Monday, September 14, 2009
Upper Midwest Elite League News & Notes: Week 1
Team Great Plains – led by the scoring of Roseau's Adam Knochenmus – had a perfect 3-0 weekend to kick off play in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League.
Team Great Plains – led by the scoring of Roseau's Adam Knochenmus – had a perfect 3-0 weekend to kick off play in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League.
Playing in Duluth, Great Plains opened its Elite League season with a 7-1 win over Team Northeast. Knochenmus had three goals and an assist, while goaltender and UND recruit Zane Gothberg stopped 43 of 44 shots.
Saturday night, Great Plains knocked off Team North 5-3. Jake LeDouceer and Justin Moody each scored 3rd-period goals, breaking a 3-3 tie. Goalie Logan Marks made 35 saves in the win. Great Plains then completed the weekend sweep Sunday morning with a 7-1 win over Norway. Brett Hebel scored a pair of goals, while Knochenmus had a goal and two assists as Great Plains launched 68 shots at the Norwegian goaltender.
Earlier in the week, on Tuesday night, Teams Southwest and Northwest launched the Elite League's 8th season with an exciting 5-5 tie at New Hope Arena. Wayzata's Scott Holm notched his second goal of the game to give Northwest a 5-4 lead with less than 10 minutes to play, but Gopher recruit Justin Holl from Classic Lake rival Minnetonka scored with just 1:22 remaining to knot the game.
The two clubs then traveled to Madison, Wisconsin, for weekend play, and each won twice. Southwest beat Southeast 5-1, then shut out Team Wisconsin 4-0. Meanwhile, Northwest beat Southeast 7-4, and also topped Wisconsin by a 4-0 mark.
Team North earned its first victory of the season with a 7-2 win over Norway as Alex Koopmeiners had a pair of goals. Justin Crandall's two goals led Team Southeast to its first win, a 4-2 victory over Wisconsin.
The Elite League returns to New Hope Arena this weekend, with eight games Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m., and four Sunday contests, starting at 9:30 a.m. This will be the final weekend of Team Norway's trip. Shattuck-St. Mary's will begin league play the following weekend, Sept. 26-27.
NOTES: Adam Knochenmus and Brett Hebel share the goal-scoring lead after opening weekend, with four tallies each. Knochenmus' eight points is also tied for the league lead with Brock Nelson, who has a goal and seven assists. All three play for Team Great Plains.
Team Northwest has the most effective power play this far, connecting on four of 12 chances for a 33% success rate.
Eric Scheid
of Team Northwest had the league's first shorthanded goal, scoring Tuesday night against Team Southwest....Great Plains and North were both perfect on the penalty kill, North stopping 15 power plays, while Great Plains shut down nine opponent opportunities....Team Norway's goalies faced 168 shots in the three weekend games. Norway lost all six of its games against Elite League teams last season....Zane Gothberg of Great Plains leads the league in both goals-against average (1.34) and Save Percentage (.965) after the first weekend. Also posting a GAA of less than 2.00 are
Alex Fons
of Southwest (1.50),
John Russell
of Northeast (1.99) and Logan Marks of Great Plains (1.99)
