Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Upper Midwest Elite League News & Notes: Week 4
By Elite League Media Services
Every team in the league earned at least one point in the standings during Week Four of the Upper Midwest High School Elite League.
After a weekend of games being played in Stevens Point, Faribault, and South St. Paul, Team Southeast managed to hang on to first place by winning two of three games, including a Saturday sweep that ran their winning streak to eight games.
Southeast opened the weekend by coming from a 2-0 deficit to beat Team Northeast 3-2. Trailing 2-1 going into the third period, Walker Hyland’s powerplay goal just 14 seconds in knotted the game, and Caleb Herbert scored the game-winner with just over five minutes to go. Eastview senior Ryan O’Shea stopped 38 of 40 shots to earn the win, while losing goalie Jim Kruger of Minnetonka stopped 49 of 52 shots. In the evening game, Joseph LaBate scored a pair of goals to lead Southeast to a 6-4 win over Wisconsin.
Southeast’s winning streak came to a crashing end Sunday with a 7-2 loss to second-place Team Northwest. Andover senior Cal Decowski scored two goals for Northwest, while Dan Fick and Jack Storo each added a pair of assists. Northwest opened the weekend by tying Wisconsin 3-3 despite outshooting Wisconsin 44-28. Saturday night Northwest romped 7-1 over Northeast as Breck’s Tyson Fulton scored twice, Decowski added two assists and Scott Holm of Wayzata had a goal and an assist.
Team Southwest had a 1-1-1 week to fall into a second-place tie with Northwest. On Wednesday, they became the first team to earn a point against Shattcuk-St. Mary’s when they rallied from a 4-2 deficit to earn a 5-5 tie. Mitch Rogge’s goal with 3:02 remaining completed the comeback, and Edina’s Charlie Taft had a goal and an assist in the game. Southwest then earned a 3-2 win over Team North on Saturday when Tyler Heinonen’s second goal of the game broke a third-period tie.
Shattuck-St. Mary’s 2-0-1 week included a 6-3 win over Team Great Plains in which J.P. LaFontaine had a goal and three assists. On Sunday, Justin Lutsch’s three assists led a 7-3 victory over Team North.
Team Great Plains hung on to 4th place in the league with a 1-1-1 performance. In addition to the Shattuck loss, Great Plains played a 5-5 tie with Team North, then defeated Southwest 8-3 as Roseau’s Kevin Erickson scored four goals.
Linemates Connor Reilly and Jake Erickson each had four points in Northeast’s 7-3 win over Team Wisconsin. Reilly had three goals and an assist, while Erickson scored twice and assisted on two of Reilly’s goals.
Team North earned its only point of the weekend by coming from behind to tie Great Plains 5-5. Hermantown’s Adam Krause scored with just 43 seconds left to tie the game, after Duluth East’s Kyle Lutzka scored with 2:29 left to cut the margin to 5-4.
Goalie Austin Schmid made 41 saves and Joe Fiala scored with just 2:33 remaining to help Team Wisconsin earn a 3-3 tie with Team Northwest.
NOTES: Week 5 opens Wednesday, Oct. 7, when team Northeast travels to Shattuck-St. Mary’s for a 7:00 p.m. game. The remaining games are at New Hope Arena, with seven games Saturday and four on Sunday. Northwest and Southwest, currently tied for second, will face off in the 10 a.m. game on Saturday.
Southeast teammates Justin Crandall and Caleb Herbert maintained their 1-2 position in the league scoring race. Brock Nelson and Adam Knochenmus of Team Great Plains are third and fourth.
Dan Harper of Team Northwest has moved into the league lead in both goals-against average and save percentage with marks of 2.00 and .948 after stopping 60 of 61 shots in two games this past weekend.
Kevin Erickson’s four goals for Team Great Plains against Southwest was the first four-goal game in the league this season. Shattuck-St. Mary’s power play has scored 15 times in 40 chances for a remarkable 35% success rate. Team North has the league’s best penalty kill at 90.0 (45 of 50).
