Five crowned in Lake Delton at first UT Waterpark Classic

Ultimate Tournaments wrapped up its first Wisconsin Dells tournament of the 2020-21 season with a solid weekend of great play culminating with 10 Championship games on Sunday, November 15.

The Mite, Squirt and Peewee Division Championship games were split with five at the Lake Delton Ice Arena and five at Reedsburg Area Community Arena (RACA). Sauk Prairie Area Recreation Center (SPARC) and Pierce Park Pavilion in Baraboo also hosted games on a busy weekend.

Following is a look at the Lake Delton Ice Arena Championship matches in the order they were played

PEEWEE B

Omaha Jr. Mavericks 2 Peoria Jr. Rivs 1 (ot)

The Championship Day could not have gotten off to a better start as this duel came down to a last-minute howitzer and an overtime breakaway.

The Rivermen and Mavericks played in a four-team division and reached the Championship game with matching victories and a head-to-head preview in tightly packed group

Omaha grabbed a 3-1 win in its opener against St. Peter’s while Peoria earned a 5-0 shutout against Belle Tire peewees.

In their final round the Mavs edged Belle Tire 2-1 and the Rivs got by St. Peter’s 5-4. In between was the middle contest won by Omaha 3-0 against Peoria.

The Championship game featured almost 20 minutes of shutout hockey before Cruz Taylor converted a pass from Quinn Andrews to lift the Rivermen to a 1-0 lead that stood up all the way to the game’s final minute.

A desperate Omaha squad looked to draw level and defenseman Zoren Sobansky made it happen, His slapper from the blue line going through a crowd and making its way to the mesh just 45 seconds from the end.

Sam Coakley finished the comeback skating in alone from the red line and backhanding the game winner home with 2:37 to play in 4-on-4 overtime.

The Omaha Jr. Mavericks captured the Peewee B Championship at the first Ultimate Tournaments Waterpark Classic event of the year in Wisconsin Dells with a 2-1 overtime win against the Peoria Rivs. Jr. Mavs team members include:Kellen Mann; Brody Strohman; Conner Bash; Mason Baughman; John Fleming; Trey Sigmund III; Casey Gillilland; Gianni Bianchette; Zoren Sobansky; Jacob Ellison; Sam Coakley; Henry Lancaster; Logan Sibson; Ben Insko; Brian Strohman; Logan Voight and Dario Marez. Mavericks are coached by Karry Baughman; Mike Blanchette and Cody Sobansky.

SQUIRT B-C

Kirkwood Stars 7 Belle Tire Warriors 2

Another four-team division saw the Stars wrapping up a successful four-win weekend the same way it started, with a win against Belle Tire Warriors.

After a 4-3 win on Friday night against the Warriors, the Stars went on to a round-robin sweep with a 6-1 win against St. Louis area rival, Meramec Sharks and a 6-1 win against Sabres Hockey Saturday night.

Belle Tire rallied from its opening loss with a 6-1 win against Sabres Hockey on Saturday and an early morning 8-3 decision Sunday against Meramec Sharks.

The Stars set the tone in the opener with a first minute goal from Tristan Rojas who went on to add two others. Stars opened a 4-1 lead through the opening period and cruised from there. Other Kirkwood goals came from Louie Rolwes; Live Bowler; James Newman and Andrew Hallsten.

Joey Fragoso and Parker Vargo countered with the Belle Tire markers.

The Kirkwood Stars finished a perfect 4-0 weekend as Champions of the Ultimate Tournaments Waterpark Classic Squirt B-C Division. Team members include: James Newman; Christopher Schneithorst; Louie Rolwes; James Mignerone; Andrew Hallsten; Charles Thomson; Jack Pennington; Luke Robison; Steven Shapiro; Jackson Porter; Tristan Rojas; William Hulsen and Liv Bowler. The Stars are coached by Chip Hallsten; Adam Thomson; James Newman and Matt Bowler.

MITE AA

Rockford Roadrunners 2 Glacier Ice Dogs 0

A small, but thrilling division ultimately wrapped up with the Roadrunners capturing a 2-0 shutout against Glacier Ice Dogs.

Glacier grabbed a 6-1 win against Peoria in its first game on the Friday night and promise of a thrilling championship came out of a 3-3 draw against the Roadrunners

Roadrunners wrapped up round robin play with a 5-0 win against Peoria on Saturday, the shutout playing a part in the Rockford crew gaining a bye to the championship game while the Ice Dogs needed a 5-0 win against Peoria in an early Sunday morning semi-final.

Jayger Guffey scored the only goal Roadrunners needed with 5:09 to go in the opening period with an assist for Kash Cassalena. Guffey added another for insurance in the final seconds of the second period with another assist for Cassalena.

Backstopping the win was Roadrunners goaltender Raef Gibler with a nine-save shutout.

Rockford Roadrunners were winners of the Mite AA Division at the Ultimate Tournaments Wisconsin Dells Waterpark Classic November 15, winning the championship game against Glacier Ice Dogs.

MITE B

Kankakee Coyotes 5 Rockford Roadrunners 3

Again, two teams that kicked off against each other were the last two standing in this Division as well.

The Coyotes grabbed a 5-1 win against the Roadrunners Friday night, then rolled through the rest of the weekend with a pair of 5-0 shutouts against both Crystal Lake Stingers and Wisconsin Jets.

The Roadrunners also grabbed 5-0 goose eggs against both teams, setting up the rematch in the Championship game.

The Roadrunners hit the board first in the finale and carried a 1-0 lead out of the opening period. Coyotes struck for a pair of unanswered second period goals, but teams were even again early in the third.

Two goals in a little more than two minutes put the Coyotes in front to stay. The Roadrunners were within a goal, scoring with 3:33 to play, but an empty netter with 26 ticks on the clock wrapped up the Kankakee win.

Kerner, Renchen, Curwick, Merten and Warner had the Coyote goals, Brayden Washin, Michael Wagner, and Mason Lampe responding for the Roadrunners.

Kankakee Coyotes captured the Mite B Championship Trophy at the Ultimate Tournaments Wisconsin Dells Waterpark Classic November 15.

SQUIRT A – WHITE

Meramec Sharks 7 Rockford Roadrunners 1

After dropping its first game, the Sharks rallied back all the way to a championship.

The Sharks started out with a 3-1 loss to the Northwest Chicago Rebels Saturday morning, but struck back with a 6-1 win against Peoria and a 5-0 shutout in an early Sunday meeting with the Roadrunners.

Meanwhile, Rockford started with a 4-0 shutout against Peoria and got by Kirkwood Stars 4-1 before running into the Sharks.

In the Championship game, Jack Ortyl and Jack Steve led the Sharks with a two-goal games with others added by Braden Messmer, Kipton Feager, Connor Flynn and Ode Lape. William Taylor, Aiden Beuchting, Tyler Strothman, Braden Messmer and Shane Dressel picked up assists.

Jacob Wagner notched the lone Roadrunners goal, unassisted.

The Meramec Sharks captured the Squirt A White Division championship at Ultimate Tournaments Waterpark Classic in Wisconsin Dells Nov. 15 with a 7-1 win Rockford Roadrunners. Team members include Aiden Beuchting, Braden Messmer, Carson Simmons, Henry Schneider, Jack Ortyl, Jack Stebe, Kipton Feager, Ode Lape, Shane Dressel, Tyler Strotham, William Taylor, Wyatt Westbrock and Camden Wooderson. The Sharks are coached by William Taylor, Bill Flynn and Kyle Simmons.

Uminski sets up six in back to back wins at Dubuque

The RWD bantam Cheavers were one of only two teams from the organization in action this past weekend, taking both ends of back-to-back games at Mystique Arena in Dubuque.

Kaden Uminski stepped up as a playmaker extraordinaire in the games played Sunday, setting up all but one of the team’s five goals in a 5-1 win followed by two more assists in 3-1 win to follow.

The first game saw the Cheavers jumping into a 3-0 first period lead, then adding two more in the final frame with the lone Junior Saints goal coming in the second.

RJ Manley fired the first two RWD goals with others for Tye Barney, Nolan Pope and Carter Renneberg. Alex Griebe turned aside all but one of the 22 shots he faced in the opening contest.

The second game saw just one goal in the first two periods, that coming from Barney who opened and closed the scoring for RWD. In between was the game winner fired by Manley.

Griebe collected another win in goal as the RWD bantams move into the second half of November sporting a 7-1 record so far.

Peewee Cheavers take two of three on the road

RWD Peewee Cheavers wrapped up a 2-1 weekend on the road with 5-0 and 9-2 wins at Waupaca against the host Comets before wrapping up against a strong Tomah Timberwolves team on Sunday and absorbing a 9-1 defeat.

In the first game against the Comets, Landon Uminski scored the game winner in the second period, adding another later with singles for Matt Stando, Payton Kowalski and Noah Mortimer. RJ Manley collected a couple assists in the contest with others for Aiden Knull and Ethan Wilcox.

Jordan Kowalski was perfect between the pipes, grabbing the shutout.

In the second game, the Cheavers blasted out of the gate for a 5-1 first period cushion and never looked back.

Knull and Payton Kowalski both notched a pair of goals, Elizabeth Haag adding a goal and assist and other goals for Stando, Wyatt Arnold and Dayne Wagner. Manley set up a pair with another assist for Wilcox.

The peewees knew they were in tough against the Timberwolves who jumped into a 4-0 lead and built on that. The Cheavers gained some satisfaction, denying the host a shutout thanks to a goal from Wilcox just 2:48 from the horn.

Cheavers, T-Birds, Flyers and Monkeys weekend schedules

By Jim den Hollander

Publisher/Editor

Saukhockey.info

It’s a light weekend – in fact, a couple weeks for RWD Cheavers youth hockey teams, but there are plenty of games in the hopper for the other youth squads head into the weekend.

RWD CHEAVERS

Peewee A – A tough test on the road Sunday for the Peewee ‘A’ squad that makes the trip to Tomah to play one of the top peewee teams in the area.

Bantams – The bantam Cheavers will get its first tournament test of the season making the trip to West Salem. Although opponents are still too be announced, games times of 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday as well as 11 a.m. Sunday already appear on the schedule.

BARABOO T-BIRDS

Peewee – The Peewee T-Birds will entertain West Salem peewees at Pierce Park Pavilion for a pair of games on Saturday with puck drop at 9:45 a.m. and 11:45 a.m.

Bantam – T-Bird Bantams have a busy weekend with three games scheduled. The first game will be Saturday at 3:45 p.m. at Pierce Park Pavilion at 3:45 p.m. and the T-Birds hit the road Sunday to play at Viroqua Community Arena with 10:15 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. games against the host Viroqua Thunder.

SAUK PRAIRIE FLYERS

Squirt – The Squirt ‘A’ Flyers will be at Stateline Ice and Community Expo for a road contest against the Monroe Avalanche Sunday at 4:45 p.m.

The Squirt ‘B’ Flyers have a busy weekend, beginning with a visit from the Waunakee C2 Wildcats Saturday at 9 a.m. and then Sunday the C1 Warriors will be in town for a 1:15 p.m. contest.

Peewee – The Peewee ‘A’ Flyers will entertain the Sun Prairie ‘B’ Cardinals in a 5:15 p.m. contest at SPARC on Saturday, then travel to Stateline Ice and Community Expo to play the Monroe Avalanche at 2:45 p.m. Sunday afternoon.

The Peewee ‘B’ Flyers entertain the Sun Prairie C1 peewees at SPARC on Saturday at 3:45 p.m.

Bantam – The Bantam ‘A’ Flyers will play host to the West Madison Polar Caps at 6:45 p.m. Saturday at SPARC and will hit the road Sunday to play the Monroe Avalanche at Stateline Ice and Community Expo Sunday at 1:15 p.m.

The Bantam ‘B’ squad heads to Monroe on Friday night for a 7:45 p.m. game against the Monroe ‘B’ Avs then moves on to the Ponds of Brookfield Ice Arena to square off against the Elmbrook ‘C’ Eagles in a 7:10 p.m. match. Sunday will see the Flyers back in Monroe for a rematch against the ‘B’ Avalanche at 11:45 a.m.

SAUK PRAIRIE MONKEYS

U-10 – The U-10 Sauk Monkeys will open its 2020-21 campaign Saturday in Beaver Dam with a 10:45 a.m. contest against the U-10 Beaver Dam Wildfire

U-12 – Some cancellations lightened the schedule somewhat for the U-12 ‘A’ Monkeys who will also be in Beaver Dam this weekend for a 12:15 p.m. match Saturday against the Wildfire U-12’s.

The U-12 ‘B’ squad will entertain the Washington County Lynx in a contest at 2:45 p.m. at SPARC.

U-14 – The U-14 Monkeys will travel to Beaver Dam Saturday for a return match at 1:45 p.m. Saturday having entertained the same squad at SPARC the previous weekend.

Renneberg notches two but Squirt Flyers rally back

By Jim den Hollander

Publisher/Editor

Saukhockey.info

Cole Renneberg fired a pair of unassisted first period goals to push the RWD Squirt ‘B’ team in front but the Sauk Prairie Flyers rallied back to even the score later as teams played to a 2-2 draw at Reedsburg Area Community Arena Saturday.

Renneberg’s first came just 61 seconds into the contest and the other was scored about six minutes later.

Haakon Hoeltke got the Flyers on the board late in the opening period with after taking a pass from Eli Dillon. Following a scoreless middle frame, it was an unassisted goal from Henry Zuelke that pulled the Flyers even with a little more than five minutes to play in the contest.

Jase Uminski turned aside eight of the 10 shots he faced in the game for the Cheavers and the Flyers’ goaltender stopped nine of 11.

The game was the first of the season for the Cheavers while the Flyers opened the previous weekend with a tough loss on home ice against Sun Prairie C1 Cardinals.

The Cheavers will enjoy a couple weeks off before returning with a three-game weekend, including a rematch at SPARC against the Flyers.

The Flyers will entertain a pair of Sun Prairie teams Saturday, facing the C2 team at 9 a.m. and getting a rematch with the C1 Cardinals at 1:15 p.m.

Kowalski pair leads Cheavers past Wildcats

By Jim den Hollander

Publisher/Editor

Saukhockey.info

RWD Peewee ‘B’ Cheavers got its 2020-21 regular season off to a winning start with a 4-2 doubling of the Waunakee Wildcats Pewee C2 squad.

Teams needed time to get warmed up, playing through a scoreless opening period that saw the Cheavers with an overpowering 17-1 edge in shots on goal.

Jordan Kowalski hit the board first, scoring the first two RWD markers a little more than two minutes apart, sandwiching the first Wildcats’ tally.

Payton Kowalski, who picked up an assist on the first goal, made it a two-goal margin for RWD before the end of the middle period when he fired home a pass from Paige Othmer for the goal that stood up as the game winner.

Andrew Stando notched one more, late in the final period to round out the Cheavers’ scoring and Dayne Wagner also collected an assist for the winners earlier in the contest.

After turning aside the lone shot in the first period, Mason Matteson was much busier between the pipes in the middle frame, handling all but one of the 19 shots he faced and he added another five saves in the third to notch the win and a total of 24 saves.

The Peewee ‘B’s will enjoy a weekend off coming up and will be back in action at Sauk Prairie and home to play Waunakee C1 White Nov. 28.

Flyers-Cheavers peewees faceoff to start new season

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The Sauk Prairie Flyers and RWD Cheavers Peewee ‘A’ squads both got their respective seasons started this past Saturday morning at Reedsburg Area Community Arena in Reedsburg.

The Flyers opened with an impressive 10-0 season opening win, but by the end of the day, both teams were at 1-1 on the season as the Cheavers returned to the ice for a 3-0 shutout against Waunakee Peewee C1 Red while the Flyers returned home and faced a tough challenge from Tomah Timberwolves who grabbed an 8-1 win

Flyers 10 @ Cheavers 0

The visiting Flyers opened the scoring 26-seconds into the opener but Jordan Kowaski stood tough in the Cheavers’ goal, turning aside 12 of 14 shots faced in the opening period. The Flyers found the openings for five more in the middle period, then finished the game with three down the stretch.

For the Flyers, Graysen Dunn and Taylen Graf shared the shutout, combining to make 13 saves.

Carl Weiss scored three and set up another to pace the Flyers’ offense, Quinn Payne and Douglas Jolicoeur adding two each with singles for Ben Hanko, Michael Jolicoeur (who added an assist) and Rylan Burch. Greydon Schomber picked up two assists in the contest with other help from Austin Smith.

RWD 3 @ Waunakee 0

This time it was the Cheavers on the board quick as Tyler Krieski scored the first goal of the season for his team 40 seconds in.

That stood up until Aiden Knull doubled the margin, converting a feed from Landen Uminski late in the second period. Hailey Dietl added some insurance with her third period goal on a set-up from Knull.

Olivia Renneberg notched the shutout in goal for the Cheavers, turning aside all 18 shot s she faced, helping her team collect the win despite being outshot 20-18.

Tomah Timberwolves 8 @ Sauk Prairie Flyers 1

Full details will be added on this con as they become available.

Ducks inch closer to first win

The Ducks are still searching for its first win of the season but Sunday’s effort gave the team for optimism for sure.

On Sunday, the Ducks scored the first two goals and carried a 2-1 lead into the second period and a 3-2 edge into the third, but four straight for the Vipers saw this one end in disappointing fashion once again.

Bright spots included a two-goal game for Logan Potts, an ’03 from Allen, Texas who has four goals, including three in his past two games.

Jayden Tkaczuk and Adam Brown notched the other Ducks goals while Anthony Falzone turned in a solid 58-save performance. The Ducks looked far more confident at both ends, connected on a powerplay marker played a more confident game in its own end. There are many miles still to travel, but the Ducks have continued the trend of looking better every time it hits the ice.

Perhaps the breakthrough could come this weekend as they turned a Monday one-off in Owatonna into a Friday-Saturday road trip to play a pair against the Steele County Blades who are also in action Thursday in the Twin Cities against the Minnesota Mullets.

Some other alterations to the schedule will see the Ducks in a home-and-home pair with the Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings, at South Wood County Recreation Center Nov. 21 and back home at the Lake Delton Ice Arena Nov. 22.

Bantam Cheavers take first four on home ice at RACA

The RWD bantam hockey team couldn’t have started much better, winning its first four contests – all on home ice at Reedsburg Area Community Arena (RACA) before dropping its first game on the road Sunday.

The season started with a pair of games November 1 as the Washington County Ice paid a visit.

The Cheavers captured a 6-2 win in the first of two games then followed it up with a 3-1 decision later the same day.

Nolan Pope and Tye Barney both scored twice, both adding an assist with other goals added by Gus DeFosse, Kaden Uminski, Bryan Mammos and Carter Renneberg. Uminski also collected an assist with other helpers for RJ Manley and Tristan Edgerton.

Alex Griebe stopped 43 of 46 shots to pick up a couple ‘W’s’ between the pipes.

This past weekend, Griebe topped those performances with his first shutout, against Sauk Flyers ‘B’ team, turning aside 43 shots in the first of two games Saturday. The second was a 4-2 decision against the Viroqua Thunder.

Included in the 11 goals were two each for Mammos, Barney, Alec Breunig and Uminski and others from Pope, Ryleigh Bychinski and Renneberg. Breunig and Uminski both added a pair of set ups with others for Kayla Garbacz, Bychinski and DeFosse. Griebe moved to 4-0 with a 20-save effort against Viroqua.

The streak ended Sunday as the Cheavers headed to Black River Falls and ran into a mighty squad that included a trio of Team Wisconsin players.

The Tigers rolled to a lopsided win on home ice while the Cheavers chalked it up to a valuable learning experience. This weekend the Cheavers will face its first tournament tests of the season, travelling to an event at the new arena in West Salem. The locals are scheduled to play at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday and again at 11 a.m. Sunday. Next home games will be Nov. 28 when the Bantam Cheavers welcome the Chippewa Thunder for a pair of games at RACA.