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Fond du Lac beats University School 3-1

By Tom Geilfuss, 12/05/12, 12:15PM CST

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Jack Nejedlo picks up the game winner late in the second



The University School boys’ hockey team lost to Fond du Lac 3-1 Tuesday at USM.

The game was clean, fast-paced and close, typical of those in the long-standing rivalry between the Wildcats and Cardinals.  The save totals were exactly even.  Bryan Botcher for USM and Charlie Blagoue for Fond du Lac each stopped 21 shots.

Cal Roadhouse, USM’s head coach said after the game, “Fondy’s a good team.  I told our guys we had to play hard right from the drop of the puck.  We were missing a couple of guys, but we generally took care of business defensively.  But their first line is savvy, and they rung us up on a couple of our breakdowns.  We are having trouble scoring right now, so we will have to focus on breaking that barrier in our next game.”

After a hard-fought, but scoreless, first period, the game’s essential goals were all scored in the second period.  The first came early in the period when the Cardinals Jack Nejedlo sent the puck out of the Fond du Lac zone to Michael Wilson. Wilson fired a wide pass to Ty Rebedew who got behind the USM defense and scored on a slapshot at 3:43.

The Wildcats kept fighting. They caught Fond du Lac during a change to even the score late in the period.  Senior defenseman Joey Judge got the puck and chipped it ahead to junior Vadim Sukhanov darting out of the USM zone.  Sukhanov wisely went wide as he headed into the Fond du Lac end.  He spotted freshman Jake Kandel who had jumped into the play and was racing down the slot like a hungry cheetah.  Sukhanov put the puck directly onto Kandel’s stick, and Kandel immediately one-timed a shot past the Cardinals goalie Charlie Blagoue at 13:52.

Fond du Lac went ahead at 16:11 when Wilson knocked a USM clearing pass to Nejedlo in the slot.  Nejedlo skated in and slid the puck past USM’s goaltender Bryan Botcher.

The Wildcats were unable to notch another, despite a power play in the third period and several good scoring opportunities.  Roadhouse pulled Botcher in the last minute and a half.  Unfortunately for USM Nejedlo scored on an empty net goal at 15:41.

USM is now 3-4.  The Wildcats face their next challenge at 7:00 p.m. Saturday when Madison Edgewood travels to USM to resume another long-standing rivalry.

WiPH Game Summaries