44 seconds into overtime is what it took to end the Rangers’ dreams of beating their rival EGR to advance to the next round in districts. FHC hockey fell to the EGR Pioneers in a heartbreaking game in overtime 5-4. Standout players for the Rangers included senior Charlie Brewer and junior Josh Koets. Charlie and Josh both had big goals for the Rangers in Tuesday night’s game.

The first period was a very strong one for the Rangers, as they scored 3 of the 4 goals single handedly in the first. Josh started things off right away by putting FHC on the board first only 3 minutes into the game and sending a message to EGR early. The Pioneers clawed their way to tie the game midway through the first, but FHC quickly responded with goals from freshman Mason Kelly and sophomore Cole Beaufait. The Rangers had an enormous amount of confidence heading into the second period.

EGR then came out hard in the next period. Just 4 minutes into the second, the Pioneers slipped in a goal and the game-tying goal would come minutes later to tie things up at 3. Charlie then made another big play when he gave FHC the lead again 4-3 just seconds later. EGR would tack on 1 more goal to end an exciting second period.

The third period was well-played by both teams. Both goalies made big saves all period long, as one goal from either team would have been an absolute game changer. Time expired in regulation and the Rangers once again went into overtime at Patterson.

FHC looked to pull out another huge win at home in overtime, as they had already done that against Grandville this season. Both student sections were charged up and ready to go for an intriguing rivalry OT game. But EGR found the back of the net to score the game-winner to silence the Ranger crowd and win 5-4.

Even though this isn’t the way FHC wanted the season to end, it was an admirable run considering where the Rangers started. This team started out 0-7 and made quite the remarkable turn around. Huge wins against Catholic Central and Grandville were the highlights of the season, and the way the team played at the beginning toward the end of the season were complete opposites.

Sophomore Tim Kramer reflects on his first, and unfortunately his last season as a Ranger and tells how the FHC Hockey team has grown over the course of the season.

“The difference in our play from the beginning to the end of the season were like night and day,” Tim said. “FHC will always be prevalent in Michigan high school hockey because we take such pride in our organization and we all love [the game] so much. It obviously shows, I mean we weren’t a skillful team in the beginning but we turned ourselves around and we didn’t stop.”