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Thielbar the star as ECM moves to championship

By Michael Trzinski, WiPH Staff, 03/02/18, 9:30PM CST

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Garrett Larsen makes 43 saves for Waukesha

Grant Thielbar punched in a rebound from the low left side to lead Eau Claire Memorial to a 2-1 victory over Waukesha in the second boys semifinal match Friday night at the Clamshell.

The teams should have gotten an inclination of how the game would go, as an early Waukesha shot rang off the crossbar about two minutes in.

Waukesha's Garrett Larsen stopped nine shots in the period, while Trevor Hudecek had five saves for ECM.

The second period had players in the box almost constantly, as a combined 24 minutes of penalties were called, but neither team was able to capitalize.

A scary moment happened midway through the period when Joziah Dietrich was checked into the boards and flew into the padding that is attached to the end of the glass by the Waukesha bench. After a couple minutes, Dietrich was helped up and skated off under his own power. The senior returned before the end of the period.

In the second scoreless period, Larsen had 11 saves, while Hudecek had another five to add to his total.

Memorial got on the board first in the third, courtesy of Brenden Olson. The junior grabbed a pass off the right boards in the neutral zone, cut to the slot and fired a shot past the blocker of Larsen for the 1-0 lead. Josh Berg had an assist on the play.

After a five minute major by the Old Abes and a Waukesha minor, the teams skated 4-on-4. 

Kevin Broda, the hero of last night's game, came down the right side and scored on a wraparound as 'Hudy' could not get over to the opposite post to stop the effort.

A minute later, Waukesha came in on a 3-on-2, but Griff Nickerson's shot was turned aside by the right pad of Hudecek.

As the horn sounded on a 1-1 game after three, Larsen stopped seven pucks and Hudecek made five saves.

In the first overtime, Larsen made several nice stops in en route to a nine save effort. Hudecek stopped one shot and the game would move to a second OT, this one for 17 minutes.

Both goalies stopped seven shots in the second extra period. Hudecek stopped 23 shots total, while Larsen had 43 saves on the evening.

WiPH Game Summaries