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January 16, 2000
Eagle skaters in good positionNEW ULM -- The New Ulm High School boy's hockey team is "about where they want to be," said head coach Tom Macho as the Eagles have posted an 11-3 season mark following a 4-2 win over Le Sueur-Henderson/St. Peter. "Anytime you are well above the .500 mark, you are where you want to be," he said. "I would say that we are right on schedule. The kids have set a goal of where they want to play in the state (Class A) hockey tournament. So far, we are right on track to get to that goal." The win over LSH/SP coupled with the loss of Litchfield-Dassel-Cokato to St. Michael-Albertville placed New Ulm in a first-place tie in the Central Minnesota Conference with LDC. "That is a plus. I would say that we are right where we want to be." One of the biggest wins for New Ulm this season came on Jan. 7 when they bumped off the fourth-ranked team in Class A, Rochester Lourdes, by a 3-2 score. Lourdes is also in the Eagles' section. "Without a doubt, that was a game where everyone just played exactly according to how they were supposed to," recalled Macho. "Everyone contributed whether it was in penalty-killing, scoring or covering their main line. Everything that we were able to do, we were able to match up all the time. It was one of those games where the concentration was high." Macho felt that in the game with LSH/SP, the Eagles' effort, enough to win, was due to perhaps over-confidence. "We had played them before and the kids knew that we were faster than they were and the kids thought that they (LSH/SP) would roll over and they won't be a problem. But every time you play someone, you have to be ready." Macho said that so far in the Eagles' season, David Sellner (13 goals, eight assists) has "played very well. Not only because he is leading in goal scoring but because he leads us in hustle. He gets to the corner first for the puck and just goes all-out. Al Wurtzberger (four goals, 12 assists) is doing a good job for us in a number of different areas. He is winning face-offs for us and has a big number of assists (12). That is what we need him to do." Macho also praised the play of defensemen Jacob Holm and Brian Meier. "They are two seniors who have played a couple of years for us. They lead the younger kids; we use two sophomores (Jace Marti and Scott Stewart) and three juniors (Andy Stolt, Jeff Reiter and Paul Yager) on defense. All of them were inexperienced." New Ulm's goaltending duties have been anchored by Gary Wurtzberger, who has recorded 266 saves and has a 2.33 goals allowed per game average. Macho feels that if New Ulm is going to get to their goal of playing in a state hockey tournament, they will probably see Lourdes and Albert Lea as stumbling blocks. "Lourdes has the team experience of playing in the big game." HOUNDS GET GOOD DEFENSE: New Ulm Cathedral boy's basketball team got what head coach Dan Wolfe felt was, "perhaps their best quarter as a team this season in the first quarter" of a 68-53 win over McLeod West Friday night. The Hounds jumped to a 19-2 lead after the first. "We spent the entire quarter break telling the kids (with that 17-point lead) that we had to keep up the intensity. That kind of fell on deaf ears, but give McLeod West credit for fighting back." Wolfe said that the first quarter was, "solid defense. That was perhaps the finest that I have seen a Cathedral team play. We had 15 steals in the first half (23 steals in the game); our kids were putting a lot of pressure on the basketball, getting in the passing lanes and just rotating extremely well. "We made it hard for them to get anything going offensively. We turned those steals into transition baskets. Joey Schugel (19 points in the game) had the hot hand in the first half for us in 3-point shots (4-for-5 in the first half and 5-for-6 in the game). "Plus, we really pounded the offensive boards; we had 25 offensive rebounds (42 rebounds in the game). We had four kids who had four or more offensive rebounds. Mike Hall had four offensive rebounds and scored on all four of them." Wolfe said that the four players coming off of the bench -- Hall, Hans Biebl, Dave Groebner and Brandon Reinarts -- "are really helping this ballclub. They are playing so well that we are able to give them more minutes which lets us rest our starters longer. We are running a nine-man rotation now." Defensively. Wolfe said that his team is, "anticipating well. They are rotating with each other and how to cover for each other when things break down on the ball side. On offense, they play well to each other's strengths. Joey had a good game, but there are kids who set him up to give him those good open looks. The kids are playing with more confidence with the three straight wins. Defensively, teams are having trouble scoring against us. We gave up 36 points to BLH, 38 to GFW and 53 to McLeod on their court, and two of those three wins were on the road." CHARGERS NEED MORE INTENSITY: MV: head girl's basketball coach John Barenz said that his team, "faced a very physical GFW team (Friday night). They were quick to the ball. We took good shots but that quickness to the ball forced us to give the ball up by way of the turnover." The Chargers, now 6-2 in the Tomahawk Conference and 6-4 overall, had a halftime lead of three points before GFW went on a 21-11 scoring advantage in the third quarter. "They (GFW) just picked up the intensity on defense and we became more tentative; the combination of both forced some key turnovers." Barenz felt that his team had, "spotty play by all three perimeter players. There were moments that we dished the ball off and then we gave the ball up. There was nothing consistent." Barenz felt that the positives are, "we know that we have to become more aggressive for an entire game rather than two quarters, and we have to shoot from the outside more -- not just from the inside." EAGLES HIT SKIDS: Following their first win of the season over Redwood Valley, the New Ulm High School girl's basketball team has lost their last four games. "The biggest emotion is frustration on our part," said head coach Paul Meyer. "We've played some tough teams in Marshall, Blue Earth and Waseca, all rated in the state. It is just a matter of getting some continuity. We have done some things well, but not enough of them." Meyer said that he knows that the girls want to win and their mind-set has been positive. "We have played well enough to win at times. And I think that is is just a matter of not so much worried about the outcome of the game as being focused at what we do well." He said that Jessica Schaetzke, Brittany Gorres, Emily Hamann, and Kim Wendinger have all played well. "Emily and Brittany have done a good job, at times, of getting us into our offense. Jessica and and Kim have been scoring for us and Britta Rieke and Liz Dannenberg have done a decent job at the post. We have played well 50 percent of the time in all areas and we need to improve on the other 50 percent." ESSIG BASEBALL MEETING: The annual meeting of the Essig Baseball Association will be held on Monday, Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m. at Carl's Corner. There will be the election of three board members.
Column by Jim Bastian, Journal sports writer
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