|
|
|
January 14, 2000
Eagles escape with winBy PAUL DUNLAP Journal Sports Editor NEW ULM -- Just enough to get the win. The New Ulm boys hockey team fought through a sluggish effort Thursday night, defeating Le Sueur-Henderson/St. Peter 4-2 at Vogel Arena. "We're sitting in the locker room right now, and you would think that we just lost," Eagles' coach Tom Macho said. "We just didn't connect at all tonight. Last week at this time we really played as a team (against Rochester Lourdes), but it was like 1-on-5 hockey tonight. "We knew we were faster, we knew we could stick-handle better, but we didn't do things as a team. It was just a mess." The first period was mostly played in the Bulldogs' end, with New Ulm coming up empty on numerous scoring opportunities before Brenton Clyne finally found the net at 14:41 with assists going to Ryan Neuman and Jacob Holm. That would give the Eagles a 1-0 advantage after the first frame, but the confidence just wasn't there as the second period got underway. "We (coaches) didn't know what to say," Macho said. "Those first two periods were just a mess. It wasn't hockey, that's for sure." LSHSP goalie Shaun Willson looked to be tentative at times, letting pucks slip out of his glove. Jace Marti would take advantage as he ripped a slap shot from the blue line that was tipped by Al Wurtzberger and went through the Bulldog goalie at the 8:49 mark, fluttering over the goal line for a 2-0 Eagle edge. New Ulm looked to be turning the corner at that point, but a lapse in defense allowed LSHSP's Drew Tolzman to skate in and push the puck past Eagle goalie Isaac Forstner with a little more than three minutes left in the second. Suddenly, New Ulm was up by just a single goal heading into the third. "We didn't have to be pretty with these guys," Macho said. "We just had to get some shots on net and look for the rebound. We didn't do that at all." Wurtzberger would quickly get that advantage back to two goals as he scored on a nice feed from David Sellner just :24 into the third. A flash of what this team can do. "We knew we had to do something, and we scored right away," Macho said. "David beat everyone to the puck and fed Al right out in front. At that point I thought we'd get things into gear, but again we didn't." New Ulm would nurse that lead until the Bulldogs pulled their goalie in the final minute. Justin Parrot would make that gamble pay off as he scored off a rebound with :44 remaining. After both teams called time-out to set up the final seconds, Wurtzberger's face-off found Sellner who out-raced the entire LSHSP squad to the empty net, finishing off the scoring with :06 left. "If Al won the face-off, he was supposed to block his man while Sellner and (Brandon) Rolloff tried to break out," Macho explained. "Rolloff ended up being covered, so Dave just took it himself." Forstner ended up with the win between the pipes, stopping 14 of 16 shots. Willson turned away 28 of 31 Eagle shots. New Ulm (11-3) will have a tough week beginning Tuesday when they travel to Fairmont for a conference matchup. From there they travel to Waseca Thursday and Minneapolis South Friday. "We're going to have to play better than we did tonight," Macho said. "Everyone on this team knows that." The Eagle junior varsity also came through with a win Thursday, defeating the Bulldogs 4-1. Corey Schnobrich, Bryan Abel, Joe Penkert, and Josh Jacobs scored the goals. Schnobrich also had two assists, with Adam Dietz, Ryan Neidecker, and Matt Schuetzle recording one apiece. Brandon Sievert stopped 18 of 19 shots in net for New Ulm. LSH-SP 0 1 1--2 NEW ULM 1 1 2--4 FIRST PERIOD NU-Clyne (Neuman, Holm) 14:41. SECOND PERIOD NU-Wurtzberger (Marti) 8:49; LSHSP-Tolzman (Schroeder) 11:43. THIRD PERIOD NU-Wurtzberger (Sellner) :24; LSHSP-Parrot (Hathaway) 14:16; NU-Sellner (Wurtzberger) 14:54. Saves -- LSHSP (Willson) 7-10-11--28, New Ulm (Forstner) 4-3-7--14; Penalties -- LSHSP 1-for-2, New Ulm 4-for-8.
|