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It just would have been nice if they could have scored a couple goals.

Two second period goals gave Lapeer West all the offense they would need, as Panthers' goalie Brandon Szczesny stopped every Lapeer East shot he faced, keying his team to a 2-0 Flint Metro League win on Saturday night at the Polar Palace.

Szczesny stonewalled the Eagles on all 27 shots he faced, and in the process, the sophomore goaltender picked up the shutout victory over his team's fiercest rival. With the win, West's record is now 11-6-1, with a 7-2 spot in the Flint Metro League.

For East (2-10-1, 2-5 FML), it was a game of missed opportunities.

"We had a lot of chances," East coach Dave Parker said. "We outshot them, we had our chances when we had a 5-on-3 power play. We even shot a couple off the posts.

"I thought we carried the game for most of it, we just couldn't put the puck in the net."

After a back-and-forth first period, West's Casey Cook struck first for his team. Cook found the back of the net on a powerplay goal with 11:51 left in the period. Junior defenseman Brandon Lewis assisted on the goal.

ÒThe first goal was a deflection that beat our goalie,Ó Parker said. ÒIt was a physical game, which the games against West usually are. We took a penalty and we paid the price for that one.Ó

It was another power play opportunity that put the game away for the Panthers.

Cook was once again the catalyst, as the senior captain beat East goalie Robert Cavanaugh for his second power play goal with just :21 left to play in the second period.

Cook set up in front of the net, took the rebound from Cavanaugh, and promptly deposited the puck into the net, causing his team to huddle up at the blue line in a celebratory move of congratulations. The assist on CookÕs second goal came from the stick of senior forward Nate Robson.

ÒAt that point, we knew we had to turn it up a bit,Ó Parker said. ÒWe had done a pretty good job of protecting our goalie up to that point, we just werenÕt taking care of the puck when the deflection came off.

ÒBut in the third, I thought that we controlled the flow of the game.Ó

East came out firing in the third period, as the West defense laid back and just tried to protect their two goal lead. East finished with 27 shot on goal, the majority of which came in the final period, but West goalie Szczesny repelled all attempts by the EaglesÕ offense to make it a close game.

ÒIÕm actually happy with how we played,Ó Parker said. ÒThe games with West are always close, and this one was no different. ItÕs a big rivalry and the kids were all up for this one.

ÒWe just had a rough time putting the puck in the net.Ó

East next plays tonight against Oxford at 7:15 p.m. at the Polar Palace. West is off until January 30, when the Panthers also will play Oxford at the Polar Palace.

Andrew Selich is sports editor at The County Press. He can be reached at (810) 664-0811 or at andrew.selich@lapeergroup.com