Kopfstein honored as one of division’s best

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

Jack Kopfstein has been a huge presence for the Dells Ducks since his unexpected arrival in the off season between the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons.

USPHL Premier 2022-23 Midwest West Division All-Stars

The now 17year-old defenseman signed up to attend the Futures Camp held by the Ducks and he has been a great presence on the blue line ever since. Local fans and players are clearly not the only ones to notice him as he was recently named as a Premier League’s Midwest-West Division 2022-23 All Star.

A native of Vista, CA, Kopfstein showed up at the Prospects Camp seemingly out of the blue after selecting the Ducks as a team that could be a good fit for him. At the time he was playing youth and varsity hockey on the left coast.

His impression with the Ducks was immediate but hidden somewhat on a team that struggled defensively. However, he stood out at the other end of the pond as well, slamming home three goals and a dozen assists in the season’s first 29 games before a collar bone injury at the Chicago Showcase just before the Christmas Break effectively pulled the plug on his season.

Dells Ducks

But the defensemen didn’t shut himself down completely, returning for the final few games of the season and spend much of the off season in Illinois and Wisconsin, working out and attending some tournaments with incoming Head Coach Anthony Rohde.

Kopfstein returned for the 2022-23 season and missed just one of 44 contests, scoring 14 goals and adding 17 assists for 31 points which was more than double his previous season’s total. Overall, the 46 points collected by Kopfstein ranks 27^th best in team history and he is fifth among defensemen behind local legends Jake Stima; Bradley Hefner, Sean Teske and Beckett Patten.

As an ‘05, Kopfstein has three years of junior eligibility remaining and he has a good shot at catching on with a team at a higher level (NAHL or NCDC).

Kopfstein’s big shot and ability to move the puck might overshadow his primary job which is of course stopping the opposition from scoring. He was a primary piece on a defensive unit that cut 116 goals off its goals against total (333 to 217) this past season but he and the coaches both know that job is not finished yet.

Being recognized as one of the division’s top defenders is no easy task, especially this season which might have been one of the best since the division was formed in terms of defensive standouts.

Kopfstein joins Jacob Jakusz and Evan Izenstark from the Hudson Havoc; Kyle Cupolo from the Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings and Logan Lake from the Minnesota Moose as the Division’s All-Star Defenders.

It is nice but not overly surprising to see Kopfstein listed as one of the best in the division. He has been a huge part of the team’s successful move up the standings this past season.

Coach (Shaun) Falzone and then Coach Rohde have been happy to have a player like Kopfstein patrolling the Ducks’ blue line.

“Jack through the past two seasons has been one of the most reliable defensemen in the division,” said Coach Rohde. “Not only does he play against the other team’s top players, but also puts up points consistently.

“His progression from a young player learning how to play juniors to being the ‘D’ that leads a team has been a lot of fun to watch.”

All Star Forwards is equally as impressive including: Jack Pojar; Blake Bakey and Daniel Ellingson from the Minnesota Squatch; Tyler Schmitt and Easton Parnell from the Isanti Outlaws; William Tricarico and Tobias Falkeid from the Riverkings; Teodor Benno-Vaage and Ryan Mulrenin from the Moose; Noah LaFleur from the Steele County Blades and Harout Torosian from the Havoc.

Nate Gulsvig of the Squatch/Havoc and Levi Preugschas from the Blades were named as the Division’s All-Star Goaltenders.

The Dells Ducks and Saukhockey.info would like to Congratulate Jack on being named to the All-Division team and wish him luck as he looks to catch on with a Tier 2 squad over the summer months.

Blaine may be in USA, but its Siberia for Ducks

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The Dells Ducks have enjoyed a nice turnaround to its regular season of late but one thing remains the same.

Fogerty Ice Arena is no fun for them.

Coming into a weekend set with the host Minnesota Moose riding a modest two-game winning streak and looking much better of late, the Moose brushed them aside in the first of two games by an 11-1 score. The following night the Ducks came out looking to turn the tables and led 2-1 late in the game in what would have been its biggest victory in several seasons.

But the Moose, a team the Ducks have never defeated, spoiled the day for them again, tying the game with 3:30 to play and snatching the win away just over a minute later.

The Moose fired two more in the game’s final minute, the first into an empty goal to rub a bit more salt into the wound, wrapping up a 5-2 win.

Despite the tough losses in Blaine, a win in the Twin Cities Thursday night against the Minnesota Mullets widened the Ducks in the final playoff position and the ninth place Mullets who wrapped an 0-3 weekend.

HIghlights of Thursday included another win in goal for Chris Mazurek (‘03/Batavia, IL) as he stopped 26 of 28 Mullets’ shots and Austin Holmberg (‘03/Amery, WI) fired the game winner early in the final period. Holmberg’s goal was the first of three helping the Ducks rally back from a 2-1 deficit for a 4-2 win.

Friday’s game was a mismatch from the opening faceoff as the host Moose peppered Anthony Falzone (‘03/St. Charles, IL) and Jadon Mammen (‘04/Grapevine, TX) with a combined 68 shots including the game winner notched before the halfway mark of the opening period.

MIkel Ferran Cobo (‘02/Curernabaca, Mexico), a former Moose player fired his third goal since joining the Ducks just before Thanksgiving, the lone bright spot on an otherwise rough night.

If the Ducks were down after the loss to the Moose, it didn’t show Saturday as the team came out looking to prove something in its fourth and final meeting of the season with the Blaine-based squad.

Moose got on the board with the lone goal of the first period but defenseman Jack Kopfstein (‘05/Vista, CA) responded with the lone second period tally.

Mazurek turned in his best outing of the season, kicking out 45 of 46 to keep the game even after 40 despite a 46-17 margin for the home side on the shot counter.

A brilliant neutral zone takeaway sent Bryce Jacobsen in alone and he buried a go-ahead goal right after the Ducks killed a minor penalty with just under four minutes goal in the third giving the Ducks their first lead of the season against the Moose.

The Moose kept up its barrage against Mazurek until netting the equalizer just 3:30 from the final buzzer and breaking Ducks hearts with the game winner just over a minute later. The clincher was slid into an empty net and the Moose fired one more meaningless goal with four seconds to play.

The Ducks will be hoping the goaltending effort of Mazurek who should be the Goaltender of the Week for the division, will give them momentum as they head to the Windy City Thursday for its third and final Showcase event of the season.

The Ducks will start out Thursday at 12:40 p.m. (CST) at the Canlan Arena in Romeoville against the Chicago Cougars who they played in a couple of pre-season exhibition contests in Lake Delton. The Cougars are from the Midwest-East Division.

On Friday the Ducks will face two opponents at the Leafs Center in Elgin, IL. First up is the Cincinnati Cyclones from the Great Lakes Division at 10:10 a.m. and later they will play the MHC club, made up of Metro Jets players, also from the Great Lakes Division.

Wrapping up the pre-Christmas portion of its schedule, the Ducks will return to Romeoville Saturday to play the Northern Colorado Eagles from the Mountain Division at 7:50 p.m. Because the games are being played in a tournament format, starting times may not be exact.

After the Showcase, players will scatter around the globe to celebrate the holiday with their respective families, then return to prepare for its first home series since November Steele County Blades pay a visit to the Lake Delton Ice Arena Jan. 7-8, 2023.

Those games will kick off the 13-game homestretch for the Ducks who will wrap up the regular season on Feb. 26.

Biggest games yet in front of Dells Ducks

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

For the Dells Ducks, November was one of the team’s best months in recent history. With a mini schedule through the first half of December the team is looking to make a big move.

The Ducks were especially sharp in the early days of the month, capturing three wins and seven points through its first five games and it stayed over .500 until the last game of the month when it dipped to 4-5-1 in 10 games.

Nevertheless, the nine points collected in one month equaled last season’s points total and the team is rowing together in the right direction.

The Ducks moved out of the league basement and into the eighth position with a pair of huge games to kick off December.

The Ducks now sit at 4-16-2-1 one game past the season’s halfway mark and the team will kick off an eight-game December with the first of two at Augsburg University Ice Arena Thursday (Dec. 1) at 7:30 p.m. CST.

The Ducks made its was past the Mullets in the standings with a win a the Detroit Showcase but heading into the first of four meetings with the Mullets this season, the home team has played four fewer games. There is no doubt this is the biggest game of the season for the Ducks so far this season but it could the start of something bigger.

While the Ducks got hot in November, the Steele County Blades did the same and their solid play has boosted them into the division’s midpack and within sight of a spot in the top half.

Head Coach Anthony Rohde not only wants to see that happen, he is confident his team can make it so.

“I fully believe this team will be able to start making a run to finish in the top four in our division,” said the Coach in an email interview with his team just back from a short Thanksgiving Break, there first time away since Labor Day.

Rohde has added new players and faced a little adversity with some top players leaving in recent weeks.

“With some new faces coming in, it has changed the locker room a little bit,” said the coach. Getting used to new guys and figuring out lines (has been interesting). Today’s (Wednesday) practice showed that when tey click, they have a huge upside.”

Among the tough recent losses was the departure of Jacob Behnke who was expected to be an offensive leader and was starting to get hot before moving on to the Florida Division a few weeks ago. However, a trade with the Minnesota Moose landed the Ducks its first ever Mexican-born player and Mikel Ferran Cobo made an instant impact, scoring twice and setting up another in four games at the Detroit Showcase tournament.

“It is a huge loss losing Behnke,” said Rohde. “He is a great player and a great kid. But picking up Cobo has been huge, he brings in that attitude that we are going all the way to Nationals. As a coach you love to have him around. With the break we just came back from I think the guys are more refreshed and excited to get back into games. So hopefully tomorrow they can get their minds set on coming to Minnesota for a win.”

Like everyone in the Midwest-West, the Mullets have had the Ducks’ number in recent seasons, but Rohde has already collected more Midwest-West Division wins that any Ducks team since 2019 and he will have a plan in place when the team takes the ice against the Mullies.

“I’ve watched the Mullets play a couple games here and there. From what I’ve seen they like to play very systematic, and simple,” said Rohde “(If we) Play strong Defense and take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves (we will get good results). This game should be similar to playing Isanti in my opinion.”

After Thursday’s contest, the Ducks will be done for the weekend and begin preparing for a game back at Augsburg Dec. 8, the first game of a three-game weekend with the other two in Blaine, MN against the Minnesota Moose.

The other four games will be played at the annual Chicago Showcase tournament Dec. 15-17.

Spacemen send disappointed Ducks to Thanksgiving break

By Jim den Hollander
Editor/Publisher
Saukhockey.info
The Dells Ducks hoped for a better finish to the first half of their regular season but there have been plenty of positives to grab from their recent games.

The Ducks wrapped up play at the Detroit Showcase Sunday with a 6-2 loss against the Fort Wayne Spacemen, perhaps the toughest opponent faced at the Motown event.

Dells Ducks

After winning its opener against the Decatur Blaze, the Ducks dropped a pair against the Motor City Gamblers and Columbus Mavericks Saturday, then closed it out Sunday against the Spacemen.
Fort Wayne entered the contest with a 2-1 record on the weekend, including a win in its first game against the Metro Jets on Friday. On Saturday the Spacemen defeated the third Metro team, MHC and added a 4-3 edge against 4-3 edge against the Steele County Blades. The win against the Ducks clinched them as one of only two teams that wrapped up the weekend with a 4-0 record.
Two goals in both the first and second had the Spacemen up 4-0 heading to the third and they added another before Ethan Matthews (‘02/South Bend, IN) finally got the Ducks on the board with help from Bryce Jacobsen (‘02/DeForest, WI). The assist for Jacobsen was his 50th point as a Duck.

One of the team’s newest additions, Mikel Ferran Cobo (‘04/Mexico City, Mexico) collected his second goal of the weekend later, from Jacobsen and Matthews.
Jacobsen and starting goaltender Jadon Mammen were both playing for the first time on the weekend after sitting out a three-game suspension following an altercation the previous weekend in Isanti.
The weekend win moved the Ducks past the eighth place Minnesota Mullets but the Steele County Blades, currently seventh enjoyed a five-point weekend and widened its gap on the Ducks while climbing into a sixth-place tie with the Blue Ox – both six points up on the Ducks now.

The Ducks will return to action on Dec. 1 with a quick dash to the Twin Cities for a Thursday night contest against the Minnesota Mullets at Augsburg University Ice Arena. The following Thursday will see the team back at Augsburg for a rematch, but they will stay in town a Friday/Saturday pair against the Minnesota Moose in Blaine.

Next home game for the Ducks will be Jan. 7, 2023, against the Steele County Blades.

Learning curve still steep for improving Ducks

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The Dells Ducks have shown a marked improvement over the course of the season, but the Minnesota Moose showed them in games Saturday and Sunday, the road to the top half of the USPHL’s Premier Midwest-West Division still features several cutbacks up the side of a steep mountain.

Recent games against the fifth place Steele County Blades showed the Ducks who for a second season are by far the youngest team in the division are closing in on being more than competitive with mid pack teams.

But back-to-back 11-2 defeats at the Fogerty Icehouse in Blaine, MN against the Moose were a tough pill to swallow for the locals.

In the opener on Saturday night, the Moose fired nearly 80 shots at Anthony Falzone (‘03/St. Charles, IL) and Drew Moseley (‘02/St. Louis, MO).

Again, the Ducks showed promise, staying with the Moose through the opening 20, but a 2-1 Moose cushion turned into a 5-1 lead in the second period and the Moose exploded for a half dozen down the stretch.

There have been some bright spots and one is the play of Samuel Soltes (‘04/Trnava, Slovakia). He scored his third goal in six games since joining the Ducks on a feed from Justin Green (‘01/Fort Worth, TX). The other goal came from Ethan Matthews (‘02/South Bend, IN) making his debut with the Ducks.

On Sunday, the start was similar, the Moose carrying a 1-0 lead into the second period before Jayden Tkaczuk (‘02/Channahon, IL) tied it with his 12^th goal of the season early in the second period from Caden Glamkowski (‘02/St. Charles, IL) and Bryce Jacobsen (‘02/DeForest, WI).

The Moose responded with the next 10 goals, five in the second period and five more in the final 20 before Tkaczuk notched his 13^th, again with help from Glamkowski and Jacobsen 47 seconds from the final buzzer.

Falzone and Jadon Mammen (‘04/Grapevine, TX) shared the work in this one, sharing the workload against another 70-plus shots on goal.

The losses in Blaine extended the team’s current losing streak to eight games with five games to play.

The first four are on the road in Wisconsin with a pair at the South Wood County Recreation Center in Wisconsin Rapids Friday and Saturday (Feb. 18-19) against the second place Riverkings and a week later in Hudson against the third place Havoc. The Ducks will wrap up the campaign at the Lake Delton Ice Arena Feb. 27 with one last chance to get by the Steele County Blades before the playoffs start.

Glamkowski reaches milestone for Ducks in loss

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The Dells Ducks opened a three-game weekend Friday (Feb. 4) night with a 6-3 loss to the Steele County Blades at the Four Seasons Center in Owatonna, MN.

Coming off a 3-2 loss on home ice to the Blades the previous Sunday at the Lake Delton Ice Arena. This time around the Blades grabbed a 2-0 first period lead, but saw it trimmed to 4-3 by the end of the second.

Two more unanswered down the stretch padded the lead for the Blades and extended the Ducks’ current losing streak to six games.

There was some reason to celebrate though as the Ducks’ first goal came off the stick of Caden Glamkowski (‘04/St. Charles, IL) for his 30^th goal of the season. He is only the third player in team history to record 30 goals in a season. The others were Ian Wood (twice) and Aidan Verbeke.

Assists on the Glamkowski goal went to Gage Senio (‘04/Red Deer, AB) and Alex Grove (‘02/Waldorf, MD).

The Blades scored the next two to go up 4-1 but the Ducks struck back with two in the final 5:05 of the period to get within a goal again.

Samuel Soltes (‘04/Trnava, Slovakia) fired his second goal since joining the Ducks a few weeks ago and another newcome, Luca Maislin (‘03/Montreal, QC) notched his fourth. Glamkowski had set ups on both goals, pushing his team leading points total to 52, Grove and Oliver Cabala (‘05/Kezmorok, Slovakia) adding the other assists.

Drew Moseley (‘02/St. Louis, MO) handled 38 of 44 shots in goal for the Ducks who were outshot by a margin of 44-17.

The team hit the road after the game for Saturday and Sunday games in Blaine, MN against the Minnesota Moose to wrap up the team’s final three-game weekend of the season.

More tough lessons for Ducks in Minnesota

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The Dells Ducks junior hockey team hit the ice for the first time in three weeks with a three-game weekend Jan. 28-30.

After a pair of tough losses on the road against the USPHL Midwest-West Division’s top entry, the Ducks returned home Sunday afternoon to wrap it up with a narrow 3-2 loss to the visiting Steele County Blades.

Sunday’s game went past chippy, teams combining for more than 70 minutes in the sin bin – more than half of those in the third period.

The Ducks spent a large part of the third period shorthanded. The good news for the Ducks was it was able to successfully kill every second of the infractions in the final period and the bad news was it left no time for the team to mount a counterattack to tie the score.

There was no scoring in the third and the Ducks saw a 2-1 lead after a period taken away with two unanswered goals for the Blades in the middle 20.

Jacob Cartland (‘02/Mukwonago, WI) opened the scoring for the Ducks with a shorthanded tally after taking a feed from Justin Green (‘01/Fort Worth, TX) 8:01 into the contest but the Blades struck back less than a minute later on the same powerplay. Cartland’s goal was his 11^th of the season.

Kai Neumaier (‘03/St. Charles, IL) scored on a solo effort with 4:35 to play in the opening period to give the Ducks a lead at the break.

Blades scored before the end of the opening minute of the middle period to knot the score and fired the game winner 6:24 from the end of the frame. The tying goal was a shorthanded effort for Seva Bannikov (‘01/Minsk, Belarus) and the game winner came from Jake Miltko (‘03/Colorado Springs, CO).

Once again, Ducks’ goaltender Drew Moseley (‘02/St. Louis, MO) stepped up in a huge way, stopping all but three of 60 shots faced in goal for the Ducks.

Ducks 2, 3 @ Blue Ox 15, 9

The Blue Ox showed the Ducks on Friday and Saturday nights why they are not only the leaders in the Midwest-West Division but a legit threat at capturing the League’s National Championship in March.

The Ducks opened and closed the scoring in the opening period Friday but in between was five Blue Ox markers, the first three coming together in a span of 53 seconds.

That was the story of the two-game set as the Blue Ox frequently scored in bunches. With a number of new faces in the lineup, it was a tough assignment trying to work the chemistry in a game situation against a team that turned nearly every Ducks’ miscue into a goal.

Cartland started a solid weekend of play with the Ducks’ first goal, the other Ducks’ goal scored by Samuel Soltes (‘04/Trnava, Slovakia) in his first game in North America. Defenseman Gage Senio (‘04/Red Deer, AB) had an assist on both Ducks goals.

Saturday’s game saw a Ducks team determined to keep the game closer and they were successful through the first half of the game.

Down 2-0 after a period, the team went to work and pulled even with goals from Luca Maislin (‘03/Montreal, QC), his third in four games with the team since being acquired from the Florida Eels and defenseman Luke Taylor (‘04/Chandler, AZ).

Assists came from Cartland giving him a point in all three games and Caden Glamkowski (‘04/St. Charles, IL).

The tying goal came three minutes into the second period and stayed in place until the Ox fired four in the final seven minutes of the period and added three more in the third.

The Ducks could take the first two games in stride. Although the first game was its most lopsided loss of the season to date, it chalked up to learning against a solid team that has returned a huge number of players from last season’s team that reached the National Championship tournament.

The loss to the Blades was tough to take, Ducks facing some adversity in the contest with some tough calls on the ice.

They get an immediate shot at redemption though as the team kicks off another three-game weekend with a trip to the Four Seasons Center in Owatonna, MN to play the same Blades on Friday night (Feb. 4). Following that, the team will head north to Blaine for Saturday and Sunday matches against the Minnesota Moose.

The Ducks have eight games remaining in regular season play. This weekend will wrap up its season series with the Moose, leaving two-game weekends in both Wisconsin Rapids and Hudson before wrapping up the campaign on home ice against the Blades Feb. 27.

Below are interviews done before weekend series. For some reason, the preview story and photos did not upload.

Bright spots on a rough weekend for Ducks

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

It was another tough lesson for the Dells Ducks against another of the division’s top teams this past weekend as the team absorbed a pair of tough defeats.

After dropping a 9-3 decision on Saturday night at the Lake Delton Ice Arena against the Minnesota Blue Ox on Saturday night, the same two teams returned Sunday for an afternoon matinee contest, the Blue Ox going home happy with a 6-1 win.

The Blue Ox outshot the Ducks 67-22 on Sunday but that was a slight improvement in both shots for and against for the Ducks over the previous night’s numbers.

It might be hard to hear once again, but this is a Ducks team in a developing stage. The team has more 18 and young aged players and finds itself once again with Justin Green as the lone 20-year-old. The Ducks have a majority of players 18 and under.

The losses dropped the Ducks to 1-7 on the season so far which is one-win better than last season at this point and while the overall results have been rough, there some brightly shining diamonds in the rough so far as well.

Caden Glamkowski, an ‘04 from St. Charles, IL scored three times on the weekend and he continues to lead the team with 13 points in eight games. Jayden Tkaczuk who has made it clear he wants to go after the team’s single season scoring record, played his first full weekend since the opening series and he was in on all three goals the first night. He has seven points in four games played and gives the two teams two lines that can score. Jacobsen has racked up 11 points, two more than he collected in more than 20 games played last season. Jacob Cartland has a share of the goal scoring lead for the team with six goals and nine points.

The weekend series brought an end a set of eight straight games on home ice to open the regular season. The Ducks will make its first road trip of the season Friday, playing at Augsburg University Ice Arena in the Twin Cities at 7:30 p.m. The Mullets are coached by Chris Walby, a long tenured coach who played as a youngster in Sauk Prairie. On Sunday the Ducks will stop off on the way home at Owatonna to meet the Steele County Blades at the Four Seasons Center.

This begins an extremely busy stretch for the Ducks as they follow up this weekend set with four games in three days at the Midwest-West Showcase Tournament at Fogerty Ice House, home of the Minnesota Moose in Blaine, MN, Oct. 28-30, then return home Nov. 5-7 for another three-game weekend. All totalled, that’s 10 games in two weeks.

Duck Feathers – The Ducks welcomed a half dozen players on a temporary basis on the weekend. The next new player to suit up for the Ducks will be number 250 in team history.

– Tkaczuk boosted his all-time points total with the Ducks to 12 goals and 26 points, moving him into a tie with Colton Maynard for 53^rd spot on the Ducks list. He has a good shot at climbing inside the top 50 with another good weekend at Augsburg. He has also crossed the 120-minute mark in penalties and is on pace to become just the third player in team history to go over 200 minutes.
The November 5-7 homestand will be th final homegames for the team in 2021.

Moose provide tough lessons for Ducks

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

A young team with few returners, the Ducks knew this season, or at least the first part, would be mostly about learning and improving.

This past weekend the team endured a painful lesson against a Minnesota Moose team no Ducks’ squad has yet been able to solve. Since joining the league in the 2017-18 season, the Ducks have defeated the Ducks 16-straight times and this past weekend they showed the local side what it takes to rule the Midwest-West Division.

A brutally lopsided edge in shots helped the Moose wrap up an 8-0 shutout win in the opening game Saturday, following it up with a 13-2 decision Sunday afternoon, the second time in three sets of games the Ducks have surrendered 21 goals.

Both games featured a stretch or moment where it seemed the game could turn but it ended up slipping further away.

On Saturday night, the Ducks were outmatched, but managed to get a chance to pull close, when Caden Glamkowski got open behind the Moose defense and was hauled down. Awarded a penatly shot with the Ducks down just 2-0 into the second period, Simon Johnson in the Moose goal came up with a huge stop.

The Moose added another goal later in the middl period and put this one away with five more in the third. Anthony Falzone, in goal for the Ducks did a standout job, kicking out 36 of 39 shots through those first two periods and the Moose took its shots total past 60 in the game, topping it by going north of 70 on Sunday.

The Moose picked up where it left off Sunday, but once again a rough stretch in the middle period almost let the Ducks get even.

Up 3-0, the Moose, who wore out a path to the penalty box in both games, found themselves down two skaters.

The Ducks not only took advantage as Jake Cartland fired his sixth of the season with help from Jayden Tkaczuk and Bryce Jacobsen to make it a 3-1 game, the Ducks took it to the Moose with its best pressure of the weekend for the next few minutes.

The Ducks pressure came to a sudden gut punch of a halt when Jared Topil carried the puck through the neutral zone and fired the fourth Moose goal. Emotional turn was hard on the Ducks who surrered another goal to Topil on the same shift and two more before the end of the second period.

The other Ducks goal came from Tkaczuk who celebrated his return from a four-game suspension with a a goal and assist. Glamkowski and Jacobsen collected set ups on the goal.

The Ducks had a day off to lick wounds and returned to the rink ready to prepare for another tough weekend against the Minnesota Blue Ox on Tuesday. The Blue Ox joined the Moose at the National championship tournament at the end of last season. After dropping some early games the Blue Ox come in hot after a sweep against the Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings on home ice this past weekend.

Glamkowski’s return a big plus for Ducks

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The Ducks are closing in on its first meetings with the always tough Minnesota Moose with some cautious optimism.

Early in the pre-season and into the opening pair of games against the Rum River Mallards, on-ice communication was slowly developing, but the team looked sharp in spots against the Chicago Cougars two weekends ago.

Dells Ducks

After their second practice of the day Wednesday afternoon at the Lake Delton Ice Arena, Head Coach Shaun Falzone and forward Bryce Jacobsen, one of the few Ducks players who has faced the Moose before, discussed what is going on with the team heading into a tough weekend.

Falzone had good news in his interview announcing the return to practice of Caden Glamkowski who has been sidelined for a while and the addition of ’01 forward Alex Hertlein, picked up from the Chicago Cougars.