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.

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.

Hockey Talk Aug. 22 — Ducks Training Camp Day 2

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

Still easing into the tough physical part of the opening week of training camp, the Ducks ran some physical tests Sunday (Aug. 22) with a two-mile run as well as timed sessions of sit ups and pushups.

Ducks Training Camp – Day 2

When interviewed at the team’s tryouts/workout a few weeks ago, Jayden Tkaczuk, the team’s top scorer in 2020-21 said he had some lofty goals for the upcoming season with the single season scoring mark set by Aidan Verbeke (76 points in the team’s first season – 2011-12) in his sights.

The agile forward is clearly coming to camp in shape to make a big impression. He didn’t just post the fastest finish in the two-mile run, he blew the field away, his time of 12:35 getting him across the finish line 31 seconds in front of second year defender Thomas Howell while rookie Jack Kopfstein, the team’s youngest member rounded out the top three in 13:44.

The team’s senior member, Logan Dineen, the lone ’01, pushed the pace in the pushup competition with 53, three better than both William Carney and Jacob Cartland.

Howell led the way in sit ups with 54, two more than Bryce Jacobsen and Carney rounded out the top three with 44.

Sunday afternoon the team headed to Devil’s Lake in Baraboo for some hiking, primarily a bonding expedition.

The tough workouts will begin on Monday.

Happy Birthday Hackbarth

Blake Hackbarth turns 23 today. The 5’11” forward and native of Greenville, Wisconsin played his varsity hockey with the Neenah-Hortonville-Menasha Rockets, playing against the RWD varsity team at Lake Delton Ice Arena in his final season there – the only meeting between the two clubs.

After a season with the Decatur Blaze, Hackbarth played with the Ducks in 2017-18, contributing five assists and collecting 92 penalty minutes in 38 games. He wrapped up his junior hockey back in Decatur in 2018-19 with his best offensive season of the three, collecting 33 points.

After aging out, Hackbarth played a few games in 2019-20 with the Fox Cities Ice Dogs in the Great Lakes Hockey League, a nine-team league based in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The Ducks wish Blake Hackbarth a Happy Birthday and good luck in the 2021-22 GLHL season.