Willmar's goalie shuts down Eagle skaters

BY JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM - A hot goalie in hockey is like having a top-notch lefthanded pitcher on the mound for you. He can carry you a long way.

Thursday night, Willmar's Brandon Czupinski stopped 41 of 42 New Ulm shots as the Cardinals handed New Ulm only their third loss of the year and first at Vogel Arena this season with a 2-1 win.

New Ulm's Brent Clyne got the only puck by the senior net-minder on a back-hander when the Eagles were on the power-play early in the second period.

"This was an exciting game for fans to watch but the fact of the matter is that we could not score," said coach Tom Macho who saw his team drop to 15-3 on the year. "I think that in the last 14 seconds (of the game) we must have had some really good chances but we could not put it in the net. We dominated the game (41 shots on goal to 22 for Willmar) but that kid (Czupinski) was the story of the game tonight."

Czupinski came up big twice on Jamie Hoffmann in those waning seconds and also denied Chris Reinarts a goal with a glove save with 14 seconds left.

The Eagles, who host Litchfield, began the game like they would dominate Willmar, a team that entered the game with a 2-12-1 mark.

Brent Clyne, who Czupinski frustrated in the game, made his first of many big saves when he stopped two Clyne shots as the Eagles controlled the game in the first 10 minutes.

"We dominated early in that (first) period but then they gained some momentum late in the first period -- they followed our centers around and put a man on the center all the time," Macho said. "They just played in tougher."

And that lead to a Willmar goal when Troy Weiss put a backhander by Eagle goalie Isaac Forstner for a 1-0 lead at the 13:58 mark.

Both teams would not score in the second period as Willmar outshot New Ulm 12-7 as the Cardinals kept that momentum going.

"They tightened up their defense but we missed the net a lot,:"Macho said. "But at time, we tried to be to fancy - we tried to look for that goal that was wide open instead of taking the shot and following in for the rebound. We tried to be to fancy."

Macho said that perhaps his team's six days off since their last game may have been a factor in the loss.

'"It may have been but we felt yesterday in practice that we just did not seem to have the enthusiasm -- it was getting to long and it was time to go again," Macho said. "(Coaches) felt that this game did not look good. They are a good 2-12 team -- they play good competition in Alexandria and Brainerd. We knew that it was going to be tough- it was Parent's Night but that is a pretty good club."

Clyne finally gained some revenge on Czupinski when he back-handed a shot from the left circle by Czupinski on his stick side at the 4:57 mark of the third period to tie the game.

But Willmar would retake the lead eight minutes later on a slap shot from the point by Cass Wierschem for a 2-1 lead at the 12:13 mark.

And Czupinski did the rest. "That was the game," said Macho. "He won the game for them."