Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Upper Midwest High School Elite League News & Notes: Week 5
By Elite League Media Services
Team Southeast won two of three games to remain in first place after Week Five of the Upper Midwest High School Elite League, while Team Great Plains had an unbeaten weekend and jumped from fourth to second place.
Bloomington Jefferson senior Caleb Herbert scored four goals in Southeast’s first game, a 6-2 win over Team North. It was the start of a big day for the UMD recruit, who also had four points (1G, 3A) in a 6-5 loss to Team Great Plains. Team Southeast rebounded on Sunday with a 3-2 win over Wisconsin as A.J. Reid and Patrick Daly scored in third period to overcome a 2-1 Wisconsin lead.
Team Great Plains opened the weekend by scoring the first seven goals of the game in a 7-2 win over Wisconsin. Kevin McMorrow and Brock Nelson each scored a pair of goals, with McMorrow – from Park Rapids – chipping in a pair of assists. Great Plains then rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat league-leading Team Southeast as Jordan Nelson had two goals and an assist. Another rally on Sunday kept Great Plains unbeaten when Brett Hebel’s shorthanded goal with just 2:36 remaining gave the team a 4-4 tie with Team North. Justin Moody had two goals for Great Plains.
Team Northwest started with a 2-0 victory over Team Southwest as goalie Dan Harper stopped 31 shots for the shutout. Nick Bjugstad and Scott Holm each scored goals. Northwest then jumped out to a 2-0 lead over Shattuck-St.Mary’s before losing 5-3, then gave up the last three goals of the game in a 4-2 loss to Team Northeast.
Team Southwest, which had started the weekend in second place, lost 2-0 to Northwest, then bounced back with a 7-3 victory over Northeast. Max Gardiner had two goals and an assist, while Mike Erickson recorded one goal and one helper. The weekend ended with a 4-1 loss to Shattuck in which Justin Holl scored the only goal.
Team Northeast, which had won just four of its first 12 games, became the first team to defeat Shattuck this season with a 5-4 win Wednesday night in Faribault. Shattuck took a 3-1 lead early in the third period, but Northeast scored four goals in a span of 8:39 to take the lead. White Bear Lake’s Max Birkinbine scored his second goal of the game with 3:11 left for the game-winner, and goalie Jim Kruger of Minnetonka stopped 36 of 40 shots. After losing 7-3 to Southwest on Saturday, Northeast defeated Northwest 4-2 on Sunday as Brandon Wahlin had a goal and an assist.
Shattuck bounced back from Wednesday’s loss with a pair of weekend victories, 5-3 over Northwest and 4-1 over Southwest. Shattuck’s Jason Clark had a goal and two assists in the win over Southwest.
Team North had a 1-1-1 weekend, losing 6-2 to Southeast, defeating Wisconsin 6-3 as Adam Krause and Jake Archibald each scored two goals, then tying Great Plains 4-4 as Krause and Garrett Hendrickson each had three-points games (1G, 2A).
Team Wisconsin’s goalies continued to see a lot of rubber, facing 125 shots in three losses. Todd Koritzinsky had a three-point weekend with two goals and an assist.
NOTES: Caleb Herbert had an eight-point weekend (4G, 4A) to overtake Southeast teammate Justin Crandall for the league scoring lead. Herbert has 30 points (12G, 18A), two ahead of Crandall and four ahead of Great Plains’ Brock Nelson. Adam Krause of Team North leads the league with 13 goals, while he and J.P. LaFontaine of Shattuck each have four power-play goals to lead the league in that category.
Dan Harper of Team Northwest leads the league in minutes played (508), goals-against average (2.01) and save percentage (.947). Harper and Southwest’s Jacob Meyers are the only league goalies with a GAA under 3.00. There have only been four shutouts in the league this season, and Harper has two of them.
The Elite League heads to northern Minnesota this weekend, Oct. 17-18, with games at Grand Rapids Civic Center and Brainerd Civic Arena. Each site will host four games on Saturday and two games on Sunday. The next week – the final regular-season weekend – games will be played in Fargo, ND and Eau Claire, WI.
Pairings were announced last week for the Bauer National Invitational Tournament to be held in New Hope November 6-8. Defending champion Shattuck-St. Mary’s will take on a field that includes Culver Prep of Indiana, Manitoba Prep Selects, the Dallas Jr. Stars, Team Wisconsin, Michigan MDHL All-Stars and two Minnesota teams – Red and White – made up of players selected from this fall’s Elite League. Quarterfinals will be held Friday, November 6, beginning at 5:15 p.m. and the championship game is set for Sunday, November 8. For more tournament information, visit www.hselitehockey.com.
