County youth hockey rolls into regular season schedules

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

This week is the true opening of hockey at the local level for RWD and Sauk Prairie Flyers/Monkeys.

A few teams have had scrimmages and exhibitions, but the primary focus was on tryouts as rosters were set for five competitive RWD teams along with 13 in Sauk Prairie. Baraboo/Portage TBirds have also put together rosters for its Squirt, Peewee and Bantam squads as well as the U14 Badger Lightning which includes players from both the Thunderbirds and RWD outfits.

Not all teams will be in action this weekend and for the Flyers, the five scheduled contests will all take place on the road.

Technically, the 12U Monkeys Girls hockey team has already begun its season with a game on the morning of Oct. 17 against McFarland.

This weekend, the Bantam ‘A’ Flyers will be at Oregon at 10:30 a.m. Saturday followed by the Bantam ‘B’ side at 12:15 p.m. The 14U Monkeys girls’ team will have an off-ice team activity later in the day.

On Sunday, the Squirt ‘B’ Flyers will be at Bob Suter Capitol Ice in Middleton to play the host Middleton ‘C’ Squirts and the Peewee ‘A’ Flyers will hit the road for a pair in Beaver Dam at 8:30 a.m. and 11:45 a.m.

RWD teams made the move from Lake Delton Ice Arena to RACA as of Monday and they will begin game action with a busy weekend slate for the four Squirt and Peewee teams.

Action begins at 10:45 a.m. as the Squirt ‘A’ Cheavers play host to the Dodge County IceWolves at 10:45 a.m. followed by the Peewee ‘B’ squad, also against an IceWolves team at 12:15 p.m. The Peewee ‘A’ squad will begin a busy weekend with a 1:45 p.m. meeting against Verona ‘A’ Wildcats and the same two teams will go at it again at 4:45 p.m. In between games, the Peewee ‘B’ Cheavers will take on the Madison Patriots in a 3:15 p.m. faceoff.

On Sunday, the Peewee ‘A’ squad will play its third game of the weekend, entertaining the McFarland Spartans at 9:15 a.m. followed by the Squirt ‘A’ Cheavers against the Middleton ‘B’ Cardinals at 10:45 a.m. and the Squirt ‘B’ Cheavers against the West Madison Polar Caps at 12:15 p.m.

Most of the remaining teams, including the Baraboo/Portage T-Birds Bantam squad will be action the following weekend.

Phillips’ hat trick leads 14U WEHL squad to win

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The Wisconsin Elite Hockey League (WEHL) 14U SouthCentral Girls team wrapped up its 12-game regular season splitting a pair of games against the NorthEast/NorthCentral squad at the Lake Delton Ice Arena.

After winning a wild offensive battle 7-4 to start the two-game set Sunday morning, the SouthCentral team had trouble finding the mesh the second one, dropping a 2-1 decision.

A four-goal flurry for SouthCentral turned a 2-0 deficit into a 4-4 draw by the start of the third and three more unanswered goals in the final frame lifted them to the win.

Leading the way on offense was Anna Phillips (Black River Falls) with three goals and Julia Purinton (Madison Mavericks) notched a pair. Ella Knapp (Madison Mavericks) collected a goal and two assists, the other goal scored by Shelby King (Wisconsin TNT/Wisconsin Blue Devils AAA).

Defender Tahni Barger from the Sauk Prarie Flyers/Monkeys and Wildcat Youth Hockey and Payton O’Neill (TNT/Blue Devils)set up a pair of SouthCentral goals with other assists for Phillips, Purinton and Carolina Cutrano (Mavericks).

The second game was the opposite as SouthCentral opened the scoring early in the second period as Knapp set up Purinton’s third of the day, but this time the visitors struck back with a trying goal early in the third and a game winner with 6:20 to go.

Also in the lineup for SouthCentral in this one and for the entire season was Sarah Hash from the Sauk Prairie Flyers/Monkeys and Wisconsin Jr. Stars along with Paige Othmer (RWD/Badger Lightning/Blue Devils) on defense and forward Reese Olson from Baraboo/Portage Thunderbirds/Badger Lightning/Blue Devils AAA.

A goal Celebration from earlier this season. SouthCentral had plenty to celebrate in the first game, but had troubles on offense in the getaway game against NorthEast/NorthCentral on Sunday at the Lake Delton Ice Arena.

The split in the final series leaves SouthCentral with a 3-6-3 record in WEHL contests and a 7-6-3 record overall.

The four teams from the 14U Division will compete in the championship tournament this weekend at Blue Line Family Ice Center in Fond du Lac.

SouthCentral will face off against SouthEast in its first game Saturday at 9:45 a.m. In its previous four meetings with SouthEast, the local side owned a 1-2-1 record, but they haven’t faced each other in over a month.

Second game at 6:30 p.m. Saturday will see the local squad taking on the Western team which it has yet to defeat, tying once and dropping the other three.

On Sunday at 11:45 a.m. SouthCentral will wrap it up against NorthEast/NorthCentral who they hold a 2-1-1 record against this season.

Ducks squad runs out of gas near finish line

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The ninth and final period of a busy weekend was where the understaffed and not entirely well Dells Ducks team hit a wall on Sunday afternoon.

With a pair of decent, but ultimately unsuccessful efforts in the Twin Cities against the Minnesota Mullets already under its belt, the Ducks stopped at the Four Seasons Center in Owatonna on the way home Sunday afternoon to take on the host Steele County Blades.

The Ducks entered the weekend with a depleted roster with several team members either battling or just finished with a cold. Even at 2-2 early and down 4-2 with a period to go, the Ducks ultimately succumbed 8-2.

The Ducks were facing a Blades team that opened the season with five wins in its first eight games but coming off an 11-5 win on home ice against the Minnesota Blue Ox who beat them soundly for a second time already this season.

The Ducks tried to take advantage in the opening periods, staying with the Blades for the most part, but trailing 3-2 after 20 minutes. The Blades added one more in the second and the game was still up for grabs entering the final 20. But the Ducks were running on empty and got beat four more times although the shot clock showed a somewhat closer margin, 15-11 for the host Blades.

Overall, the Blades outshot the Ducks 53-28, a margin that while still wide, is staring to be narrowed at both ends. Ducks enjoyed its best weekend in terms of shots on goal so far this season.

Down 2-0 before the game’s three-minute mark, the Ducks fought back with goals from Bryce Jacobsen and Jayden Tkaczuk 18 seconds apart to even the score at the 7:16 mark. Thomas Howell and Jacob Cartland also collected points with an assist apiece.

Tanner Stendel paced the Blades’ attack firing three goals and adding three assists for his first six points of the season.

Anthony Falzone started for the Ducks, stopping 38 shots before Drew Moseley mopped up in the third with another seven stops.

It would be nice to be able to say the Ducks will get a chance to catch its breath, but instead the team is rolling through its shortest off-week of the season, heading back to Blaine, MN for a four-game weekend at the Midwest-West Showcase.

Ducks will begin play at 12:30 p.m. Thursday with a rematch against the Mullets, then gets a rematch against the Blades on Friday at 9 a.m. The Ducks will play a second game Friday at 5:40 p.m. against the Rum River Mallards, the first meeting since the opening weekend of the season with this rival. Wrapping up play on Saturday, the Ducks will face off against the Minnesota Blue Ox at 5:40 p.m.

The Ducks enter the Showcase with a 1-10-0-0 record, in eighth place in the division, three points behind the Mallards and a Hudson Havoc team that has played just four games so far.