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.

Rough Start for TW U18 in Elite League

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

Team Wisconsin, including Erik Peterson, a senior with the Sauk Prairie Eagles, opened play in the Upper Midwest High School Minnesota Elite League with some tough results this past weekend.

The team notched 14 goals in three contests, but that unfortunately was only good enough for a couple one-goal defeats and a tie in the tough Before and After varsity league based in the State of Hockey.

All three matches were played at New Hope Arena, near the Twin Cities.

In the first game, TW fell 3-2 against TDS Transportation and also dropped a 7-6 decision against Kowalski’s – both games on Saturday. On Sunday, Team Wisconsin battled Twin Cities Orthopedics to a 4-4 draw.

Team Wisconsin 2 TDS Transportation 3

In the first game, Team Wisconsin trailed 2-0 early, battling back with a goal late in the first period, both teams adding one in the middle frame and skating through a scoreless third.

Aidan Lenz (Senior – Madison Edgewood Crusaders) and Tyler Dale (Senior – Waukesha Wings) fired the TW goals.

Team Wisconsin 6 Kowalski’s 7

The middle game began with a crazy eight-goal first period with multiple lead changes.

Kowalski’s fired a pair in the first three minutes of the contest before TW struck back with two in 30 seconds and added a third to grab its first lead. Kowalski’s moved in front again with a pair but Team Wisconsin evened it at 4-4 in the period’s final minute.

Kowalski’s carried a 6-5 lead out of the middle period but Team Wisconsin tied it 23 seconds into the final period, only to see Kowalski’s grab the lead for a final time late in the contest.

Jon (JJ) Wiebusch (Senior – Madison Edgewood Crusaders); Peyton Platter (Senior – Eau Claire Memorial Old Abes) and Colton Jamieson (Junior – Cretin-Durham Hall) fired two goals each for TW, Jamieson adding an assist in the contest and Josh Austin (Senior – St. Mary’s Springs Ledgers) set up a pair.

Team Wisconsin 4 Twin Cities Orthopedics 4

TW returned on Sunday and salvaged the weekend with a 4-4 draw.

The good news for Team Wisconsin was it never trailed and held a 4-0 cushion near the halfway mark of the second period. The bad news was, it all evaporated as the Doctors rallied for two in the second and two more down the stretch, tying the game with 13:57 to go.

Lenz fired a pair for TW with others for Austin and Dale. Peterson played a key role in all three contests, but didn’t show up on the game sheet.

After four straight wins to open the season, Team Wisconsin’s record now sits at 4-3-1 overall and 0-2-1 in the Elite League.

The team will be back in New Hope this weekend looking to break into the win column with three more tries.

In the first game, at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Team Wisconsin will take on SIT Mutual Funds (0-3-1) at 9:30 a.m., then gets a rematch with Kowalski’s (1-1-1) at 5:30 p.m. and another chance at Twin Cities Orthopedics (2-0-2) on Sunday.

Team Wisconsin splits pair in Chicago

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

The U-18 Team Wisconsin squad, including forward Erik Peterson from the Sauk Prairie Eagles returned to Chicago for a second straight weekend and split a pair of contests with the Windy City Storm at Orbit Ice Arena in Palatine, Ill. this past weekend.

TW played the same Storm squad the previous weekend, taking a 5-2 decision in one of three straight wins.

This time around, the Storm came up with some better defensive efforts. The Wisconsin crew collected a 2-1 win in the first game before the Storm put up a 3-0 shutout to hand TW its first defeat of the season.

In the opener both teams scored in the opening period setting the stage for Tyler Dale (Waukesha Wings) who fired the game winner in the second.

Cody Menzel (Edgewood Crusaders) fired the other TW goal and Adam Prokop (Wausau West Warriors) stopped all but one of the 16 shots he saw in goal.

In the second game, Ryan Diaz in goal for the Storm was unbeaten on 34 shots as the host Storm finally found a way past TW.

Bridger Fixmer (Chippewa Falls Cardinals) was beaten once in each of the first two periods, the final goal slid into an empty TW cage.

The 4-1 Wisconsin crew will get Labor Day weekend off, heading west this time with its first of two consecutive three game weekends in New Hope, Minn., kicking off play in the Upper Midwest High School Elite Hockey League.

Team Wisconsin U-18s off to hot start

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

Team Wisconsin U18’s opened its season this past weekend, sweeping three games on a Chicago area road trip winning three games in three different arenas.

Included on Team Wisconsin is Sauk Prairie Eagles senior forward Erik Peterson as well as defenseman Hakon Peterson, although Hakon did not play this past weekend.

TW started out the weekend with a 4-1-win Friday (Aug. 20) at Canlan Rink 2 in Romeoville against the Chicago Fury, then brushed the Windy City Storm aside Saturday at the Seven Bridges Rinks by a 5-2 margin. Wrapping up the weekend, TW moved by the Minnesota Blizzard 7-3 at the Arctic Ice Arena in Orland Park.

In the first game, Team Wisconsin grabbed a 4-0 lead through the first two periods with goals from Cody Menzel (Sr., Edgewood); Callan Budinger (Notre Dame Sr.); Bryce Strand (Bay Port Sr.) and Hunter Bill (Notre Dame Jr.) while Adam Prokop (Wausau West Sr.) carried a shutout into the final period and stopped 19 of 20 shots faced in goal.

Against the Storm, TW rallied back from a 2-0 first period deficit with five straight unanswered goals, three in the middle period and two more down the stretch.

Tyler Dale (Waukesha Sr.) opened the scoring with a shorthanded marker and added the game winner later in the second period. Dayne Deanovich (St. Mary’s Springs Sr.) added a goal and two assists, Josh Austin (St. Mary’s Springs Jr.) adding a goal and assist, and the other goal fired by Kade Smigaj (Stevens Point Jr.).

Bridger Fixmer (Chippewa Falls Sr.) kicked out 12 of 14 to pick up the win in goal

In the final game, Blizzard scored first 6:06 into the contest, TW tying it 50 seconds later and piling on another half dozen before surrendering the final two meaningless goals in the third.

Austin and Menzel paced the attack with two goals apiece, Smigaj adding a goal and assist with other goals for Deanovich and Peyton Platter (Eau Claire Memorial Sr.).

Fixmer and Prokop shared the work in goal, combining to handle 55 of 58 Blizzards shots.

Peterson didn’t collect a point on the weekend but played a role in the team’s season opening sweep. He and the team will be back in action with two more against the Windy City Storm, this time at the Orbit Ice Arena in Palatine, Ill.