Thorson scores four as Eagles rout East, 7-1

By PAUL DUNLAP

Journal Sports Editor

ST. PETER -- Domination doesn't even begin to describe it.

Travis Thorson scored four goals -- three on the power play -- as the second-seeded New Ulm High boys hockey team thumped No. 7 Mankato East/Loyola 7-1 Monday night in Section 1-1A quarterfinal action at Gustavus Adolphus College.

The Eagles, now 18-5 on the season, are right back at it tonight, 5 p.m., at GAC against the Northfield/Albert Lea winner in semifinal action.

"We knew we had to do it tonight," coach Tom Macho said of his team, who out-shot the Cougars 44-13. "We've had some (losses) the past few weeks, but we came out and looked the way we should. We needed to prove that we were seeded No. 2 for a reason."

The Eagles came out flying in the first period but Cougar goalie Mike Gunderson was up to the task early, stopping Brandon Rolloff on a breakaway. Jamie Hoffmann would put New Ulm on top to stay as he put a nice feed across the crease from Brent Clyne past Gunderson at the 9:54 mark. Jeff Reiter was also credited with an assist.

A power play in the final minute allowed Thorson to up the lead to 2-0 at 14:48 on assists from Chris Reinarts and Hoffmann. The Eagles had 18 shots on goal in the first 15 minutes.

"We were almost a little too pumped up," Macho said of that first period. "I just wanted us to settle down a little bit. We were going helter skelter there for awhile, beating (East) to every puck, but we were just going all over the place. Once we settled down into our game, with backchecking and things like that, we were OK."

New Ulm continued to keep the pressure on in the second period with 17 more shots on Gunderson. Thorson scored his second goal of the game unassisted at the 5:24 mark, and Rolloff made it 4-0 as he also scored unassisted at 10:14 when the Eagles were a man down.

The Cougars finally solved goalie Gary Wurtzberger at the 12:59 mark as Mak Woodward put in a rebound over the sprawling Eagle netminder to cut the deficit to three. It would be as close as East would come though -- Thorson made sure of that.

Frustrated Cougar skaters were pulled into dumb penalties, and on a 5-on-3 power play at 2:25 Thorson got his hat trick with assists going to Paul Yager and Hoffmann. Just 15 seconds later the senior forward scored again off another nice feed from Hoffmann.

"He's just a fireplug in front of the net," Macho said of Thorson. "His attitude is 'just bounce it off of me ... I'll put it in.'"

The last goal of the game was also on the power play as Tyson Anderson found Yager at the point, and Yager's slap shot went top shelf on Gunderson for the 7-1 score.

"This is the playoffs, and you know if (the opponent) makes a mistake you have to make them pay for it," Macho said. "We had four (goals) on the power play tonight. That's what we need to do this time of year."

MANKATO EAST 0 1 0--1

NEW ULM 2 2 3--7

FIRST PERIOD

NU-Hoffmann (Clyne, Reiter) 9:54; NU-Thorson (Reinarts, Hoffmann) PP 14:48.

SECOND PERIOD

NU-Thorson (unassisted) 5:24; NU-Rolloff (unassisted) SH 10:14; ME-Woodward (Vangsness, Cashman) 12:59.

THIRD PERIOD

NU-Thorson (Yager, Hoffmann) PP 2:25; NU-Thorson (Hoffmann) PP 2:50; NU-Yager (Anderson) 10:30.