Tough homestretch but good future for Ducks

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The Dells Ducks are hoping some solid play at the annual Chicago Showcase can carry over into the final 13 games of the USPHL regular season, beginning with a pair on home ice this weekend against the Minnesota Mullets.

The Mullets, coached by Chris Walby who has Sauk County hockey connections, originally from the Lodi area, but playing his youth hockey in Sauk Prairie, also turned in a nice performance in Chicago and both teams are looking to keep their progress rolling into the new year.

The Ducks currently sit eighth in the eight-team Midwest-West and currently trail seventh place Rum River Mallards by 11 points, so climbing in the standings would be a longshot, but team morale is high with the addition of several new players (see video) and this team is clearly not done fighting.

The Mullets won three of four in Chicago and that builds to 4 of five when considering the team’s 3-1 win against the Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings on Dec. 11. Overall, the Mullets are sixth in the division with a 12-14-1-0 record, but the recent wins have the team in a position to move higher and home ice in the first round of playoffs is not out of the question.

For the Ducks, build has been slow, but there are a number of benchmarks the team could set in the final 13 games of the season.

TEAM

As a team, the Ducks have already collected four wins, one more than last season and points-wise, the nine points is also one more than last year. But the team has shown a marked improvement in almost every area.

The Ducks have scored 72 goals this season which is already seven more than last year with 13 games to play. Last season the team allowed 365 goals and the way the team is playing currently (225 GAG), they will likely finish under 300 goals against this year.

The 386 Penalty minutes is third highest in the division, but only a fraction more than half of the 768 it collected a year ago.

INDIVIDUALS

A year ago, Jaden Tkaczuk led the team in scoring with 19 points. This season, that would not rank him in the top four as Caden Glamkowski (27g, 19a) leads the way now with 46 points, and on a pace to perhaps break some longstanding team records.

In the Ducks’ opening season, Aidan Verbeke led the team with 37 goals and 76 points in 2011-12. Both records are still intact today, Ian Wood getting within one after a 36-goal 2013-14 season.

The 27 for Glamkowski so far leaves his 10 behind Verbeke’s mark with 13 games to play. If he doesn’t score another goal, the ‘04 from St. Charles, IL will have the sixth highest total. His next goal will move him into a tie for fourth with Sherman Mowery and Jake Stima.

Glamkowski is also in a tie for 15^th with his 46 points, a total also reached by David Kaplan in 2015-16.

Tkaczuk has collected 52 points (21g, 31a) in his two seasons with the Ducks so far, ranking him in a tie with Jason Heard as the team’s 16^th leading scorer all time and Glamkowski sits 22^nd. Both will make their way up that list if they can continue to produce in home stretch.

Perhaps most impressive is Glamkowski’s points per game which this season is at 1.533. That ranks him fourth highest all time behind Verbeke (1.583), Nick Albergo (1.600) and Connor Rickabus (2.00). The leader came up with 12 assists in six games played, so that record might not be beatable, but Glamkowski is on an awesome pace.

If age is considered, Glamkowski’s goals and points totals are the best by a 17-year-old. He is already three points past Billy Warren who collected 43 as a linemate to Verbeke in that first season. His 27 goals are by far the best by a 17-year-old, the next best total 19, also by Billy Warren.

Go down one year and defenseman Jack Kopfstein will wrap up his season tied for the best season as a 16-year-old. The Vista, CA defenseman has put up three goals and a dozen assists for 15 points. That matches the five goals and 10 assists for Jacob Cameron of Oregon, WI in 2017-18. Kopfstein will unfortunately not be able to build on that as a collarbone injury suffered in Chicago has brought his season to a premature end.

There are currently three 16-year-olds playing for the Ducks, Zach Windom and Oliver Cabala joining Kopfstein while two others – Jace Weimer and Sam Bachman have suited up at different times on an interim basis.

That is five out of 15 players that have played for the Ducks as 16-year-olds over the past 11 seasons. Current Ducks Seth Stoutenburg and Thomas Howell also played as 16-year-olds with the Ducks.

All these stats show while overall, there might be some reasons to grumble as the Ducks have been in rebuild mode 2.0 and 3.0 over the past five seasons, this young team is moving in the right direction.

The future looks good in the Duck Pond.

Ducks so close to big wins at Chicago Showcase

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

Two games into a four-game weekend at the annual Chicago Showcase tournament, the Ducks turned in two amazing efforts, but have just a single point to show for it.

After a 6-5 overtime loss against the Decatur Blaze Thursday, a late goal lifted the Detroit Fighting Irish to a 6-5 regulation win in a crazy contest.

The news became much worse as a broken collar bone for ‘05 defender Jack Kopfstein could sideline him as long as the remainder of the regular season.

That came in a wild gritty effort as reinforcements have resulted in not only a tougher, more resilient Ducks team but a team that can come up some big plays in the late minutes of the game.

Dells Ducks 5 Decatur Blaze 6

Against the Decatur Blaze on Thursday night, it was the Blaze grabbing control with three goals in less than three minutes in the first period adding another in the middle frame to carry a 4-1 lead into the final 17-minute segment.

The lone Ducks’ goal at that point belonged to Bryce Jacobsen (‘02/DeForest, WI) with an assist to Ryan Parkin, suiting up for the Ducks this weekend.

The Blaze widened the mark to 5-1 in the third before the Ducks went to work.

Caden Glamkowski (‘04/St. Charles, IL) kicked off another awesome weekend with the second goal from Gage Senio (‘04/Red Deer, AB) and Jacob Cartland (‘02/Mukwonago, WI). There was just 7:45 to play then so making it a three-goal cushion didn’t seem like an important goal.

But Senio hit the twine, from Seth Stoutenburg (‘03/Roseville, MN) about two minutes later and Glamkowski made it a one-goal game from Braedon Keel (‘03/Sylvania, Ohio) with 2:46 to go. Jacobsen’s second of the contest, from Glamkowski completed the comeback, but an overtime goal for the Blaze gave the team a not so happy ending.

Dells Ducks 5 Detroit Fighting Irish 6

Facing the Irish in an early game and its first of a pair on Friday, the Ducks were facing a team that manhandled them by a wide margin in a couple pre-season tests in August.

It appeared the same result could be coming when the Irish owned a 2-0 lead 7:34 into the game, but goals by Tkaczuk and Glamkowski evened the score by he end of the opening period. Glamkowski also had an assist along with Adam Chaudhri (‘04/Allen, TX) and Thomas Howell (‘04/Gilmer, TX).

Teams traded another pair each in the second, both Ducks goals fired by Glamkowski with help from Tkaczuk and Johnson.

Ducks rallied back to tie the game again, Glamkowski adding another with 2:41 to play, from Tkaczuk, but the Irish sank one more just over a minute later to snatch the win.

Ducks are scheduled to play again today (Friday, Dec. 17) against the Columbus Mavericks at 4:40 p.m. and will wrap up its pre-Christmas schedule Saturday at 2:20 p.m. against the Wooster Oilers.

Ducks riding momentum into Chicago Showcase

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

Coming off a promising albeit unsuccessful game on home ice this past Thursday, the Dells Ducks hit the Christmas Break rolling into the Windy City, the site of last season’s highlight.

A winless Ducks team headed to Chicago for last season’s Showcase event and picked up two of its three wins on the season.

This season, the Ducks have already collected three wins and enter a four-games in three-days stretch that once again could vault them into a positive post-Christmas stretch.

Also, the team once again finds itself bolstered entering the tournament with additions on both the blue line and up front.

First, a look back at last Thursday:

Drew Moseley has turned in some solid performances for the Ducks this season, but his 63-save performance against a potent Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings team might have been his best so far, despite a 6-1 loss.

Riverkings hit the board first, but Caden Glamkowski (‘04/St. Charles, IL) fired his 18^th of the season to knot it up with 6:35 to play in the opening period with help from Jayden Tkaczuk (‘02/Channahon, IL) and Thomas Howell (‘04/Gilmer, TX).

The visiting Riverkings snatched the momentum back though, firing a shorthanded goal just over two minutes later to carry a 2-1 cushion out of the opening 20. The Riverkings held a massive 20-5 edge in shots through the frame.

Riverkings turned the pressure up a notch with 26 second-period shots, but Moseley held strong until the visitors finally broke through for two in the final five minutes of the session. Another pair in the third, including one 14 seconds before the final buzzer widened the gap to 6-1.

The Riverkings lead the Midwest-West Division and are a good bet to go a long way this season and the Ducks, simply not at the same point in their progress, have played them bravely and without fear, especially in this contest.

Since that game, the Ducks have added three players including most recently Drake Johnson (‘02/Kalamazoo, MI) who completed his first semester at Aquinas College and got the itch to return to juniors to play hockey after acting as the manager of the school’s hockey club. Also, back for the tournament is Dillon Collings (‘02/Golden, CO), a regular last season who also has moved on to attend school but is making his second visit to the Ducks this season while on a break from school.

Also bolstering the defense is Oliver Cabala, the team’s third ‘05 addition, from Kezmarok, Slovakia.

Alex Grove (‘02/Waldorf, MD) has been with the team for a couple weeks as well, acquired from Hudson, but he is currently out of action due to concussion protocols. Grove will be a good addition to the team’s forward group after the Christmas break.

The Ducks will begin play at the Chicago tournament Thursday at 1:10 p.m. against the Decatur Blaze from the Midwest-East Division, then return to play twice on Friday, at 8 a.m. against the Detroit Fighting Irish, another Midwest-East team they defeated in Chicago last season, but lost to in pre-season matches in August and at 4:40 p.m. against the Columbus Mavericks, a team from the Great Lakes Division they have never played before.

On Saturday, the team will wrap up the pre-Christmas portion of its schedule with a rematch against the Wooster Oilers from the Great Lakes Division at 2:20 p.m. The Ducks met the Oilers as the Islanders HC tournament in Massachusetts 9-3 on Nov. 19.

Moseley backstops Ducks’ win against Rum River

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

When team snaps a losing streak, it is often said they have shaken a monkey off its back.

The beast perched on the shoulders of the Dells Ducks was evicted as the Ducks earned a 5-4 overtime win against the Rum River Mallards at Isanti Ice Arena against the Rum River Mallards Friday (Nov. 12) night having been there for 15 games.

After climbing off the team’s collective shoulders, he returned to his regular job, swatting at jets and helicopters from the top of the Empire State Building.

A still short-staffed Ducks team hit the road for two games in Isanti in what might seem like an easy weekend after playing three of more games in each of the previous three weekends. They will begin another four-game weekend Thursday.

The team collected its second win of the regular season, shrugging off its lack of numbers and taking the game to the same team that defeated the Ducks 13-4 at the Lake Delton Ice Arena in the opening game of the season in September.

Routinely doubled, tripled or worse on the score sheet, the Ducks battled hard Friday night and held the edge in shots for the first time in 19 games this season, holding a 35-34 margin.

The win in goal was recorded by Drew Moseley who patrolled the crease for the Mallards last season. It was his first win as a Duck and couldn’t have come on a better time.

The shots edge came when Caden Glamkowski buried his team leading 14^th goal of the season with the only shot of the overtime period, helped by Jack Kopfstein and Jayden Tkaczuk.

Both Glamkowski and Tkaczuk wrapped up the game with a goal and three helpers, Kopfstein setting up a pair. The other goals were all the first as a Duck, by Kai Neumaier (‘03/St. Charles, IL) along with Anthony Tuccitto (‘02/Inner Grove Heights, MN). Tuccito has been with the Ducks a short time and played for the Mallards last season. Defender Gage Senio (‘04/Red Deer, AB) scored the other in his first game on the Ducks blueline after starting the 2021-22 season with the Florida Eels.

Bryce Jacobsen and Thomas Howell both collected assists as well for the Ducks.

The Ducks were scheduled to stay in Isanti for a second game Saturday night and attempt to start its first winning streak of the campaign.

Riverkings, Havoc next challenge for Ducks

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The Dells Ducks will return home for its third straight weekend of three or more games with visits from the Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings on Friday and the Hudson Havoc Saturday and Sunday.

After this weekend, the Ducks, who enter with a 1-14 record will have played all seven of its USPHL Premier Midwest-West Division opponents at least once. While a core group of players are enjoying stellar individual campaigns, the young team has found it difficult to find the win column.

After a thrilling overtime win against the Chicago Cougars in the third game of the season, September 24, the Ducks dropped a dozen straight.

Making things a bit more difficult, the team has played short-staffed the past couple weeks, but the defense corps got a needed boost at the Midwest-West Showcase with the addition of Evan Haddeman (‘04/Hudson, IA), who came to the Ducks after starting the season with the Lake Tahoe Lakers in the Premier Pacific Division.

Also in the lineup was Zachary Windom, an ‘05 defenseman from Allen, TX who has been with the team since opening day but recovering from an ankle injury. Easily the youngest defense corps in the division if not the league, the Ducks enter the weekend with two ‘05’s (Windom and Jack Kopfstein) and three ‘04’s (Haddeman, Thomas Howell and Lucas Taylor).

Once again, the upcoming tests will be difficult as the Riverkings and Havoc are perennial top-four finishers although a quick look at the division history books shows a Havoc team that made its own way up from rock bottom about five seasons ago.

Since 2018, the Ducks have won just twice in 14 starts against the Riverkings and both – a 1-0 win in 2019 that saw Emil Norrman kicking out all 47 shots he faced, and a 4-3 edge in 2020 that saw Jason Heard scoring a pair of goals. Heard has returned to the Ducks on a part time basis whenever his job commitments in Chicago allow.

Last season, the Ducks squared off with the Riverkings five times and scored just one goal….total. The Riverkings meanwhile hit double digits on the scoreboard in three of the games. Needless to say, the Riverkings have had the Ducks’ number in recent seasons.

The Ducks have posted a 2-9-2-0 record against the Havoc since 2018 but the Havoc has claimed the last 11. The Ducks last win came Nov. 3, 2018.

Game time on both Friday and Saturday will be 7:30 p.m. with a 1:30 p.m. Matinee contest on Sunday.

Coach Falzone talks strategy with his charges during a brief break in the team’s second practice of the day at the Lake Delton Ice Arena on Thursday, Nov. 4. The Ducks will entertain the Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings on Friday and follow it up with Saturday and Sunday games against the visiting Hudson Havoc.

Ducks squad runs out of gas near finish line

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The ninth and final period of a busy weekend was where the understaffed and not entirely well Dells Ducks team hit a wall on Sunday afternoon.

With a pair of decent, but ultimately unsuccessful efforts in the Twin Cities against the Minnesota Mullets already under its belt, the Ducks stopped at the Four Seasons Center in Owatonna on the way home Sunday afternoon to take on the host Steele County Blades.

The Ducks entered the weekend with a depleted roster with several team members either battling or just finished with a cold. Even at 2-2 early and down 4-2 with a period to go, the Ducks ultimately succumbed 8-2.

The Ducks were facing a Blades team that opened the season with five wins in its first eight games but coming off an 11-5 win on home ice against the Minnesota Blue Ox who beat them soundly for a second time already this season.

The Ducks tried to take advantage in the opening periods, staying with the Blades for the most part, but trailing 3-2 after 20 minutes. The Blades added one more in the second and the game was still up for grabs entering the final 20. But the Ducks were running on empty and got beat four more times although the shot clock showed a somewhat closer margin, 15-11 for the host Blades.

Overall, the Blades outshot the Ducks 53-28, a margin that while still wide, is staring to be narrowed at both ends. Ducks enjoyed its best weekend in terms of shots on goal so far this season.

Down 2-0 before the game’s three-minute mark, the Ducks fought back with goals from Bryce Jacobsen and Jayden Tkaczuk 18 seconds apart to even the score at the 7:16 mark. Thomas Howell and Jacob Cartland also collected points with an assist apiece.

Tanner Stendel paced the Blades’ attack firing three goals and adding three assists for his first six points of the season.

Anthony Falzone started for the Ducks, stopping 38 shots before Drew Moseley mopped up in the third with another seven stops.

It would be nice to be able to say the Ducks will get a chance to catch its breath, but instead the team is rolling through its shortest off-week of the season, heading back to Blaine, MN for a four-game weekend at the Midwest-West Showcase.

Ducks will begin play at 12:30 p.m. Thursday with a rematch against the Mullets, then gets a rematch against the Blades on Friday at 9 a.m. The Ducks will play a second game Friday at 5:40 p.m. against the Rum River Mallards, the first meeting since the opening weekend of the season with this rival. Wrapping up play on Saturday, the Ducks will face off against the Minnesota Blue Ox at 5:40 p.m.

The Ducks enter the Showcase with a 1-10-0-0 record, in eighth place in the division, three points behind the Mallards and a Hudson Havoc team that has played just four games so far.

Playing Moose a tough assignment for Ducks

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The Ducks are facing an opponent so tough in the Minnesota Moose, they added a week of preparation.

A hockey team faces tests all through its season, but facing the Moose this weekend is on part with a Harvard entrance exam.

The Moose have been among the toughest opponents for the Ducks since joining the USPHL at the beginning of the Fall of 2018. Actually, they don’t come any tougher. The Moose have compiled a perfect 14-0 record against the Ducks with 14 straight regulation defeats.

Five of those losses came last year by a combined score of 49-5.

A few Ducks players remember those (or at least some of those) contests well, but coming off a win in its series against the Cougars two weeks ago and a solid chemistry that has the team communicating better every time it steps on the ice, there is some genuine confidence heading into this weekend.

The Moose have played three games so far this season and come into action this weekend sporting a 2-1 record. They were scheduled to play the Minnesota Mullets on home ice at Fogerty Ice Arena.

Among the offensive leaders for the Moose heading into the weekend were captain Chase Solberg with seven points with Hunter Barto and Ike Frankel next at four points apiece.

Those are some familiar names for the Ducks. Solberg collected 13 points against the Ducks last season including three goals and three assists in the first meeting of the season at the Midwest-West Showcase.

Frankel also feasted on the Ducks with five goals and five assists, Barto adding a goal and four helpers.

The Only current members of the Ducks to score against the Moose are Jayden Tkaczuk and Carter Lewis.

However, the Ducks have put up some much better offensive numbers through the opening four games including nine points already from Caden Glamkowski (3g, 6a) while fellow rookie Jake Cartland (5g, 2a) and returner Bryce Jacobsen (2g, 5a) both have seven points through four games. That offense has been collected mostly without help from captain Jayden Tkaczuk who will be absent Friday, but returns to action Saturday hungry to get involved with his teammates on the score sheet.

In goal, Luke Buza was selected as Goaltender of the Week at the end of September, the same week Cartland collected Top Forward honors. Buza has played all three games for the Moose so far and had a 3.00 Goals Against Average along with a .902 Save Percentage heading into play this weekend.

For the Ducks, Anthony Falzone and Drew Mosely have split the work evenly. A dismal weekend for the entire team against the Rum River Mallards on the opening weekend left the goaltenders with some big statistical numbers. A week later through, both played again and both took a big chunk out of their Goals Against while raising their Save Percentages. Falzone collected his first junior win in goal and Mosely has looked good in both of his starts and is not far from joining Falzone in the win column.

The task this weekend will be to play a disciplined game and take advantage of manpower advantages while limiting powerplay opportunties for the Moose, staying hot on defense while at the same time keeping up the steady improvement in its own end, limiting chances, especially rebounds for the Moose and transitioning quickly from defense to offense.

Game time Saturday night is 7:30 p.m. with a quick turnaround for Sunday seeing teams back on the ice at 1:30 p.m.

Back to work for Ducks after tough opening weekend

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

After a pair of tough weekend losses against the Rum River Mallards, the Dells Ducks showed up Monday at the Lake Delton Ice Arena ready to move on and prepare for its next challenge – the Chicago Cougars.

Dells Ducks

Outscored 21-5 in two weekend contests (13-4 and 8-1), the Ducks players technically had a day off Sunday, but Head Coach Shaun Falzone said he gathered the players to study film and get a jump on the preparations in front of them.

Of course, nobody is pleased after back-to-back lopsided losses, but the improvement from Friday to Saturday and some diamonds in the rough gave an indication the team is on the right track to shaking off the bad habits that have followed the players into a new season.

It’s an uphill battle because everyone else is improving every day as well, but a young Ducks team and the coaches have identified the specific areas that need to be improved and once again, it starts in the team’s own end.

A marked improvement was evident on Saturday night, but there were also stretches where the Mallards set up what seemed a near permanent camp inside the Ducks’ blueline. The Mallards collected two goals on six powerplays, but the Ducks also killed off a major thanks in part to the stellar work between the pipes of ’02 goaltender Drew Moseley on Saturday night. Anthony Falzone also had some bright moments Friday and both goaltenders came on in relief of the other in the weekend contests.

Bright points also included the first goals of the junior careers of Jake Cartland (‘02/East Troy, WI); Caden Glamkowski (‘04/St. Charles, IL) and Jack Kopfstein (‘05/Newport Beach, CA) while veterans Bryce Jacobsen (‘02/DeForest, WI) — on a penalty shot – and Logan Dineen (‘01/Great Falls, MT) also notched their first goals of the season.

Ejections and suspensions to some key players made life a bit more difficult, but some players took advantage of the opportunity with increased ice time and special teams play, turning in a solid effort. The Mallards did score twice on six powerplays Saturday, but the Ducks looked impressive despite that, including killing off a major penalty at a crucial time.

The Ducks will be back on the ice to face the Cougars, a rival from the Midwest-East Division both Friday and Saturday nights at the Lake Delton Ice Arena. Both games faceoff at 7:30 p.m.

Captains named

Among the formalities early this week was the appointment of four captains for the Ducks. All four are returners as Jacobsen, Colin March (’03/McHenry, IL); Jayden Tkaczuk (’02/Channahon, IL) and Thomas Howell (’04/Gilmer, TX). As of their appointment, all four will share the leadership responsibility with no ‘C’s or ‘A’s being presented at this time.

Pictured are Dells Ducks 2021-22 Captains including from left: Thomas Howell, Jayden Tkaczuk, Colin March and Bryce Jacobsen.

Recent Birthdays

Ian Wood joined a Dells Ducks team eager to take the next step after reaching the MNJHL Minnesota Division championship game the previous season when he joined the team in the fall of 2013.

The following season the Pittsburgh, PA native wore the ‘C’ on his chest and helped the team claim the Bush Cup as MNJHL Champions. Both seasons ended with Wood and the Ducks playing at USA Hockey Nationals in the Hartford, CT area.

Also on the team in that second season with Tyler Forest, from Simi Valley, CA.

Wood went on to play four more seasons of hockey at Morrisville State College in the NCAA Division 3 SUNY Conference, once again wearing the Captain’s ‘C’ for his final two seasons there.

Forest also moved on to play in College, spending a season with the ACHA team at Williston State College before moving on to play Division 3 at Becker College in Worcester, MA.

Forest turned 27 on Sept. 13 and Wood also turned 27 on Monday (Sept. 20). Belated as it is, Saukhockey.info and the Dells Ducks hope both of these key players from our championship season enjoyed a Happy Birthday.

Hockey Talk Aug. 26 — Handball and hockey logos

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The Dells Ducks wrapped up the fifth day of training camp at the Lake Delton Ice Arena Thursday (Aug. 26, 2021) with some more dryland training including leg exercises, games, including some handball and working on the ice surface in its second day of icemaking.

Lake Delton Ice Arena owner, puts down some water on Wednesday with one of the first floods of the season. Yesterday the owner and players put down the first coat of white paint.

Enough ice was down in the early part of Thursday for Lake Delton Ice Arena owner Aaron Kirby to apply the first coat of white paint with help from team players. A technical issue prevented them from doing a second coat later in the day, but that will be fixed quickly.

Thomas Howell talked on Thursday (Aug. 26, 2021) about how things are going through the first five days of training camp for the Dells at the Lake Delton Ice Arena. An ’04 from Gilmer, Texas, Howell is a returner, looking to take his defensive game to a new level this season as he takes on more responsibility on the Dells Ducks’ blue line.

Kirby and the players are expected to begin work on hand painting the lines and logos on Friday and the team has planned to spend the night at the rink Saturday overnight, giving them a chance to finish work on the ice surface. The reward could be a light skate on Sunday and regular on ice workouts will likely begin on Monday.

Ice rentals are already in place for Tuesday and the Ducks will take up a big chunk of the free ice as they finally prepare for an opponent with 10 days to get ready for a Detroit road-trip Aug. 10-12 to play a pair of games against the Detroit Fighting Irish sandwiching a game against the Metro Jets.

Ducks’ Head Coach Shaun Falzone continues to be pleased with the progress of his squad, now five days into training camp.

The team’s regular season home opener against the Rum River Mallards is now 22 days away.

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.