By Jim den Hollander
Editor/Publisher
Saukhockey.info
On September 23 Dells Ducks celebrated its first ever USPHL Premier Midwest-West Division win against the Minnesota Moose and a promising 1-1 opening weekend setting the stage for what was supposed to be a bounce back season for the team.
The following weekend, a losing sweep back in the Twin Cities against the Minnesota Mullets wrapped up a 1-3 month of September and October has been worse.
Ducks will be happy to rip this page off the calendar, suffering five straight losses so far, although the team did collect a shootout point in its previous homestand against the Isanti Outlaws.
There’s still time to salvage a decent month though with the Minnesota Moose paying its return visit to Lake Delton Ice Arena for 7 p.m. contests on both Friday and Saturday followed by the first of two Showcase tournaments, back in Blaine through the week.
The Ducks will be looking to bring an end to a seven-game skid when the puck drops against the Moose Friday night, and it will take a marked improvement on both offense and defense.
The Ducks played three times this past weekend, scoring one goal in each game and just five in its last four games. Defensively, the team has had some good moments, but against a Minnesota Squatch team that could be even more offensively mighty than it was last season, the team was outscored 22-2. In the seven-game skid the total score was 49-17.
The Ducks scored nine goals in two games against the Mullets at the end of September and five more against the Isanti Outlaws the final weekend, but the offense dried up between games. Afer taking the Outlaws to a shootout before dropping a 4-3 decision in the first game, the Ducks managed just two the following night and haven’t scored more than that since.
Meanwhile, the Moose followed up its season opening set with the Ducks with another split against the Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings the following weekend and have captured wins in three of four since.
Head Coach Anthony Rohde and his staff have continued to work hard in practice to get the team on the right track and this past week, did a bit of line juggling, including moving second season vet Gabe Krueger up to a top line as a reward for his strong play so far. Krueger collected five points in 35 games last season and has already scored a pair of goals this season.
The team will deal with a few nagging injuries this weekend, including Braydon Kirchmann, a valuable player up front, but he could be back as early as Wednesday when the Ducks travel to Blaine to play four games in three days, wrapping up a busy and disappointing month (so far) at the Showcase event.
Of course, the Ducks know now it can beat the Moose but expect a Moose team anxious to show its first loss ot the Ducks was not the start of a trend this weekend.
DUCK TRACKS– Congratulations to Coach Danny Smolen who played for the Ducks last season. He recently announced he will be attending College and playing hockey at Aurora University near Chicago at the start of the January semester. A hardnosed rugged and physical defender, Smolen will no doubt prove to be a great asset to the Aurora squad. In the meantime, Smolen will continue behind the bench with the Ducks until Christmas Break.
— Looking for a bit more variety in the teams it plays at the Blaine Showcase next week, there has been a minor change to the schedule. Play begins, as regularly scheduled on Wednesday (Oct 25) against the Isanti Outlaws Wednesday at 11:10 a.m. (CDT).
The change will be on Thursday as the Ducks are now scheduled to face off against the rival Chicago Cougars from the Midwest-East Division. Current players are not familiar with the longstanding rivalry, but the teams that used to be sister clubs under the ownership of John Schwarz seem to run into each other at least once every season.
The connection still exists. The Cougars are coached by Former Ducks bench boss Josh Dallman and among the players on the Cougars roster is former RWD player and Dells resident Trevor Slaght, although he will likely not be taking part after a recent knee injury.
That game will take place at 10:40 a.m. on Thursday, followed by the final two games on Friday, against the Steele County Blades at 11:40 a.m. and the Decatur Blaze from the Midwest East Division at 5 p.m.
Ducks will be home team in two games and visitors in the other two, but it is unclear which ones as this is written.
— After Friday’s game, the Ducks will welcome young players seeking autographs a chance to enter the Ducks’ locker room and the Ducks will continue its tradition of allowing fans to skate with the Ducks for a few minutes after Saturday’s games, so if you are a local youth hockey player, make sure to bring your skates.
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