Depth one reason for Eagles' ice success

NEW ULM -- If you question New Ulm girls hockey coach Todd Nelson why his team has been so successful this season, he can give you 14 reasons.

"We have a good core of girls coming up from the pee-wee league, and good players returning from last year's team," commented Nelson, now in his third season as head coach. "We knew that our biggest strength this year would be our depth and our bench."

That has transformed into a 9-2-1 record this season for New Ulm, who captured first place in the Dodge County Shoot-out with a 3-0 win over Rochester Mayo.

"We have three lines that can go all the time," he said. "We do not have to mix and match on other opponents; we just let them go."

The Eagles, who finished 11-11-1 last year, began this season with wins over Willmar (2-1), Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato (3-2) and tied Faribault 2-2.

The Eagles then suffered consecutive setbacks against South Central Conference foes, Fairmont by a 4-2 score and Waseca 2-1.

But since then, the purple and white has ran off seven straight wins and have outscored opponents 31-8. Included in those wins were victories in the Dodge County Shoot-out over Rochester JM by a 5-2 score and a 3-1 win over Winona before taking the title against Mayo.

The success is due in large part to the experience that all of the girls have obtained from the pee-wees on up.

"The girls that we have from the pee-wee ranks have all played at least six years," commented Nelson. "We are finally at a point now where everybody has played hockey for four-plus years and we do not have to teach anyone to skate this year."

Leading the Eagles this season has been goaltender Jenny Neveln who has recorded eight of the Eagles' nine wins, with Shannon Abel garnering the other win.

Neveln has stopped 196 shots and allowed only 16 goals for a goals-against average (GAA) of 1.48. That has boosted her to 15th place in the goalie leaders in Minnesota girls hockey.

Neveln's ability in goal has caught the eye of Nelson, who attributes a lot the success this season to her.

"If I had to pick one person for the reason for our success this year it would be Jenny," said Nelson. "But at the same time, everybody has been solid for us. If you look at our points across the board, everybody has scored and every line has scored. It is not just one line that dominates; every line puts points on the board."

Leading New Ulm this season in scoring is center Ashley Dietz who has lit the lamp for 15 goals and has added four assists. Wings Tammy Cordes (2 goals, 4 assists) and Danielle Bode (2 goals, 4 assists) are paired with Dietz on one line.

Center Jocelyn Janni, only a freshman, has seven goals and three assists, with wings Nikki Nelson (2 goals, 2 assists) and Ali Carbert on one line, along with center Amy Waldner (3 goals, 3 assists) and wings Nikki Williams (5 goals, 2 assists) and Danielle Fischer (3 goals, 5 assists), have led the Eagles.

Kelly Anderson has contributed two assists, with Mary Otis (1 goal, 4 assists), Angie Seifert (2 assists), Abby Johnson (5 assists) and Megan Tess (3 assists) also making valuable contributions.

Nelson said that the team gained a lot of confidence this past weekend when they won the DCS.

"It was great," he said. "Hopefully the success and confidence will continue to grow. I think that we (Nelson and assistant coach Dave Kunz) have finally gotten to the girls and told them that they have to play a complete game. Forechecking really dominates and dictates play. That is what we did (last week) in keeping opposing teams from walking out of (their) zone."

Helping with the confidence was New Ulm's beating both Rochester schools -- a first in school history for girls hockey. "The players were excited. Rochester Mayo, a team in our section, has the ability to go to state again. That has been our goal since we started; we want to get to state."

Next year, girls hockey will to go two tiers, similar to the boy's setup.

"Sections will change next year, so this is our best chance to get to state without knowing where we will be put next year," Nelson said. "The team, that we know will be there and blocking our way, we have beaten this year."

Nelson, while happy with the contributions of all the girls, said that Nikki Williams "has played very tough. She is a junior now and she is a veteran. She has gotten the younger girls on her line, Amy Waldner and Danielle Fischer, going. All of the lines have put points on the board."

And having those solid three lines makes New Ulm a threat to score at all times.

"I think that the biggest factor, other than that we can play any line against anybody, is the wear-down factor," said Nelson. "We keep going hard for three periods and go hard with quick line changes; it seems to payoff with big dividends."

Nelson added that the success reflects back on the feeder system that New Ulm has.

"That (feeder system) has a lot to do with it," Nelson said. "Unlike other teams that have just had to jump into a high school hockey program, we were fortunate to jump into both the feeder and high school program. Now this is the first year where we are seeing the dividends. We lost eight seniors last year, but we were able to bring up six players. We are also very sound defensively."

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT: Nelson said that after watching the tapes of the past weekend, he still feels that the team has a lot of work to do.

"The biggest thing that we need to improve on is once we get it only the other team's zone we need to control and dictate play a little bit better, other than just getting one shot on the net."

STATE TOURNEY ONE GOAL: One of the goals that the Eagle girls have set this season is to play in the state tournament. "Our biggest long range goal is to make to the state. We wanted to win (SCC) conference, but we messed up early on in those games with Fairmont (New Ulm had two-goal lead in the game) and Waseca (New Ulm outshot Waseca by a 3-1 margin). So I don't know if conference title is there, but section and state is still there."

The defense of Caitlin Nelson and Abby Johnson along with Megan Tess and Angie Seifert have played well. "Megan and Angie are two young girls who have moved up but played very well."

LEVEL IMPROVES: Nelson said that the skill level of girls hockey in New Ulm has "vastly improved."

"We went from winning no games in the Dodge County tournament to winning all of the games," he said. "Every year we go back, we keep hearing how much New Ulm has improved.

"This year, when we played Fairmont, our pee-wee team scrimmaged their JV team and we won 8-0. The shots were like 53-3 in our favor."

Now, the Eagles gear toward the new year and their first game when they host Windom on Friday. The Eagles and Nelson hope that their season does not end until they play in the state tournament.

Column by Jim Bastian, Journal sports writer