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January 19, 2000
Eagle girls skate past LDCBy PAUL DUNLAP Journal Sports Editor NEW ULM -- The New Ulm girls hockey team inched closer to a .500 record Tuesday night, getting a hat trick from Shelly Gramentz en route to a 6-3 win over Litchfield-Dassel/Cokato at Vogel Arena. "It went how I wanted it to go," Eagle co-coach Todd Nelson said of the win. "We needed to come in and win today -- we want to get to .500 on the season, which has been our goal since day one. This (LDC) is a team that we lost to 3-2 in their barn earlier in the season, before we made some line changes. We knew we had the ability to beat this team, we just needed a good game." The New Ulm faithful didn't have to wait long to cheer as Abby Johnson scored on a wrist shot from the point just 13 seconds into the game. Gramentz would get her first goal at the 2:52 mark, another unassisted tally, and the Eagles went into the locker room after one with a 2-0 advantage. The scoring continued in the first minute of the second as the Dragons' Michelle LaLonde tipped the puck past Sarah Fischer and into her own net. Jocelyn Janni got credit for the goal, plus assisted along with Nikki Williams on Gramentz's second goal at 7:01 for the 4-0 Eagle edge. New Ulm had the four-goal edge, but a number of loose pucks that got past Fischer could have made the score much worse. "It seemed like there was a loose puck about every five seconds out there," Nelson commented. "We just couldn't get a stick on it. We had some chances, but that goes along with us pulling it together and getting better towards the end of the season." LDC would finally get on the board at the 9:45 mark of the second as Marie Halonen got the rebound and flipped it over goalie Angie Weisensel's shoulder to cut the lead to three. Gramentz would get that goal back as she recorded her third of the night on a power play at 6:01 of the final period, with assists again going to Williams and Janni. Williams would add the sixth and final New Ulm goal at 9:34. The Dragons were frustrated, leading to both of the game's penalties in the third. The first led to Gramentz's hat trick, but the second had an entirely different flavor. Down by five, LDC took advantage of a New Ulm letdown and scored a pair of short-handed goals -- the first coming on a pretty play by Alison Slinden at 12:05 and the second when Weisensel let the dump pass get under her stick and into the net at 13:02. "Those lapses at the end, I think they got a little overconfident," Nelson said. "That happens sometimes, but they need to know that they have to play hard until the buzzer sounds. You can't let up and have those mental mistakes at the end." Weisensel ended the game with a total of 18 saves on 21 shots. Fischer stopped 28 of 34 Eagle shots. New Ulm, now 7-9 on the season, will host Waseca Thursday, 7 p.m., at Vogel Arena. LDC 0 1 2--3 NEW ULM 2 2 2--6 FIRST PERIOD NU-Johnson (unassisted) :13; NU-Sh.Gramentz (unassisted) 2:52. SECOND PERIOD NU-Janni (Williams) :50; NU-Sh.Gramentz (Williams, Janni) 7:01; LDC-Halonen (unassisted) 9:45. THIRD PERIOD NU-Sh.Gramentz (Janni, Williams) PP 6:01; NU-Williams (unassisted) 9:34; LDC-Slinden (unassisted) SH 12:05; LDC-McGraw (unassisted) SH 13:02. Saves -- New Ulm (Weisensel) 4-5-9--18, LDC (Fischer) 9-10-9--28; Penalties -- NU 0-for-0, LDC 2-for-7.
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