By Jim den Hollander
Editor/Publisher
Saukhockey.info
Improvements in every area of the game partnered with the best day of his four-season junior career for goaltender Anthony Falzone allowed the Dells Ducks junior hockey team to not only bring an 11-game losing skid to a screeching halt, but begin the team’s first winning streak as well.
There have been plenty of promising signs and games but until Friday (Oct. 27), they had all ended in diappointment.
Falzone did it in a big way, kicking out every one of the 42 shots he faced, leading the Ducks to a 4-0 shutout win agianst the Steele County Blades Friday morning, despite being outshot by a 42-24 margin.
He followed it up with a return to the blue paint a few hours later backstopping the Ducks to its second win of the day, 2-1 in overtime against the Decatur Blaze.
Those wins came in the final two games for the Ducks at the Midwest Showcase Tournament at Fogerty Ice Arena in Blaine, MN. The Ducks had another close but no cigar game against the Isanti Outlaws Wedesday, an empty netter clinching a 3-1 win against the team that has found more ways to escape that Houdini against the Ducks in the past two seasons.
The most disappointing contest was Thursday against the Chicago Cougars who pulled away to a comfortable 6-1 win.
Following is a closer look at each of the four games
Wednesday Oct. 25 – Ducks 1 Outlaws 3
Jack Freiburger gave an indication of the goaltending the Ducks could expect at the event, making the most of his first start in goal for the team after being added to the roster recently.
Tyler Schmitt was the only Outlaws player able to find a way past thedid it twice in the opening period. His goals came 3:21 apart allowing the Isanti squad to build a 2-0 first period lead. The opening 20 has been torturous for the Ducks all season long and this one stayed true to the course as the Outlaws slammed 15 shots at Freiburger in the frame.
Freiburger was flawless the rest of the way stopping all 13 shots he faced in the second and third periods before Easton Parnell sank the clincher with Freiburger sitting on the Ducks bench in favor of an extra attacker.
Ducks turned the tables in the second period, peppering Zach White with a 14-4 shots margin but the only one to elude White came from the blueline as Austin Holmberg’s wrister took a trick arc into the top part of the mesh. Assists on his first goal of the season went to his former Amery High School teammate Reece Atkins and his defense partner, Jack Kopstein.
The Ducks have played Outlaws close in almost every match through the past two seasons but in three games this year, all they have to show for it is one shootout point.
Thursday Oct. 26 – Ducks 2 Cougars 7
Thursday’s game saw another goaltender looking to impress as Juan Aguilar made his first start since taking the Outlaws to a shootout in September.
The Cougars simply wore down the goaltender, carrying a 2-0 lead out of the opening period with a 15-6 edge on the shot clock. This time though, the trend continued through the next 40 minutes as well as the Ducks were pounded by an overall shot margin of 51-16.
John Scott gave his team some hope with his goal, cutting the lead in half in the opening minute of the second period, from Braydan Kirchmann and Owen Plumert, but the Cougars snatched that hope away, scoring the next four before Scott struck again with his third of the season on a feed from Kopstein.
The game was all but over after 40 but the Cougs made sure with one more in the final frame.
Arthur Pawlik fired three for Chicago with others added by Aidan Canady, Liam Norton, Ryan Johnson and TJ Haas.
Friday, Oct. 27 Ducks 4 Blades 0
Falzone showed the best way to get through the horrendous first periods for the Ducks was to simply weather the storm and kick out everything he saw. The rest of the team responded though, the defense limiting the Blades to 13 mostly outside shots in the period while the offense triggered 10 the other way.
All things considered; this was the Ducks’ best opening period of the season so far. Alic Schuster’s goal late in the opening segment gave the Ducks its first lead since the second game of the season when they defeated the Minnesota Moose. Holmberg and Ashot Davtyan collected assists on the Schuster goal.
Despite facing another 15 shots through the midtams werew dle frame, Falzone kept the 1-0 cushion in tact and in the final 20 minutes, the Ducks found the mark three more times, the first from Quinten Clausen with his first junior goal.
Owen Plumert notched his fifth and Damien Calzada wrapped it up with his fourth while also collecting an assist. Other helpers went to Davtyan, Scott, Atkins, Kopstein and Lucas Andruskiewicz.
Falzone made them all stand up though with his 42-save performance coming in his first game back from a bruised sternum suffered the previous weekend agianst the Minnesota Moose.
Ducks 2 Blaze 1 (ot)
Falzone returned to the crease for the team’s final game in Blaine and helped them rally from behind for the overtime win.
Clearly inspired by the previous game, the Ducks oushot on opponent for the first time through the opening period, but despite a 13-12 margin, the Ducks and Blaze remained scoreless heading to the second
Before the halftime break, Connor Wilson put the Blaze on the board. Teams returned with 10 minutes to play in the second and Zach Halling responded for the Ducks with his first career junior goal, with help from Andy Gonzalez and Lucas Epperson.
Teams entered and exited the third period in the 1-1 deadlock and Kirchmann’s solo effort 77 seconds into the overtime segment lifted the Ducks to its second win of the day.
Falzone put up a goose egg after the second period goal, stopping 24 of 25 in the contest and 66 of 67 on an unreal day at the office.
Duck Quacks — The two wins bring an awesome finish to a rough month with a record of 2-7-1-1. The eight points has the Ducks sitting eighth overall in the nine-team division ahead of only the 3-10-0-0 Minnesota Mullets. However, the Ducks sit just three behind both the Blades and Outlaws currently tied for sixth. The Blades will be in Lake Delton Saturday and Sunday for a pair of games against the Ducks.
— November will be another busy month for the Ducks who will play nine times, the Nov. 4-5 contests the only ones on home ice. They will pay a visit to Wisconsin Rapids to play the Riverkings the following weekend, then attend the Detroit Showcase Tournament for four games Nov. 17-19, wrapping up in Owatonna Nov. 26 against the Blades.
–Jack Kopstein is inching closer to some major milestones for the Ducks. With the games in Blaine, the smooth skating defender is now 14 away from becoming the ninth player in team history to play 100 games for the Ducks. Currently Kopstein’s 86 leaves him in a three-way tie with John Urgo and Ian Harris.
Points-wise, Kopstein has a career total of 22 goals and 59 points, good enough for fourth all time among Ducks defenders. His next point will move him into a tie with Sean Teske for third. Jake Stima remains the leader among Ducks’ blue liners with 51 goals and 121 points. Bradley Hefner scored 20 goals and 84 points and