Team Wisconsin 18U gets back into win column

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

After enjoying a rare weekend off, the Team Wisconsin 18U squad including Erik Peterson, a senior with the Sauk Prairie Eagles, returned to Upper Midwest High School Elite Hockey League play and snapped a seven-game winless streak.

TW played four games on home ice at Chippewa Falls, beginning with a pair of wins against Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine (6-3, 7-4), the first on Friday (Oct. 15) night and the other early Saturday. Later Saturday, the team grabbed its third win of the weekend, taking the first of two against Twin Cities Orthopedics 2-1. TCO denied the Wisconsin squad a weekend sweep, taking the final game of the weekend 10-4.

Team Wisconsin 6 Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine 3

On Friday night, the visitors hit the scoreboard first but TW owned a 2-1 edge after a period and matched the same total in both the second and third.

Josh Austin (Senior – St. Mary’s Springs Ledgers) paced the TW attack with three goals, Callan Buddinger (Notre Dame Academy Tritons) adding two and setting up another three and Ian Engel (Senior – Neenah/Hortonville/Menasha Rockets) scored the other. Peterson picked up a minor penalty in the contest.

Brian Fixmer (Senior – Chippewa Falls Cardinals) turned in a stellar performance between the pipes, stopping 43 shots to lead the team to a win in a wild 88-shot contest

Team Wisconsin 7 Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine 4

After grabbing a 2-1 first period lead on Saturday morning, TW all but settled this one with a four-goal second period explosion and a 6-2 lead heading to the third.

Jon Wiebusch (Senior – Edgewood Crusaders) fired two goals with other TW markers added by Parker Murn (Senior – Edgewood Crusaders); Hunter Bill (Junior – Notre Dame Academy Tritons); Colton Jamieson (Junior Cretin Durham Hall MN); Peyton Platter (Senior – Eau Claire Memorial Old Abes) and Aidan Lenz (Senior – Edgewood Crusaders).

Adam Prokop turned in another awesome performance in goal for TW, stopping 53 shots helping TW pick up the win despite a lopsided 57-33 edge in shots for the opposition.

Team Wisconsin 2 Twin Cities Orthopedics 1

After 13 goals in the first two games, TW engaged in a defensive battle later Saturday. The Orthopedics scored their lone goal in the first period, Tyler Dale (Senior – Waukesha Wings) tying it with his second period tally and Kade Smigaj (Junior – Stevens Point Panthers) sinking the game winner in the opening minute of the third.

Fixmer collected his second win of the weekend, beaten just once on 31 shots.

Twin Cities Orthopedics 10 Team Wisconsin 4

The final game of the weekend proved one too many for the Dairyland squad who fell behind 4-0 in the first period and trailed 6-0 before counting its first goal in the middle period.

Austin, Smigaj, Wiebusch and Lenz counted the Team Wisconsin goals.

With the weekend games, Team Wisconsin boosted its record in league play to 5-8-4 and its overall record to 9-9-4.

The team will head to New Hope, MN for its final three regular season games Saturday and Sunday with League playoffs getting underway the following weekend.

Wilcox helps TW ’09 Team Red wrap up perfect record

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

Ethan Wilcox and his Team Wisconsin ‘09 Team Red teammates wrapped up a perfect 6-0 record on Sunday, winning a pair of games at the Appleton Family Ice Center.

The wins on the final weekend were the most impressive of the three weekends for Team Red who started with a 7-2 decision against Team White and wrapped up a 6-0 record with a 6-1 win against Team Black.

In the first game, Jace Dedie fired a pair of goals for Team Red with others for Sean Coggins, Weston Maier, Brody Slussor, Max Mittelsteadt and Owen Patrick. Goaltenders Samuel Davis and Carson Markgraf played key roles, both allowing a single goal and helping Team Red to the win despite a 36-32 edge for Team White.

In the other game, Oliver Drabant scored twice to pace Team Red with others added by Dedie, Slusser, Mittelsteadt and Patrick.

Team Red dominated this game with a shots edge of 33-15.

Wilcox didn’t hit the game sheet in the final two games but played a key role for his team and helped them wrap up a perfect record.

Uminski assist helps TW Black to a draw

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

Landen Uminski, from RWD Youth Hockey along with Alexander Kirk and Michael Joliceour from the Sauk Prairie Flyers, wrapped up play as members of the Team Wisconsin ‘09 Peewee Black team on Sunday.

Team Black squared off with Team Grey in two games at the Blue Line Family Ice Center in Fond Du Lac, playing to a 4-4 draw in the first game, but falling 8-3 in the finale.

In the opening game, Trevor Szkodzinsky scored a pair for Team Black with singles for Knox Cleland and Brett Toth. Uminski had a set up on one of the goals.

Szkodzinski, Aliya Mihlbauer and Easton Jones scored the Team Black goals. The loss to Team Grey denied team Black a share of top spot in the four-team six-game Peewee ‘10 Showcase league. Team Black finished at 2-2-2, Team White finishing on to with a 3-2-1 mark and Team Red which played Team White at the same time, at McFarland wrapped up a 2-1-3 record.

Sauk County members of the Team Wisconsin ’10 Black team included from left: Alexander Kirk, Landen Uminski and Michael Joliceour.

Dietl, Team Wisconsin take 216 Showcase title

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The Team Wisconsin 12U Girls Hockey team, including Hailey Dietl from the RWD Youth Hockey Program, wrapped up an awesome inaugural season, bringing home the hardware from the 216 Showcase Tournament held in the Cleveland Ohio area.

The Dairy State squad put on a dominant showing, outscoring three different opponents 34-5 through five contests, pushing all three aside the way to the championship.

The event started with round robin matches, a 5-1 win against the West Dundee Leafs from the Chicago area, a 9-1 whipping of the Sylvania (OH) North Starts and a 4-0 shutout against the Cleveland Lady Barons.

Team Wisconsin 12U Girls team wrapped up a successful first season with a championship win at the 216 Showcase Tournament in Cleveland.

That set up a semi-final rematch with the North Stars, TW advancing to the championship with a 10-1 win.

In the championship game, Team Wisconsin collected a 6-2 win against the Leafs, the fifth win of the weekend making the long ride home more enjoyable.

Dietl chipped in with a goal and assist in the weekend games. Team Wisconsin introduced the 12U Girls team for the first time this fall and the team wrapped up its first season with an amazing 15-2-1 record.

Team Wisconsin 18U in Elite League skid

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

Erik Peterson from the Sauk Prairie Eagles and his Team Wisconsin 18U temmates endured another tough weekend in Upper Midwest High School Elite Hockey League action this past weekend.

Returning to New Hope, MN, TW suffered a 4-3 loss in its first of three weekend games, against Team North Dakota, then battled first place MAP South Hockey to a 3-3 draw before falling once again 6-5 against Sanford Power.

Team Wisconsin 3 Team North Dakota 4

In its first meeting with the North Dakota squad, Team Wisconsin found itself trailing 3-1 after a period, but even at 3-3 halfway through the second.

A late middle period goal had North Dakota up again. TW rallied to tie it again with 9:42 to play but North Dakota pulled in front to stay with 6:04 to go.
Parker Murn (Senior – Edgewood Crusaders); Jon (JJ) Wiebusch (Senior – Edgewood Crusaders); Isaac Rentmeester (Senor – Notre Dame Tritons) and Cody Menzel (Senior – Edgewood Crusaders) scored the Team Wisconsin goals.

Team Wisconsin 3 MAP South Hockey 3

This should have been a momentum building tie, not just because it came against the league’s top team, but because Team Wisconsin battled back from a 3-0 deficit early in the second period.

The three TW goals came in a span of 6:03 before the halfway mark of the middle frame, scored by Rentmeester, Hunter Bill (Junior – Notre Dame Tritons) and Ian Engel (Senior — Neenah/Hortonville/Menasha Rockets)

Team Wisconsin 5 Sanford Power 6

A back and forth contest Sanford on the board first but TW up 2-1 early in the second period. Three straight had Sanford up 4-2 after two periods and they increased it to 5-2 in the middle part of the third period.

Two goals in 1:27 had TW within a shot of tying it, but Sanford notched another into an empty net with 58 seconds to play. TW got one more with two ticks on the clock.

Tyler Dale (Senior – Waukesha Wings) scored twice for Team Wisconsin, others added by Peterson; Max Giblin (Senior – Hudson Raiders) and Engel.

With the weekend results, Team Wisconsin is now winless in seven and its overall regular season record falls to 6-8-5. In Elite League play, the team has slipped to 2-7-4 and now in eighth place in the 10-team group.

There are seven games left in regular season play for the league for Team Wisconsin who will enjoy a weekend off coming up.

Eagles prepare for tough Badger West

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

A few weeks after the start of Captains practices for the RWD Cheavers and Baraboo/Portage Thunderbirds, the Sauk Prairie Eagles recently took to the ice at the Sauk Prairie Area Recreation Center.

The Eagles have enjoyed a great deal of success in recent seasons including back to back seasons that saw Riley Jelinek wrap up the season as the state’s leading scorer and last season, a shortened campaign due to COVID restrictions, the Eagles dropped just one game out of 14 in the regular season.

Unfortunately, there is little to show for that success as there was no Badger Conference title last season and the Waunakee Warriors denied them despite an awesome 19-4-1 regular season record.

The playoff road ended both times against the Verona Wildcats who went on both times to the state championship game.

A couple Eagles players have prepared for the regular season with on some elite competition clubs, both senior Erik Peterson and junior Luke Mast playing for the Team Wisconsin 18U and 16U teams respectively.

For Mast, the association with the team allowed him to travel to compete at a tournament in Pittsburgh this past weekend run in conjunction with the season opening Showcase for the United States Hockey League, the only Tier 1 league in the USA. In other words, there were likely as many scouts in the stands from junior, college and professional teams as there was fans and parents.

Wilcox and Team Red clinch TW ’09 Combine title

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info.

Ethan Wilcox, a player in the RWD organization played two more games with the still perfect ‘Red’ Squad in TW Peewee Combine league play this past weekend.

With two games remaining, the Red team has already clinched top spot among the three teams as a 3-1 win against Team Black and a 4-3 decision against Team White pushed the Team Red squad to 4-0 in the short series with just two games to play.

Wilcox didn’t collect a point in the two games, but still played a key role for the team.

Those two games along with a 3-2 edge for Team White against Team Black were all played at the South Wood County Recreation Center in Wisconsin Rapids.

The series will wrap up on Sunday at Appleton Family Ice Center. Team Red will play Team White at noon and stick around to play Team Black at 1:15 p.m.

Uminski, Kirk and Jolicoeur help TW Black at Combine

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

Alexander Kirk from the Sauk Prairie Flyers and Landen Uminski from RWD both contributed but and helped the Team Wisconsin ‘Black’ squad collect 12 goals on its way to a weekend draw and win..

Uminski, Kirk and Michael Jolicoeur, also from the Flyers’ organization, play together on Team Black, one of four clubs in the Team Wisconsin Peewee Combine League.

In their first game, Black battled Team Red to a 4-4 draw and collect an 8-4 win against Team White in action at the Blue Line Family Ice Center in Fond du Lac.

Team Black 4 Team Red 4

In the opener, Trevor Szkodzinski scored the first goal for Team Black and Kirk added another about two minutes later, but Team Red pulled one back before the end of the opening period and after a scoreless middle period, tied the game near the middle of the final frame.

Kirk’s second of the game put Black in front once again, but Red scored two goals about three minutes apart to grab its first lead of the contest.

Knox Cleland pulled Team Black even with 2:24 to go on a feed from Kirk.

Team White 8 Team Black 4

A game summary was unavailable for the second game, but scoring details were.

Uminski picked up a goal for Black and Kirk set up one. Greyson Welsh paced the offense with three goals and Cleland fired a pair with single for Szkodzinski and Carson Schroeder.

The weekend results boosted Team Black to 2-1-1 on the season so far, behind only the 3-1 Team White.

Teams will split up this weekend as Team Black returns to Fond du Lac to play two games, both against Team Grey, at 1 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. Teams Red and White will square off in McFarland in a pair of games

Mast and 16U TW split four at USHL Showcase

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

After a solid 2-0 start, the Team Wisconsin 16U team stumbled a bit through its final two games in the Pittsburgh area this past weekend (Jan. 24-26) wrapping up a 2-2 weekend.

The team played in three different arenas as part of the United States Hockey League’s season opening Showcase tournament. An event that attracted junior, college and professional scouts to the City of Bridges.

Playing on Team Wisconsin for a third season is Luke Mast, an incoming junior on the Sauk Prairie Eagles varsity hockey team beginning in November.

TW opened with a 9-1 whipping of Gilmour Academy, from Ohio on Saturday (September 25, 2021) and returned Sunday morning for a 2-1 edge against the Rhode Island Saints in overtime.

Later Sunday, Team Wisconsin played the same Florida Alliance squad it opened season play with back in August. Florida collected a 7-5 win in the opener but teams played a different style of match this time around, Florida ultimately taking the win by a 2-1 margin.

On Monday, TW lined up against the South Kent Selects, wrapping up the weekend with another tough one-goal loss, this time by a 3-2 margin.

Team Wisconsin 9 Gilmour Academy 1

Team Wisconsin grabbed control of this one with four unanswered first period goals and added another four before Gilmour Academy finally hit the board with the only shot of 16to beat Devin Schutt (Sophomore – Arrowhead Warhawks) in goal for TW.

Kyle Rohrer (Sophomore – Oregon Panthers) enjoyed a huge game for Team Wisconsin with three goals and two assists and Talan Blanck (St. Mary’s Springs Ledgers) picked up three assists. Other TW goals came from: Carsen Gause (Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln Red Raiders); Reece Cordray (Verona Wildcats); Carson Strapon (Sophomore – Hudson Raiders); Adam Timm (Sophomore – Rice Lake Warriors); Brody Dietz (Hudson Raiders) and Brenden Gruber (Sophomore – Notre Dame Academy Tritons).

Team Wisconsin 2 Rhode Island Saints 1

A first period goal had the Saints in control until Jack McGregor (Freshman – University School of Milwaukee) evened it with 3:32 to play in the contest.

That set the stage for Timm and the overtime game winner scored at 4:53.

Hayden Rising (Sophomore – St. Mary’s Springs Ledgers) kicked out 19 of 20 shots to collect the win in goal for TW.

Florida Alliance 2 Team Wisconsin 1

After combining on a dozen goals a month prior, defense was clearly the dominant player in this contest. Mast opened the scoring for Team Wisconsin in the game’s fourth minute but teams were even after a period, Florida grabbing its first and only lead 7:30 into the final period.

South Kent Selects 3 Team Wisconsin 2

Team Wisconsin battled back twice from a one-goal deficit, but the third time was the charm for the Selects.

Down 1-0 after a period, Brady Engelkes (Middleton Cardinals) evened it 7:39 into the second period. South Kent moved in front again just over two minutes later and this time it was Strapon pulling the trigger on the equalizer with 4:01 to go in the period.

The tie was once again short-lived as the Selects moved in front to stay 48 seconds after Strapon’s goal.

Peterson and TW run into some tough competition

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

Team Wisconsin 18U hockey team was the host team but sure didn’t have much of a home ice advantage this past weekend.

The team faced a couple of tough opponents in Upper Midwest High School Elite League play, battling the first place MAP South Hockey team to a 6-6 draw in its first game at Chippewa Falls Ice Arena on Friday night, but falling to the same opponent 4-1 on Saturday morning.

Next up was the Shattuck St. Mary’s Prep team who were simply too tough, handing TW a 4-1 loss Saturday and returning for a 4-2 decision on Sunday.

MAP South 6 Team Wisconsin 6

In the first game, Team Wisconsin appeared on its way to a big win, but three goals in the game’s final five minutes lifted the visiting MAP South team into a draw.

Team Wisconsin scored the game’s first three goals and never trailed in the contest.

Leading the offense was Aidan Lenz with two goals and Jon Wiebusch who set up three. Both will be seniors with the Edgewood Crusaders this fall.

Other TW goals came from Kade Smigaj (Junior – Stevens Point Panthers); Hunter Bill (Junior – Notre Dame Academy Tritons; Isaac Rentmeester (Senior – Notre Dame Academy Tritons) and Peyton Platter (Senior – Eau Claire Memorial Old Abes). Erik Peterson, a senior with the Sauk Prairie Eagles picked up an assist on the game’s third goal.

MAP South 4 Team Wisconsin 1

In the first game, Team Wisconsin appeared on its way to a big win, but three goals in the game’s final five minutes lifted the visiting MAP South team into a draw.

After leading most of the way in the first game, TW found itself down early in the rematch and never caught up. MAP carried a 3-0 lead out of the opening period and after a scoreless middle frame, both teams fired one in the third.

Josh Austin (Senior – St. Mary’s Springs Ledgers) scored the lone Team Wisconsin goal.

Shattuck St. Mary’s 5 Team Wisconsin 2

Team Wisconsin opened and closed the scoring in the opening period, but thanks to a pair of responses in between by the visitors, this game was tied at 2-2 heading to the second.

The game winner came near the halfway mark of the second and two more in the third clinched the win for Shattuck.

Wiebusch and Cody Menzel (Senior — Edgewood Crusaders) had the Team Wisconsin goals in this game.

Shattuck St. Mary’s 4 Team Wisconsin 2

The following day teams returned to a game that saw two goals in each period. Unfortunately, the first two and a 4-0 lead belonged to Shattuck with TW striking back for a pair in the third.

Smigaj and Platter fired the Team Wisconsin goals.

The rough weekend leaves Team Wisconsin with a 2-5-3 record in league play and a 6-6-3 record overall. As a result, the team has fallen to seventh place overall in the 10-team league.

Action resumes in New Hope, MN for TW this weekend beginning Saturday with the team’s first meeting against North Dakota (1-2-1), followed by another chance against MAP South (6-1-2) and then on Sunday, the first meeting with fourth place Sanford Power (5-3-2)