Monday, September 21, 2009
Upper Midwest Elite League News & Notes: Week 2
By Elite League Media Services
After a number of high-scoring games, two individual five-point games and one incredible goaltending performance, three teams were tied for first place after Week Two of the Upper Midwest High School Elite League.
Team Southwest, Team Northwest and Team Great Plains are sporting identical 4-1-1 records for nine points and a share of the league lead, followed closely by Team Southeast with a 4-2 mark good for eight points.
Southwest opened the weekend by suffering their first defeat of the season, losing 7-4 to Southeast despite Mike Morin’s hat trick. Southwest rebounded Saturday night to defeat Team North 8-0 as Edina’s Charlie Taft scored two goals and added an assist. Goalie Jacob Meyers of Benilde made 31 saves to earn the shutout. Southwest completed the weekend with a 7-1 victory over Norway, led by Hopkins’ Archie Skalbeck, who scored three goals and added two assists for the league’s first five-point game of the season.
Team Great Plains, which had a perfect 3-0 start to open the season, settled for a 1-1-1 mark over the weekend. Saturday’s first gave ended in a 4-4 tie with Wisconsin despite Brock Nelson’s hat trick. Nelson’s third goal of the game gave Great Plains a 4-3 lead early in the third period, but Wisconsin’s Simon Leahy knotted the game with 9:12 remaining. Great Plains then took its first loss of the season, dropping a 5-3 decision to Northwest. On Sunday, Nelson’s shorthanded goal broke a 1-1 tie and led to a 4-2 win over Team Northeast as goalie Zane Gothberg stopped 46 of 48 shots.
Team Northwest opened with an impressive pair of victories on Saturday, beating Team North 8-3 and Team Great Plains 5-3. In the win over North, Nick Bjugstad’s first goal of the game broke a 3-3 tie as Northwest rattled off five consecutive goals. Bjugstad and Blaine teammate Gavin Tufte each had a pair of goals in the game. In a 5-3 win over Great Plains, goalie Dan Harper stopped 23 of 26 shots and Ryan Jaremko of Elk River had a goal and an assists. Northwest looked to be on their way to a 3-0 weekend when they led Team Wisconsin 3-1 in the third period of Sunday’s game, but a series of Northwest penalties led to three Wisconsin power-play goals and a 5-3 loss.
Team Southeast had the weekend’s only 3-0 streak, recovering from a 1-2 opening weekend. The 25-goal weekend started Saturday morning as seven different players scored in a 7-4 win over Team Southwest. Justin Crandall scored a pair of goals in the evening game, a 10-5 pounding of Norway in with Southeast launched 60 shots at the Norwegian goalies. Crandall then added four goals Sunday morning in an 8-1 victory over Team North. Bloomington’s Caleb Herbert – a UMD signee - assisted on all four of Crandall’s goals, and also helped on Taylor Fleming’s last-minute tally for the first five-assist game of the season.
Team Northeast picked up its only weekend victory with a 6-1 win over Norway. Mike Reilly had a pure hat trick in the third period. On Saturday evening, Northeast and Team Wisconsin were involved in the best goaltending duel of the season as the two teams combined for 96 shots, but Wisconsin came away with a 1-0 win as Wisconsin goalie Austin Schmid stopped all 57 shots. Jim Kruger of Minnetonka stopped 38 of 39 shots, but a first-period goal by Wisconsin’s Dustin Klitzke stood up as the game-winner. Team North struggled through an 0-3 weekend, giving up eight goals in each of the three games.
ELITE LEAGUE NOTES: Games for the weekend of Sept. 26-27 will again all be at New Hope Arena, and Shattuck-St. Mary’s joins league play with three games. They will face Team Northeast and Team Southwest on Saturday, then face Team Wisconsin on Sunday morning. Team Norway has completed its play against Elite League teams, finishing 0-6 for the second consecutive year.
Justin Crandall of Team Southeast has taken over the league lead in both goals (10) and points (13). Brock Nelson of Great Plains and Caleb Herbert of Southeast each have 12 points, and Herbert leads the league in assists with nine.
Jacob Meyers of Team Southwest gave up just one goal on 43 shots over the weekend, and now leads the league in both goals-against average (1.00) and save percentage (.968.) Meyers, Logan Marks of Great Plains and Dan Harper of Northwest are the only three goalies without a loss yet this year…..The Team Norway goalies returned home a little shell-shocked after facing 310 shots in six games, an average of just over 51 a game.
Team Northwest’s power play is scoring at more than a 30% rate, notching 7 goals on 23 chances. Nick Bjugstad and James Hansen each have a pair of power-play goals for Northwest. Team North is now 0-for-24 on power plays, but they have killed of 23 of 24 of their opponent’s power plays. Two of the three teams tied for first place – Northwest and Southeast – will face off at 10:30 Saturday morning in New Hope….Team Wisconsin goalie Austin Schmid – who had 57 saves in a 1-0 win over Team North – is no stranger to that type of game. He has stopped 42 or more shots in all three of his Elite League games this year, and last year had 40 saves in a 4-1 win for his high school (Verona) over Janesville.
ALUMNI WATCH: Former Elite League player Phil Kessel was traded this week from Boston to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and signed a 5-year, $27 million contract with the Leafs.
