The Fenton & Linden Griffins hockey team opened their season Nov. 27 by shutting out the Kalamazoo Eagles. The game was the first of two, and the Griffins traveled all the way to Hudsonville, Michigan. Although Hudsonville is about 140 miles away from their home ice, junior Bobby Temple said he was very comfortable in Georgetown Arena as he opened up scoring for the Griffins to take a 1-0 lead.

“Blake Smiecinski was putting pressure on the net,” Temple said. “I was just coming off of the bench from a line change, and so was Linden junior Brendan Buerkel. We rushed into the zone and Buerkel put some pressure on the guy bringing the puck out of the zone.”

After the opponent coughed up the puck, Temple took a shot and untied the game for a 1-0 lead. The rest of the first period was a defensive battle, with junior Brandon Diener anchoring the Griffins’ defense.

“We were missing some of our players because of vacations and stuff, so we were a little short on defense,” Diener said. “We played okay defense for not having some key players. Our goalie played really well making a lot of good saves in the net.”

The Griffins did not allow a single goal over the next two periods, and after another score by Temple, Linden players Brendan Buerkel and Jake Thompson joined Temple in the box score with goals of their own to take 4-0 lead. The Griffins were able to keep their four goal lead until the final buzzer and notched their first win of the season. The Griffins’ first home game is Wednesday, Dec. 2 against the Avondale/Oxford Yellow Jackets at their home rink in Hartland.