While families get together for the Holidays, enjoying the opportunity to catch up, the chance to eat delicious food and exchange gifts and then catch your breath afterwards life returns to normal a bit. For the parents of hockey players, holiday time means tournament time. So you’re packing up and traveling to ice arenas all over the state to watch high school hockey. For myself, each and every year I make the trip to see the St. Paul Premier Tournament held at South St. Paul’s historic Wakota Arena. As I walked in to the arena it was obvious they made some improvements to the facility with a nice enclosed walkway over the locker room area on the far end of the ice. You can see the difference in the pictures above (before) and below (after). This year’s participants in the SSP Premier Tournament are Hastings, New Prague, Bloomington Jefferson, North St. Paul, St. Paul Johnson, Woodbury and Eagan.
The Eagan Wildcats, champions of the Premier Tournament the last five seasons in a row come into the tourney with just 1 win under their belt. Woodbury, is a younger club who has also had its share of struggles this season. The Royals and Wildcats have faced one another many times in this tournament and I swear I probably have watched them play each other 4-5 times over the last 10 years or so of going to this tournament. So which club would come out on top tonight?
1st Period Thoughts: The Wildcats started the game with tremendous intensity; outhustling and outworking the Royals early. Even though Eagan was working hard, the team had some struggles connecting on passes and so both clubs spent a fair amount of time chasing the puck around the ice. The Wildcats were eventually able to work the puck down deep and with a decent cycling game they were able to keep Woodbury bottled up in its own end, before Max Bergman swung a puck out front that went off the skate of a Royals’ defenseman and by Austen Maculus. 1-0 Eagan. The Royals would answer back a few minutes later as Marshall Tschida raced down behind the Eagan goal before sending a pass out front that was banged home by Ben Wahlin. The Wildcats would use its physical game to keep Woodbury pinned in its own zone. The aggressive puck pressure worked as Woodbury continually failed to pay the physical price and soon it would resemble a Wildcats’ power play. Gus Kluender would fire a wrist shot from the point that Maculus stopped by Bergman was there to pounce on the rebound to make it 2-1 Eagan. The Royals would take advantage of lack discipline the Wildcats had, peppering Jared Manzella with shots. The Wildcats’ penalty killers struggled to clear the zone and Woodbury was able to gain some momentum. Woodbury’s persistence would be rewarded late in the period as sophomore Alex Stuckert would wrist a shot from the point that Manzella stopped but Ronnie Sweeny would cash in on the rebound to tie the game at 2-2. The Royals outshot the Wildcats 17-11.
2nd Period Thoughts: The Wildcats would start the 2nd period with its high energy, high intensity game where they were taking every chance to staple Woodbury players’ to the boards. The physical game again had Woodbury hemmed into its own zone, but Maculus was solid making save after save. Maculus’ play bought time for his team to pounce on an Eagan mistake. That mistake came off the stick of senior captain Spencer Roth who fed a weak pass near the blueline that was intercepted by Jared Markeson who raced down the ice on a breakaway where he beat Manzella with a sneaky backhander, 5-hole. 3-2 Woodbury. The Wildcats would regroup, as they returned to their aggressive puck pursuit game which began to yield more turnovers. Spencer Roth would steal a pass near the Woodbury blueline and he’d race in down the slot before firing a shot by Maculus to tie the game at 3-3. Roth continued to be a force all over the ice, using his speed to win races for the puck and then his strength for battles along the wall. Roth’s speed would factor in moments later as he created a 2-on-1 with Joe Alfonso, before Alfonso ripped a shot on goal that was tapped by Roth, 4-3 Eagan. Eagan continued to pour it on and a turnover in the neutral zone would result in a 3-on-2, and as Kevin Sturgeon stepped into a slap shot it was stopped by Maculus before Kluender banged home the rebound. However the goal would be waived off as Maculus was ran over prior to Kluender’s rebound bid. It was a good call.
3rd Period Thoughts: The Wildcats were again taking it to Woodbury with a strong physical game and there were signs that the Royals were taking exception to it. Woodbury’s Ronnie Sweeny would run Carter Weber with a big hit that drew a charging penalty. The charging call drew the ire of Woodbury Head Coach Wes Bolin who tore into the officials in a loud tirade that was heard by virtually anyone in the arena. Not satisfied with the officials’ reaction to his rant, Bolin asked the officials to “pull their head out” which got Bolin a bench minor and giving the Eagan Wildcats a full 2-minute 5-on-3 power play. This was a huge opportunity for Eagan to add to their one-goal lead. The Wildcats moved the puck from the point and to the halfwall but they were not moving the puck quick enough to get the Royals’ penalty kill to loosen up much from its diamond around Austen Maculus. The Royals would get the big kill, and then Eagan proceeded to take a series of foolish penalties. The Wildcats were playing with fire and Woodbury would finally strike on the power play. With no other options available, Marshall Tschida would make a power move out front that got Manzella to drop to all fours before Tschida patiently lifted a puck by the goalie who protested to officials to no avail. 4-4 game. The final minutes had both clubs trading chances with one another but neither could get their stick on the pucks that we drifting through crease for both sides and the game would go to overtime.
Overtime & Shootout Thoughts: In overtime, both clubs were very cautious of making a big mistake. Both teams held onto the puck and played rather conservatively waiting patiently before taking a shot on goal. The result was neither Maculus or Manzella would see too many pucks in overtime so its no real surprise it went to a shootout.
In the shootout, the first shooter was Woodbury’s Marshall Tschida and the Royals top scorer picked up the ice and raced in on the Eagan goal, but he was perhaps moving too fast as he tried to go forehand to backhand but would lose the puck before he could get a shot on goal. Eagan’s first shooter was Kevin Sturgeon would take a slower approach as he skated in and then rifled a wrist shot by Maculus to make it 1-0 Wildcats. The Royals’ next shooter was Ben Wahlin and the smallish forward would move in and try to beat Manzella with another backhand move that was steered aside by the Eagan netminder. This gave junior captain Tony Juricko a chance to win the game. Juricko would move in and try to fire a wrist shot by Maculus but was denied by a nice blocker save. This gave Josh Condon a chance to keep his team alive and he’d skate in and fire a wrist shot that was stonewalled by Manzella which gave the Wildcats a 5-4 shootout victory.
Eagan will play St. Paul Johnson in the semifinal game at 4:45PM CST tomorrow at Wakota Arena. On the other half of the tournament bracket, Bloomington Jefferson will face tournament host South St. Paul at 7:00PM CST at Wakota.
Game Notes:
~ The 3 Stars of the Game were: 1st Star Spencer Roth (Eagan), 2nd Star Max Bergman (Eagan), 3rd Star Marshall Tschida (Woodbury)
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