Solid play but lapses hurt varsity Cheavers

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The RWD varsity Cheavers slipped back under .500 with a couple rough days at the office.

On Saturday (Dec. 11), the Cheavers played host to Baldwin-Woodville Hawks for a non-conference tilt and saw a 3-2 edge after two periods slip away thanks to three unanswered Hawks goals in the final 17 minutes and a 5-3 loss.

On Tuesday at Oregon, the Cheavers went up against one of the state’s top scoring teams, the Oregon Panthers and limited the team to 26 shots, but that was enough for a 5-1 win for the home team.

Baldwin Woodville Hawks 5 @ RWD Cheavers 3

The home team couldn’t have started this game much better, outshooting a Hawks team coming off a tough loss the night before at Black River Falls to start the weekend road trip, by a 19-4 margin.

But on the scoreboard teams were even at 1-1, the lone goal coming from junior defenseman Carsen Brandt, just back in the lineup after a season opening injury. Brandt’s rising shot from the blue line hit the back of the net unseen by the Baldwin keeper, cancelling out the Hawks’ opener, scored a couple minutes prior.

Another defender stepped up 33 seconds into the middle period as senior Grant Marsich put the Cheavers in front with help from junior Caden Brandt and senor Tomas Komdofer.

The Hawks tied it just past the nine-minute mark, but Komdofer put the Cheavers in front again 63 seconds from the middle period buzzer from Marsich.

The Cheavers held a 31-14 edge in shots through the first 34 minutes, but the visitors flipped the script in the final frame, tying the game 6:17 in and taking the lead with 6:17 to play on a powerplay. Another powerplay goal, third of the game for the Hawks all but settled the game with 1:54 to play.

RWD Cheavers 1 @ Oregon Panthers 5

The assignment awaiting anyone taking on the Panthers is shutting down the explosive trio of Joe Roemer, Kyle Rohrer and Andrew Jicha. For the most part, the Cheavers did that for 44 of 51 minutes Tuesday night, but three goals in seven minutes to open the middle period showed just how explosive that trio can be.

The Cheavers took the game to the host Panthers through the opening period, holding the high-flying team to one goal scored 2:03 into the contest.

The Cheavers held a 10-8 edge on the shot clock, but the Panthers scored twice in the opening two minutes of the second and added another before the seven-minute mark to widen the gap.

Senior CJ Pfaff finally got the Cheavers on the board with 7:05 to play in the game, from juniors Yevgeny Dedun and Logan DeMars, but any thoughts of a late comeback with squashed less than a minute later as Oregon fired its fifth.

Once again the Cheavers held the overall edge on the shot clock but just by a 27-26 margin.

Rohrer-Roemer and Jicha played a part in all five Panther goals and combined for 10 points although only one of the markers involved all three.

The back-to-back losses dropped the Cheavers under .500 at 4-5 for the first time since Dec. 3 when they sat at 2-3. It also evened the team’s Badger West Conference record at 2-2, making Friday’s home game against the Sauk Prairie Eagles (3-1, 1-1 Badger West) crucial to the team’s conference championship hopes alive.

That game will wrap up the first half of the Conference schedule for the Cheavers who will have one more game before the Christmas break, traveling to Tomah to faceoff against Tomah/Sparta on Tuesday (Dec. 21).

Griebe unbeatable in JV Cheaver goal

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The RWD junior varsity Cheavers stayed hot in recent games, collecting a 3-0 shutout win against the Baldwin-Woodville Hawks at Reedsburg Area Community Arena (RACA) Saturday (Dec. 11) afternoon and he needed just three days to add his second goose egg with another 3-0 win at Oregon Tuesday night.

The last goal allowed by Griebe was scored by Monroe with 11:12 to play and he has 101:12 of clear crease since then.

Shutouts are a shared stat though. The JV defense corps and forwards deserve credit as well, limiting Woodville to just seven shots, but the Panthers peppered Griebe with 32 shots and outscored the locals 32-14 in the contest.

Offensively against Baldwin, Caleb Eastman scored the game winner 5:04 into the contest and that held up all the way to the third period when Eastman added another and Nate Stando added insurance just 17 seconds later.

Mark Othmer and Kaden Uminski collected assists on the Eastman goal in the third and Carter Renneberg had the set up on Stando’s tally.

In Oregon, RWD fired one goal in each period, Malachi Strombolis-Salama with the opener and closer and Gus DeFosse notched the middle marker. Iszak Elder, Stando, Nolan Pope and Tristan Edgerton picked up assists in the game.

The wins pushed the JV squad to 8-2 so far this season and extended the current winning streak to four games.

The JV Chiefs will be back in action Friday on home ice against the Sauk Prairie Eagles.

Badger West this week

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

A busy week of Badger West head-to-head matches set up a crucial week ahead filled with big matches as the six teams hit the halfway mark on the conference schedule.

Key game of the week saw the Madison Edgewood Crusaders making its home ice debut with a 6-1 win against the Sauk Prairie Eagles giving the visitors its first loss and first loss in what ended up being the lone game of the week for both teams.

The Crusaders remain undefeated in conference play and enter this week with the Panthers as co-leaders entering their head-to-head battle on Monday (Dec. 13) which will be part of next week’s conference summary.

The Panthers enjoyed a big week, starting with an 8-0 win at SLICE against Monroe Cheesemakers Monday and also including a 9-8 edge against Big Eight leading Janesville Bluebirds on home ice Tuesday.

A scheduled meeting between the Eagles and Panthers was postponed and will now be played on Dec. 20.

RWD hit the conference win columns with victories against both Baraboo Portage on home ice Tuesday and at SLICE in Monroe Thursday but wrapped up the win with a tough non-conference loss to Baldwin on Saturday.

The Thunderbirds also dropped a pair of non-conference matches, both at Pierce Park Pavilion in Baraboo while the Cheesemakers lost a pair of conference matches as well as a road game against Muskego

MADISON EDGEWOOD CRUSADERS (4-1, 2-0 Badger West)

SAUK PRAIRIE EAGLES (3-1, 1-1 Badger West)

These two are included together as their lone game of the week was against each other.

After dropping its season opener, the Crusaders have now racked up four straight including conference matches against both RWD and Sauk Prairie.

It’s starting to look like this team could be in for a special season with an awesome group of seniors leading the way.

J.J. Wiebusch was in on five of the six (2g, 3a) against the Eagles and has put up 15 points in the team’s four wins. Parker Murn and Cody Menzel both collected four points in the game and Aidan Lenz had three set ups.

In goal, sophomore Rowan White and freshman Hayden Reuhl have combined on the 4-1 record, stopping all but 11 of 118 shots against so far.

For the Eagles, the Mast brothers, senior Nick and junior Luke both played a part in the lone goal, and they have combined on 27 points through four games for the Eagles.

After playing Oregon on Monday, the Crusaders will stay home to entertain the Cheesemakers Tuesday wrapping up the team’s pre-Christmas schedule. They have yet to play Baraboo/Portage and those two teams will meet twice in the second half of the schedule.

The Eagles are scheduled to entertain Baraboo/Portage at SPARC on Tuesday and will be at RACA in Reedsburg to play RWD. The Eagles will remain busy, the moved game to Dec. 20 leaving them with still five games to play before the break.

OREGON PANTHERS (6-1, 2-0 Badger West)

The offensively gifted Panthers continued to wreak havoc on opposition goaltenders this past week, scoring another 17 goals and racking up two more wins.

After the 8-0 shutout at SLICE Monday, the team played at home Tuesday and an equally impressive Janesville Bluebirds team its first loss 9-8 on Tuesday.

The Oregon team, ranked among state coaches as one of the top Division 2 teams in the state, rolled into Tuesday’s game with 59 goals through its first seven games – an average of more than eight per match. The Bluebirds rolled in undefeated through its first three games with 29 goals scored so the 17 goals in the game was likely no surprise.

The trio of forwards – junior Kyle Rohrer, sophomore Andrew Jicha and senior Joe Roemer continued their season opening barrage combining for 30 points in the two games.

Rohrer notched eight goals and five assists in the two games and entered this week as the state leader with 41 points. Jicha had two goals and six assists and is currently second in state with 36 points while Roemer picked up two goals and seven helpers and currently sits third with 32 points so far.

The Panthers are scheduled to start the win making the trip to LaBahn Arena Monday in a battle of the only two teams undefeated in conference play so far. After hosting RWD the following night, the Panthers will wrap up the week with a non-conference contest against Fond du Lac Warbirds on Saturday in Oregon. Wrapping up the pre-Christmas portion of its schedule, the Panthers will travel to Sauk Prairie on Monday, Dec. 20.

RWD CHEAVERS (5-5, 2-1 Badger West)

RWD picked up a pair of big wins to climb over .500 both in conference and overall, but a tough 5-3 loss against the visiting Baldwin-Woodville Hawks on Saturday was a bit of a spoiler.

RWD has shown itself to be well balanced so far, collecting 19 goals in the three games played while allowing just one in the two conference matches.

Junior Caden Brandt and senior CJ Pfaff both collected eight points in the two wins while senior goaltender Cooper Oakes kicked out all but one of 30 shots faced and picked up a shutout. Brandt’s 19 point have him in a tie for ninth in state.

The team has collected at least a point from 14 players in its first eight games.

BARABOO/PORTAGE THUNDERBIRDS (1-5, 0-2 Badger West)

A tough 8-0 loss against conference rival in Reedsburg was sandwiched between a pair of non-conference losses Monday against Madison LaFollette East Lakers (6-3) at Pierce Park Pavilion Monday and Thursday (10-4) against Brookfield Stars.

The team was missing eight players due to illness, injury or other reasons against the Cheavers, and the team has not had a full lineup on the ice yet this season.

Seniors Oliver Scanlan and Gabe Fitzwilliams have tried the lead the squad, both scoring in both non-conference matches, Scanlan ending the week with three goals and Fitzwilliams with two. The other goals came from junior Luke Schweda and freshman Jordi Beale.

Thunderbirds have dropped four in a row and face a tough assignment Tuesday making the trip to Sauk Prairie to play the Eagles and staying on the road Thursday for another tough game against the Bluebirds, then returning home to Pierce Park Pavilion Saturday to face the Monroe Cheesemakers.

MONROE CHEESEMAKERS (1-8, 0-3 Badger West)

A rough week for the Cheesemakers saw the team dropping conference losses to both Oregon (8-0) and RWD (8-1) and wrapping up the week with an 8-1 loss on home ice against the Muskego Co-op Ice Force. The losses stretched the team’s current losing streak to five games and they have dropped their first three Badger West matches.

Junior Nolan Bodenstein and sophomore Wyatt Janecke scored the Cheesemaker goals. The week ahead will be tough as well, beginning with a conference match at La Bahn Arena in Madison against the Crusaders Tuesday and a Saturday contest at Pierce Park Pavilion against Baraboo/Portage to wrap up the first half of the conference schedule.

RWD faces tough schedule in 2021-22

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The focus of high school sports is currently fall sports – football, cross country, boys’ soccer, girl’s golf and tennis, swimming, and volleyball.

We know several players from local teams are already taking part in before/after programs and varsity high school teams will be stepping on the ice in the next few days or weeks to begin captain’s practices, allowing students to begin preparing for their upcoming seasons.

For the RWD Cheavers, the actual season will begin Nov. 5 with a get together at Monk’s with practices getting underway three days later.

The annual pre-season scrimmages will take place at West Salem with both the host Panthers and DeForest Norskies taking part.

For the seventh time in nine seasons, the Cheavers will open the campaign against the Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln Red Raiders. The other two times the teams squared off in the second game of the campaign. This time around the game will be played at the South Wood County Recreation Center.

New this season will be a Thanksgiving Weekend tournament in Somerset and the other Holiday tournament, the annual Monk’s Cheeseburger Classic will return to its normal eight-team field with several new teams raising the caliber of the event.

The Somerset event will involve both the varsity and junior varsity teams with other teams from Eau Claire North, New Richmond and of course, the host Somerset teams taking part.

The RWD varsity team will open the event on Nov. 26 against the Eau Claire North Huskies immediately followed by the JV Cheavers against the New Richmond JV Tigers. Opponents and start times for the second day will depend on game results.

The Monk’s Battle for the Cheeseburger Classic will see familiar teams like Wisconsin Rapids, Tomah, McFarland, and Kenosha, but will also this season involve the Onalaska Hilltoppers, La Crescent Lancers and River Falls Wildcats.

Here is a look at the RWD Cheavers’ schedule as of Sept. 1. Games and start times are subject to change between now and the start of the season.

One different thing this season will be the Badger Conference Challenge which will pit teams from the Badger West against the Badger East. Opponents and start times will be determined based on standings at the time and the site is still to be determined as well. It will be played Jan. 15.

Badger West Conference games are in bold type.

November

23 — @ Wisconsin Rapids

26-27 — @ Somerset Spartans Holiday Tournament

30 — vs. Onalaska Hilltoppers

December

3 – vs. Edgewood Crusaders

7 – vs. Baraboo Thunderbirds

9 — @ Monroe Cheesemakers

11 – vs. Baldwin-Woodville Hawks

14 — @ Oregon Panthers

17 – vs. Sauk Prairie Eagles

21 — @ Tomah Timberwolves

28-30 MONK’S BATTLE FOR THE CHEESEBURGER CLASSIC

January 2022

4 — @ Waupaca Comets

6 or 8 — @ Edgewood Crusaders

11 — @ Baraboo Thunderbirds

15 — @ Badger Conference Challenge

20 – vs. Monroe Cheesemakers

25 – vs. Oregon Panthers

27-29 JV Tournament at Lake Delton Ice Arena (Hosted by DeForest)

February

1 – @ Sauk Prairie Eagles (JV @ Monroe)

4 — @ Hayward Hurricanes

5 — @ Ashland Oredockers

8 – vs. Janesville Bluebirds

Dedun notches game winner for JV Cheavers

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

A goal in the first period and two more in the third was enough for the junior varsity RWD Cheavers hockey team to wrap up a sweep on its northern swing on Saturday (Jan. 9) at United Civic Center Ice Arena with a 3-1 win against the Baldwin-Woodville Hawks.

Junior Carter Scully collected the lone goal of the opening period with help from Spencer Garbacz. The hosts rallied to tie it with the only shot to elude junior Gary Wiles with 6:28 to play the second period.

Yevgeny Dedun put the Cheavers in front to stay with an assist for Mark Othmer 99 seconds into the final period and Caleb Eastman added some insurance with his unassisted goal about seven minutes later.

Wiles collected his second win of the weekend, turning aside 18 of 19 shots while the JV Cheavers fired 35 shots the other way.

Cheavers find success on northern swing

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The RWD varsity Cleavers hockey team wrapped up a weekend sweep on its northern trek Saturday (January 9) with a 5-1 decision against the host Baldwin-Woodville Hawks at United Civic Center Ice Arena.

The Cheavers combined that with a 4-1 edge against the Somerset Spartans the previous evening in the first two games of a stretch of five-straight on the road.

The home team opened the scoring in this one with 6:28 to go in the first period but it was the only shot to elude junior Cooper Oakes on the night as he went on to record his eighth win of the season.

Teams were even after 17-minutes that’s go an unassisted tally for Connor Schyvinck with 1:55 to play in the period.

Sophomore Caden Brandt notched the game winner for the Cheavers, his 17^th of the season with 6:54 to play in the second period with juniors Clayton Pfaff and Trevor Slaght both collecting assists. Freshman Brady Baldwin followed with his fifth goal, 44 seconds later on a feed from sophomore John Scott.

Slaght added some insurance for the locals, unassisted, in the second minute of the final period and Pfaff rounded it out, from senior Danny Ely late in the game. The goal was the sixth of the season for both Slaght and Pfaff.

The win boosted the Cheavers to a record of 9-3 on the season and they will face a tough test Tuesday, paying a visit to Sauk Prairie Area Recreation Center (SPARC) to take on the undefeated (5-0) Eagles. On Thursday, RWD will play at Beaver Dam Family Center against the host Golden Beavers, wrapping up the long stretch of road matches at Pierce Park Pavilion with its second meeting of the season against the Baraboo/Portage Thunderbirds. All three games will see a 7 p.m. puck drop.

Next home game for the Cheavers will be played on Tuesday (January 19) when the SPASH (Stevens Point) Panthers pay a visit to Reedsburg Area Community Arena. The Cheavers have nine games remaining on their schedule which wraps up on Jan. 30.

Off night for Cheavers produces 8-2 loss to Crusaders

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

For the first time this season, the RWD varsity hockey team suffered something every team goes through, absorbing an 8-2 loss to the Madison Edgewood Crusaders at Reedsburg Area Community Arena (RACA) on Tuesday (Jan. 5).

Off night, coming up flat, tough day at the office, stinker – there are several descriptions for a game like this and over a season, every team suffers through at least one or two. Analysts and Coaches are at a loss to figure out how to change the course and it seems inevitable for every team.

The best – really the only – cure is to get through it, accept it and move on.

The last two meetings against the Crusaders have produced a couple of RWD’s best efforts in the past year, at last season’s Regional championship match where a last-minute goal finally lifted the heavily favored Crusaders to a 2-1 edge against the locals and earlier this season when the same Cheavers battled the always strong Crusaders for 51 minutes, ultimately conceding a 3-1 decision on Dec. 22 at RACA.

This game saw a Cheavers team that wanted to match the intensity level of the earlier contests but saw the game slip away primarily from some tough calls.

The locals were assessed three penalties, including a major in the opening period and the Crusaders made them pay a heavy price, scoring on two of them while outshooting the home team 14-6 and building a 3-1 lead it would never relinquish.

Overall, the Cheavers were assessed a total of 30 minutes in penalties while the referees noticed just two minors against the Crusaders.

The first goal came 2:23 into the contest, but Danny Ely converted a feed from Caden Brandt a short time pull his team even.

Crusaders pulled ahead with an even strength goal 7:12 into the period then added another with 1:50 to play in the frame.

Two goals in the first six minutes of the middle session had the Crusaders comfortably in front. Caden Brandt sank his team’s second, from Carsen Brandt and Danny Ely with 1:39 to go but the locals were denied momentum when Edgewood responded with one more 15 seconds from the second period buzzer.

Junior Aidan Lenz doubled his season output with a four-goal game for the Crusaders. He has now scored seven goal in his past two games and junior Parker Murn had five assists in the contest.

Cooper Oakes and Gary Wiles shared the work in goal for the Cheavers.

The loss dropped the Cheavers overall record to 7-3 as they head into a series of five straight road contests, beginning with a Friday/Saturday northern swing that will see the team traveling up the I94 to near the Minnesota border. On Friday, the Cheavers will visit the 7-5 Somerset Spartans with a 7 p.m. faceoff before moving on to a meeting against the 6-6 Baldwin-Woodville Hawks Saturday at 2 p.m.

RWD’s next home game will be on Jan. 19 when the SPASH (Stevens Point) Panthers pay a visit to RACA.