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Dominant Second Period Lifts Fond du Lac over Appleton United

By Bill Berg Jr, WiPH Staff, 02/06/22, 12:45PM CST

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After the first period, it looked like Appleton United was poised for a run at an upset win in the third place game of the Badgerland Conference tournament, but a dominant second period by the Fond du Lac Cardinals put that notion to bed as the Cardinals cruised to a 7-1 win.

The Cardinals controlled play and kept it deep in the Appleton zone for the first half of the first period, but it was Appleton that would get on the board first.

Dane Heindel scored after a scrum in front of the Fond du Lac net on just Appleton's second shot of the game to take the 1-0 lead.

With time winding down in the period Brett Sabel went full on power-forward mode. He came in down the near side boards, drew the defenseman wide, and cut across the net in front while shouldering the defenseman out of the way.  He cut across fast enough that the goalie couldn't stop him and he tied the game.

"Their coaching staff has done an excellent job and their team has improved greatly throughout the year," said Fond du Lac coach Ryan Sarazin. "We were fortunate to play well in the second period but they are an excellent team and formidable opponent."

While the Cardinals outshot United 9-6 in the first period, in the second it was another story. The Cardinals had a 19-5 shot advantage on route to 5 goals in the period.

Hunter Paar picked up the first of them, with about 5 minutes remaining in the second period and JT Keonigs added another 19 second later.

Drake Deanovich added Fond du Lac's fourth goal on the end of a two-on-one with a feed from Sabel and Paar, to make it 4-1 at 14:29 of the second.

Less than a minute later they added their fifth goal, this time by Ryan Marx, right off a faceoff win in the offensive zone.

Their final goal of the period came on a deflection at the 16:13 mark. Aiden Heffner fired a shot from up high and Ryan Lenz tipped it in.

"We were extremely disappointed in the outcome of last night's game against cross town rivals St. Mary's Springs," said Sarazin. "We always want to play well and represent our school well in that cross town rival and we realize we didn't play well on that stage last night."

"We made some changes in our lineup and watched a lot of film from the previous night," he added. "We reflected on the mistakes we made and the players responded in the 2nd period of the game vs. Appleton."

"We talked to the guys after the 1st period and made some lineup changes and they responded with a great response in the 2nd and 3rd period. We were focused on seeding and playing well going into the final games of the season and that was the focus."

Sabel added the final goal of the game at 4:12 of the third period, and it was nearly a  mirror image of the first. He drove wide, and then powered in off the defenseman's shoulder. This time the defenseman pulled him down, and Sabel still managed to control the puck and get around the goalie for the goal.

"Brett Sabel is a team captain that works extremely hard. I think both goals reflect that leadership," Sarazin said. "When we got down by a goal he took it upon himself to beat defenders wide to change the complexion of the game. Something Brett has done all year as a leader putting the team direction on his back. Very proud of him."

Spencer Shober had 11 saves in the win for the Cardinals. Luke Kelly had 25 in the loss for Appleton.

"I would also like to congratulate Appleton on a great conference performance and wish them the best in the sectional playoffs," Sarazin said. "Unless we play them."

WiPH Game Summaries