In the last six games that Wausau West and Eau Claire Memorial have played, four went to overtime and one contest was decided by a single tally. The last two meetings between the teams at state (2010, 2011) were won by West--in overtime of course. (Thanks to Mike Sullivan's great website for that information.)
So why should it be any different in this year's Red Flint River City Meltdown? West overcame a 4-2 deficit by scoring three goals in a span of 3:52 midway through the third period to edge the Old Abes 5-4 in the nightcap of the inaugural tournament at Eau Claire Hobbs.
The Abes got on the scoreboard first when Michael Kapla snuck down from his left defensive spot, grabbed a pass on the left circle and beat West goalie Sam Wiegert high on the stick side for a 1-0 lead at 4:52. Evan Miller got an assist on the play.
The Old Abes added on to their lead with a power play goal in the middle of the period. Brady Burzynski's shot from the slot beat Wiegert to make it 2-0 at 10:43. Hayden Bowe and Kapla earned helpers on the score.
SHOTS: WW 14, ECM 9
West tallied two goals in the first half of the second period to tie the game. On the first, Kevin Conley scored off the face-off to trim the lead to 2-1 with an assist from Tom Kilgore at 6:14 of the second.
A little over three minutes later, Marshall Oja scored on a nice re-direct on a shot by Nick Snoeyenbos to tie the game. John Feemster also got an assist on the play.
ECM would regain the lead with just under two minutes left in the period. Tyler Otto came out of the right corner and rifled a shot from the right circle to make the score 3-2. Hunter Strozewski and Tye McLaughlin earned assists on the scoring play at 15:09.
SHOTS: ECM 12, WW 12
Scoring-wise, the first two periods were just warm-ups for the final 17 minutes of play. After a first period that saw two goals and a second that saw three, the final period went one better.
The Abes put a "4" on the scoreboard just 3:43 into the final period. Kapla notched his second from down low on the right side after grabbing a pass from Jake Bresser. The junior defenseman snuck the puck just inside the right post to increase the lead to what Pat McDonald calls the "worst lead in hockey." (McDonald is a former EC North star that now coaches Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln.) Charley Graaskamp got an assist as well.
With that, the Warriors rolled up their sleeves and went to work.
At 7:40, Dan Schlais popped a rebound into a wide open net to cut the lead to 4-3. Exactly one minute later, West star Kyle Lee got into the act when he flipped in a backhander off a faceoff win for the unassisted goal and a tie game.
Kilgore earned the game winner with a rebound that he flipped past sprawling ECM goalie Dan Hanna. Conley and Seth Wage were credited with assists at 11:32.
ECM coach Mike Schwengler took a time-out and then pulled his goalie with 1:13 left for an extra attacker, but the game ended with the Abes chasing the puck in their defensive zone as the buzzer sounded.
SHOTS: WW 16, ECM 15
Wiegert stopped 32 shots in his first varsity start and win, while Hanna steered aside 37 pucks for the Old Abes.
West will face NDA at 2:00pm Saturday for the championship, while ECM will battle New Richmond at 11:30am for the consolation trophy.
