EDWARDSVILLE – Caden Clark scored with 2:15 remaining in the game, and the goal allowed Alton to come from behind and take a 5-4 win over Belleville to tie their Mississippi Valley Club Hockey Association Class 1A semifinal series at one win each, setting up a winner-take-all game three in their best-of-three series Thursday night, Feb. 20, 2025.
Belleville had won game one on Monday night 3-2 winning a shootout 1-0, and led 3-0 and 4-2 before the Redbirds came back with three unanswered goals, including Clark’s winner, to tie the series.
‘I feel pretty good, obviously, after that win,” said Alton head coach Ryan Clark. “I don’t think we started very well, getting down 3-0. We just stayed with it, and kept crawling back, so this is definitely a heck of a win. I thought we played good our first game, as well, but just fell a little bit short. I figured this was going to be a close, tight series, back and forth, but definitely happy to get this one here tonight.”
The Redbirds bounced back nicely from the shootout loss on Tuesday night, and will play in game three to decide the winner of the series. It’s something Clark is excited about.
“It’s all that you ask for, right? Just to stay in it,” Clark said. “We just didn’t want to go home tonight, we didn’t want this to be the end of our season. It was definitely a heartbreaker in the shootout loss the other night, because I thought we were the better team, personally. We just fell a little bit short, but give credit to Belleville. They’re a good team as well. But we have the opportunity to play game three, I mean, this is what you live for. This is hockey, this is playoff hockey. It’s great.”
The come-from-behind win will definitely put the Redbirds in the right frame of mind for the deciding game.
“Absolutely,” Clark said. “That’s a big goal by Caden, there. To do that at the very end, he just stayed with it. He played a lot there this game, especially the third period, and he’s a heck of a hockey player, he’s actually my son as well,” the coach said with a smile and laugh. “Sometimes, I don’t know how he does it, but I can tell you he did not get it from me. That kid puts his heart and soul into this game, and it’s really deserving of him to get that goal there at the end.”
Needless to say, Clark is looking forward to game three.
“Absolutely,” Clark said. “That’s going to be a tough matchup with Belleville; they’re not going to go easy. We’ve got to be at our best. It’s game three, everybody’s got to bring it. Definitely, we would love the fans to come support us as well, 7:30 on Monday night at East Alton (Ice Arena), so we’re looking forward to it.”
The opposite feeling was felt by Belleville after allowing the Redbirds to rally back to tie the series.
Belleville head coach Nick Harbenko was disappointed in his team’s loss. “It was there for us to win. I feel like there was some calls that didn’t go our way, and it affected the outcome of the game., in my opinion. We were the better team tonight.”
Belleville scored the only goal of the first period on a power play, with Reid Stevenson off for tripping. Bode Strubberg scored off a nice pass at 8:43 to give Belleville the lead at 1-0, for the only goal of the period, In the second, it became 2-0 when Miles Browne scored from Carson Markwell at 3:07, and 43 seconds later, at 3:50, Max Eiskant scored to make it 3-0 for Belleville.
The Redbirds pulled back to within 3-2 on goals by Clark at 6:36, assisted by Keller Jacobs, and Tanner Dunham, assisted by Clark, at 9:05, to give Alton a chance in the third period. Belleville made it 4-2 at 3:25 of the third period, on a goal by Tyler Welsch, assisted by Dax Ahlers, but the Redbirds came right back on a goal 43 seconds later, at 4:18, by Ethan Taul, assisted by Dunham, to make the score 4-3.
The Redbirds tied the game at 4-4 at 9:37, off a scramble in front, when Jacobs scored off an assist by Clark, then Clark connected on his game-winner at 11:45, taking a loose puck, finding space, and firing it into the net to give Alton a 5-4 win.
For the game, Belleville outshot Alton 40-28.
The two teams will play their third and deciding game Monday night at East Alton Ice Arena at 7:30 p.m., with the winner playing for the Class 1A championship against either Columbia or Triad, with the schedule to be announced.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
