperance said. “I was a little tired at the end of the shift. I just shot it and it happened to go in.”

Like Pouliot, L’Esperance has had an offensive resurgence of late. Unlike Pouliot, it wasn’t expected, since L’Esperance is a defenseman.

L’Esperance had no goals in his first 14 games before scoring three in his last five. He’s even getting better at celebrating goals after falling hard to the ice after jumping into the boards following his first goal against Brighton.

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“I’m just trying to play defense first,” said L’Esperance, who converted to defense from forward. “If I was a forward, I’d probably get a little more frustrated, but defense you don’t need to score.”

Hartland began the third period with 1:05 of power play time, but Stevenson had the most dangerous chance when Elliott intercepted a pass at center ice and had a breakaway. Hartland goalie Kameron Ragon made the stop in the opening seconds of the period.

Stevenson pulled its goalie with 1:17 remaining and Pouliot shot the puck into the empty net with 8.9 seconds left to seal the victory in a clash of state Division 2 powers. Hartland (16-3) entered the game ranked No. 1, with Stevenson (16-3) next at No. 2.

The Eagles snapped the Spartans’ 10-game winning streak, avenging a 4-2 loss in Hartland on Nov. 24.

The teams could meet four times this season. If Hartland beats or ties Livonia Churchill in a home game Monday, the Eagles will face Stevenson in the KLAA championship game on Feb. 11 at Eddie Edgar. If the teams meet in the state tournament, it would be in the semifinals or championship game at USA Hockey Arena.

“We’re pretty familiar with each other,” Stevenson coach David Mitchell said. “Again, a lot of respect for them and what they’ve built and what coach Gadwa’s done out there. We’re happy to be part of what’s turned out to be a good rivalry and good matchup for high school hockey, two teams that kind of go back and forth.”

Hartland extended its winning streak to nine games, the last five coming against teams ranked in the top six in their division.

While the ultimate goal for the Eagles is a state championship, they put value in winning their division and having a chance to win one of the toughest leagues in the state.

Hartland is 7-2 in the KLAA West. Second-place Brighton finished KLAA play with a 7-2-1 record. Hartland won the head-to-head matchup.

“We look at the league every year,” Gadwa said. “It’s important to strive for things. One of the team’s goals is to win the division. When you win the division, you get to play in the league championship game. That’s something we strive for. We’ve got a game to go to seal that, so we’ll see how that goes.”

Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com.  Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.