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.

Peterson and TW run into some tough competition

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/Publisher

Saukhockey.info

Team Wisconsin 18U hockey team was the host team but sure didn’t have much of a home ice advantage this past weekend.

The team faced a couple of tough opponents in Upper Midwest High School Elite League play, battling the first place MAP South Hockey team to a 6-6 draw in its first game at Chippewa Falls Ice Arena on Friday night, but falling to the same opponent 4-1 on Saturday morning.

Next up was the Shattuck St. Mary’s Prep team who were simply too tough, handing TW a 4-1 loss Saturday and returning for a 4-2 decision on Sunday.

MAP South 6 Team Wisconsin 6

In the first game, Team Wisconsin appeared on its way to a big win, but three goals in the game’s final five minutes lifted the visiting MAP South team into a draw.

Team Wisconsin scored the game’s first three goals and never trailed in the contest.

Leading the offense was Aidan Lenz with two goals and Jon Wiebusch who set up three. Both will be seniors with the Edgewood Crusaders this fall.

Other TW goals came from Kade Smigaj (Junior – Stevens Point Panthers); Hunter Bill (Junior – Notre Dame Academy Tritons; Isaac Rentmeester (Senior – Notre Dame Academy Tritons) and Peyton Platter (Senior – Eau Claire Memorial Old Abes). Erik Peterson, a senior with the Sauk Prairie Eagles picked up an assist on the game’s third goal.

MAP South 4 Team Wisconsin 1

In the first game, Team Wisconsin appeared on its way to a big win, but three goals in the game’s final five minutes lifted the visiting MAP South team into a draw.

After leading most of the way in the first game, TW found itself down early in the rematch and never caught up. MAP carried a 3-0 lead out of the opening period and after a scoreless middle frame, both teams fired one in the third.

Josh Austin (Senior – St. Mary’s Springs Ledgers) scored the lone Team Wisconsin goal.

Shattuck St. Mary’s 5 Team Wisconsin 2

Team Wisconsin opened and closed the scoring in the opening period, but thanks to a pair of responses in between by the visitors, this game was tied at 2-2 heading to the second.

The game winner came near the halfway mark of the second and two more in the third clinched the win for Shattuck.

Wiebusch and Cody Menzel (Senior — Edgewood Crusaders) had the Team Wisconsin goals in this game.

Shattuck St. Mary’s 4 Team Wisconsin 2

The following day teams returned to a game that saw two goals in each period. Unfortunately, the first two and a 4-0 lead belonged to Shattuck with TW striking back for a pair in the third.

Smigaj and Platter fired the Team Wisconsin goals.

The rough weekend leaves Team Wisconsin with a 2-5-3 record in league play and a 6-6-3 record overall. As a result, the team has fallen to seventh place overall in the 10-team league.

Action resumes in New Hope, MN for TW this weekend beginning Saturday with the team’s first meeting against North Dakota (1-2-1), followed by another chance against MAP South (6-1-2) and then on Sunday, the first meeting with fourth place Sanford Power (5-3-2)

Bounce back weekend for TW in Elite league play

By Jim den Hollander

Editor/PublisherTw

Saukhockey.info

Team Wisconsin 18U returned to New Hope, MN for its second weekend of Upper Midwest High School Elite Hockey League play and found more success this time around.

After opening league play with two losses and a tie the previous weekend, TW hit the win column with a 4-3 win against SIT Mutual Funds in its first of two games Sunday, then took a step forward against Kowalski’s later the same day battling to a 2-2 draw against the same team it fell 7-6 against the previous weekend.

Wrapping up the weekend, Team Wisconsin downed Twin Cities Orthopedics 5-2, again a step forward from a 4-4 tie the previous weekend.

Team Wisconsin 4 SIT Mutual Funds 3

Down 2-0 after a period, TW responded with four unanswered middle period goals, then limited its opponent to one in the third, scored just 74 seconds from the final buzzer.

Dayne Deanovich (Junior – St. Mary’s Springs Ledgers) and Josh Austin (Senior – St. Mary’s Springs Ledgers) scored two each to place the Team Wisconsin attack.

Team Wisconsin 2 Kowalski’s 2

The second game of the day saw TW grab control early with a pair of unanswered first period goals, but Kowalskis struck back for one in the second and tied the game 6:50 into the final frame.

Deanovich fired his third of the day to open the scoring and the other came from Luke Lindsay (Senior – Eau Claire Memorial)

Team Wisconsin 5 Twin Cities Orthopedics 2

The offense started slowly in this one, team playing through a scoreless first period and both teams firing one in the middle period.

TW fired a pair in the first 12 minutes of the third to grab control but didn’t have the result assured until adding two more in the game’s final minute.

Kade Smigaj (Junior – SPASH Panthers); Hunter Bill (Junior – Notre Dame Academy Tritons); JJ Wiebusch (Senior – Edgewood Crusaders); Cody Menzel (Senior – Edgewood Crusaders) and Callan Budinger (Senior – Notre Dame Academy Tritons) scored the goals for Team Wisconsin.

Erik Peterson, a Sauk Prairie Eagles senior, didn’t hit the score sheet, but was nonetheless a contributor for Team Wisconsin.

With the weekend results, Team Wisconsin sits at 2-2-2 and fifth in the 10-team league standings.

Team Wisconsin will get a chance to play with home state advantage this weekend with four games at Chippewa Falls Ice Arena, but the opposition will be tough, beginning with a pair against MAP South Hockey, the current league leaders with a record of 5-1-1.

Wrapping up a busy weekend will be Saturday evening/Sunday morning contests against Shattuck St. Mary’s who enter the weekend with a 2-1 league record.

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.