Day: January 4, 2021

Squirt ‘B’ Cheavers drop a pair at RACA

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The RWD Squirt ‘B’ Cheavers ran into some tough opposition on the weekend at Reedsburg Area Community Arena dropping a pair of decisions.

The locals dropped an 8-2 decision to the Monroe Avalanche Squirts on Saturday (Jan. 2)  afternoon and returned to RACA Sunday and falling 4-1 to the Waunakee Wildcats C2 Black squad.

On Saturday, the local Squirts were facing a Squirt team that stuck around after facing the Squirt ‘A’ team earlier.

The Avs put up three unanswered first period goals to grab control of the contest. Briar Messer pulled one back with his unassisted marker 4:52 into the second to get the Cheavers within a pair but the Avs restored the margin just 11 seconds later and by the end of the middle frame they were up 7-2.

Cole Renneberg fired the second Cheavers goal with help from Elliot Wilcox and Rainier Scott.

Jase Uminski faced a 30-shot barrage in goal for the Cheavers, including an 18-shot second period.

Sunday’s game was weird. Of the five goals scored in the contest, all but two of them came in the final 30 seconds of the opening period.

The Wildcats opened the scoring 5:32 into the contest and added a second with 29 seconds to play in the period.

Messer responded with the lone RWD goal eight seconds later, but the Wildcats found the mesh one more time with seven seconds on the clock and carried a 3-1 lead into the second period, adding one more in the middle frame.

Aria Gada turned in the work in goal, facing 21 shots, 17 of them coming in the first two periods.

The weekend losses dropped the Squirt ‘B’ Cheavers to 4-12-2 on the season so far and ended the team’s four-game winning streak.

This weekend will see the Squirt ‘B’ Cheavers playing the final two games of a 10-game homestand as the Verona ‘C’ squirts pay a visit Saturday for a 1:45 p.m. game and the locals will get another crack against the C2 Black Wildcats on Sunday at 9:45 a.m.

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Larson’s ot tally finishes massive Thunderbirds comeback

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The Baraboo/Portage Thunderbirds started 2021 with the type of effort that could be looked at later as a turning point in their season.

Entering the game against the 5-1 Tomah/Sparta squad, the Thunderbirds regrouped from a tough opening period and simply outworked their opponent for a 4-3 overtime win at Pierce Park Pavilion on Saturday (Jan. 2).

Simply said, the start couldn’t have been much worse as the Thunderbirds trailed 15-seconds into the contest and found themselves down 2-0 by the end of the third minute and 3-0 after a period.

Outshot 19-3 in the first period, the Thunderbirds appeared on its way to a rough night, but the road back started with a goal from Kyle Poole 7:27 into the middle period, from Oliver Scanlan.

The biggest goal of the contest for sure came from Campbell Koseor who tipped a perfect feed from Gabe Fitzwilliams to finish off a two-on-rush with the goal just seconds from the end of the middle period. Thunderbirds held a 12-8 edge in shots through the middle period and were fired up for the third with the late goal.

But, despite dominating the play, the Thunderbirds battled mostly on the wall moving the puck forward a few feet at a time and the

The defense played a key part on the offense, the forwards looking to get them the puck whenever possible, but some solid defensive play from the Tomah Sparta crew had lanes to the goal clogged constantly. The work finally paid off on a powerplay with 6:53 to go as Koseor got his stick on a point shot from Luna Larson, changing its direction enough to elude the Tomah keeper and tie the contest.

Larson ended the match himself with 1:21 to play in the eight-minute overtime session moving the puck up from the point and snapping it home in the top left corner.

Andrew Schaetzl collected the win in goal turning aside 31 of 34 shots in the contest and unbeaten on all 15 he faced in the final two periods and overtime. Despite dominating the play in the final two frames, Thunderbirds managed just 19 shots but owned a 4-2 margin in the overtime session. But Tomah/Sparta still held a 34-26 overall.

 

The win boosted the Thunderbirds to 4-6 overall and the team will look to get back to .500 with a pair of road games this week, at Beaver Dam against the Golden Beavers Tuesday at 7 p.m. and at the Omni Center in Onalaska Thursday against the La Crosse Aquinas/Holmen Avalanche with a 7:30 p.m. puck drop.

Next home game for Baraboo/Portage will be played  on Saturday when the Waupaca Comets pay a visit at 6 p.m.

Below is some powerplay action for the Thunderbirds.