Posted: 1/2/08
Hockey gets much needed win
 Senior Jack Williams eyes the ice before a face off against Minneapolis East in the first round of the Pine City Holiday Tournament. Williams scored the team's only goal of the game. |
By Steve Morris
The North Branch boys hockey team entered the win column last week with a victory against Pine City/Rush City, in the second round of the Pine City/Rush City Holiday Tournament.
It took overtime, but the boys pulled off the 6-5 win in dramatic fashion.
The Vikings took the lead nine seconds into the game when junior forward Jake Lenards sent a shot inches over the shoulder of the Dragon netminder.
Lenards was assisted by sophomore Ken Broden, who nabbed his first varsity point. The Dragons answered with two goals to take a 2-1 lead. The Vikings, having trouble staying out of the penalty box lately, found themselves in the box again incurring a four-minute double minor toward the end of the first period.
The Vikings killed off the first part of the penalty with the Dragons still leading.
With more than a minute and a half remaining in the penalty kill, the Vikings were able to hold off the Dragon pressure.
"Sophomore goalie Scott Dennis came up with a tremendous sprawling save on a wrap-around attempt," head coach Darrell Schulte said.
That stick save kept the deficit at one goal and the Vikings were back to playing 5-on-5 hockey. With less than four minutes into the second, junior forward Dalton Miska tapped in a backhander to knot the score at 2-2.
Miska was assisted by line mates sophomore Lane Noyes and junior Josh Arnold. Second period scoring wasn't done as senior forward Jack Williams put the Vikings into a 3-2 lead by putting a rebound away. The initial shot and assist went to sophomore defenseman, Charlie Fernow.
Pine City/Rush City stormed back, adding two goals to take a 4-3 lead into the next stanza.
Pine City/Rush City opened the scoring in the third period, taking a 5-3 lead, however, the Vikings answered back quickly. Twenty-eight seconds later, Williams scored his second goal of the night taking a drop pass from Arnold and putting a wrist shot through the goalie's five-hole while on the power play.
At the 6:43 mark of the third period, sophomore forward Jarrett Sachs and Noyes found themselves on a two-on-one. Noyes drew the Dragon defender toward him and he slid a pass to the driving Sachs who planted a shot top-shelf, hitting the crossbar before settling behind the Dragon goalie, tying the game at five. The goal was Sachs' first varsity goal, with Noyes' getting his second assist on the night.
The regular session ended with a tie and the game headed to overtime. Overtime started with Pine City/Rush City applying early pressure in the Viking defensive zone. The Vikings weathered the storm and engaged in some pressure of its own, when sophomore forward Gavin Runberg blocked a clearing pass, then moved the puck to Sachs who patiently held the puck and skated in front of the net and deposited the game winner into the net to clinch the first win of the season for the Vikings.
Dennis stopped 23 of 28 shots on the night, including three breakaways. He earned his first varsity win.
"It was a great win for the program. We had numerous guys step up and play great hockey, both on offense and defense. Despite not having the lead after the first and second period, they never got down on themselves and continued to hustle," Schulte said.
Winona
After beating Pine City/Rush City, the boys followed it up with a 12-2 loss to Winona.
"We got pummeled," Schulte said. "Winona had our number big time."
North Branch was done 3-0 after one period and were losing 5-0 part way into the second period when junior forward Josh Arnold scored unassisted to cut the lead to 5-1.
The goal was a rising slapshot from the left side of the ice while on the power play. It was his first varsity goal.
Winona scored three more times to close out the second and take a 8-1 lead into the locker room. Early in the third period, sophomore forward Ken Broden scored, assisted by senior center Jack Williams. The goal was Broden's first career varsity goal.
The visiting Winhawks scored four more times to end the game with a 12-2 loss.
Both Scott Dennis and senior goalie Aaron Barriger manned the nets on the evening, with Dennis manning the first two periods and Barriger the third for his first varsity action of the year.
Minneapolis East
When their opponent arrived an hour and half late, the boys hockey team knew it was going to be a long night. But what happened after the game made their night and season a lot longer.
After losing to Minneapolis East 7-1 in the first round of the Pine City/Rush City Holiday Classic Dec. 27, a fight broke out among the two teams while they were shaking hands.
Head coach Darrell Schulte said the fight was embarrassment for him as a coach.
"It was a disappointment and it was a low point in my coaching career. It is not how I want our team to conduct themselves," he said.
Schulte said two of his seniors will be suspended for a "significant amount of time." For Schulte, the suspensions are a significant blow to the team with an already thin roster.
He would not comment further on which players were involved or for how long. When asked about the incident, North Branch Activities Director Becky Leuer said the length of the suspensions has yet to be determined.
Sara Thompson, North Branch School district media relations coordinator, said by league rules, the school has 10 days to investigate the incident and hand out the appropriate punishments.
After the fight was cleared, Schulte apologized to the Minneapolis East coach and to the referees for the actions of his team.
"It was the right thing to do," he said.
The fight after the game was bottled up frustration from a game the Vikings let slip away.
In the first period, North Branch skated to 0-0 tie. Both teams seemed equal and the possibility of North Branch getting its first win seemed attainable.
Then the second and third period came along as the Minneapolis East unloaded seven goals on the Vikings. Schulte said what killed his team was penalties.
"Five on five hockey, we could skate with them pretty good," Schulte said. "We had a good effort, but it was the penalties that killed us. We could have beat them if we had stayed out of the box."
The Vikings out shoot Minneapolis East 26-24.
North Branch struck first blood as Williams scored on an unassisted goal early in the second period.
"That was all we could muster for scoring in the game despite being nearly equal in shots," Schulte said.
The lead was short lived as Minneapolis East scored seconds later.
Minneapolis East had four power play goals which put them a safe distance away from the Vikings.
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