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USM boys blank Ice Force in Classic Eight play

By Tom Geilfuss, USM Assistant Coach, 11/29/17, 10:00PM CST

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Robby Newton now leads state in scoring

The University School boys’ hockey team dominated its Classic Eight Conference game against Greendale from the beginning, and at the end of the game the statistics bore evidence of that domination.  The Wildcats outshot the Ice Force 62-5 on their way to an 11-0 victory on the night of Tuesday, November 28th at USM.

“Not a lot to say about this game,” said Jason Woods, USM’s head coach, “other than we are 1-0 in conference. You’re not really getting better playing games like these, and with our goals, we need to get better every day. Still, it’s the second game this year in which we have given up less than seven shots, which is incredible. Time to move on and get ready for Friday.”

Not a lot of action for Gordy Leech, USM’s goaltender in the game who recorded the shutout.

Leech calmly watched as his teammates took the lead just 3:48 into the game. Robby Newton collected the puck along the left side-boards in the Greendale end, sped behind the goal line, curled out front, and popped the puck into the net as he skated past the Ice Force’s goalie, Jason Cooke.  Blake Carey had an assist on the play.

USM made it 2-0 a few minutes later while on a power play.  Newton got the puck along the left boards and fed a pass to Kylar Fenton at the blue line.  Fenton returned the puck.  Newton then passed it to Andrew Malek in the low right circle. Malek one-timed a shot into the net at 6:18.

Soon it was 3-0.  Fenton got the puck at the right point and fired a low shot toward the net.  Newton caught it and swept it toward the crease where Malek gladly received it. He turned and put a shot on Cooke.  The puck rebounded out to Carey who knocked it in from the low slot at 9:02.

The Wildcats scored again at 11:17. Malek picked up the puck along the left boards in the USM end and skated down the left side.  His centering pass was stopped by a defender, but Newton rushed to the puck along the boards.  Newton then circled around the net and as he emerged on the right side he backhanded a shot under Cooke for USM’s fourth goal.

WiPH Game Summaries

USM added one more goal in the first period.  The Wildcats got the puck into the Greendale end and forechecked, preventing the Ice Force from getting out of the zone for nearly two minutes.  As a consequence, Fenton captured an attempted clear at the blue line.  He passed it to Ethan Mann in the slot.  Mann swiftly gunned it in at 15:13.

The Wildcats added three more goals in the second period.  The first of these came at 3:24 when Carson Mogush pushed in a rebound off a shot by Tyler Herzberg.  Christian Blomquist had an assist on the play.

Just over three minutes later the Wildcats did it again.  On a power play, Newton received the puck at the left point on a pass from Malek.  He passed it back to Malek below the goal line.  Malek centered it to Carey who immediately fired it past Cooke at 6:38.

USM used a power play to score the next goal at 13:21 of the second period.  Blomquist took a pass from Casey Roepke near the Greendale blue line.  He skated into the zone and, from the top of the circle, he blasted a shot past Cooke.

The rout was clearly on.  The Wildcats didn’t need them, but they got three third period goals on shots by Blomquist, Newton, and Noah Eghbali to complete the shellacking.

Newton became the leading scorer in the state with his hat trick and two assists.  An assistant captain on the team, he also commented on the win, “It was important to just go out and get the job done. Get those two points for conference. We played well as a team and put the puck in the net. We now are ready for the tough weekend ahead of us. We will play hard for those two wins.”

The Wildcats will take their 3-1 record into two non-conference games against visitors from Wausau on Friday and Saturday.  On Friday, December 1st, they host D.C. Everest in a game at 7:00.   The next afternoon USM takes on Wausau West at 3:00 p.m.