Wisconsin hockey, whether it is at the youth or high school level, is a family.  We pay attention to what is going on with other teams and care about what is happening in our sport.  This never becomes more evident than when one of our “own” have to go through some difficult times.  This reality hit home in Baraboo at the beginning of the 2011-12 school year.

Mac Ebert, the senior goaltender for the Baraboo/Portage Varsity hockey team, was diagnosed with cancer on the first day of school.  Prior to the game on Tuesday evening, Wisconsin Prep Hockey had the opportunity to talk to Mac’s parents, Steve and Kim Ebert.

Wisconsin Prep Hockey:  “We have always said that Wisconsin hockey, no matter what team it is, is always a family.  We have always cared about each other.  With these two teams it is even more so, especially with the seniors having been teammates as freshmen.  This season your family took a shock through the summer, when Mac had to be treated for cancer.  Can you tell us what went on, what he was diagnosed with, how it affected the family and the effect on the team.”

Kim: “We noticed he had a swollen gland one weekend, being a boy out in the woods all the time there’s allergens out there.  I said we’ll give it a couple of days.  We came back from the cabin and he said ‘I have this thing and I don’t know what it is’.  We called the doctor and jumped on that rollercoaster ride.  It started with a tonsillectomy and from the tonsillectomy we received the diagnosis of B-cell lymphoma.”

Steve: “Everybody says it’s a good kind of cancer, but to me there is no good kind of cancer.  It doesn’t matter if you’re a kid or an adult it’s still cancer.  Right away, when we found out, we trusted what our doctors said.  The prognosis, they said, would be very good with the proper treatment, etc.  This was like a week before school started when we found all of this out.”

Kim: “First day of his senior year.”

Steve: “UW Children’s Hospital (American Family Children’s Hospital) was great people, great doctors, great staff and everyone involved.  We have had tremendous support from the very get go.  From our friends, family, the community, the school, all of his teammates and everything.  When we first found this out, Mac’s first question was ‘Can I still play hockey?’  That was his ultimate goal, to get back on the ice.”

WiPH: “You’ve made it through it to this point.  You’re getting to watch him play hockey and in talking earlier you mentioned that there is a benefit that will be taking place.”

Steve: “Yes, on Monday, January 16, when Baraboo hosts Oregon.  We are going to have a benefit, not for our family or anything like that.  The benefit will be called “SHUTOUT CANCER.”  The thought is to raise awareness for childhood cancer.  The money raised, through small donations, will be used to buy gas cards, food cards, etc and will be given to American Family Children’s Hospital.  We are so lucky to have a facility like this so close.  There are so many expenses involved in cancer treatment and so many families have to travel extreme distances to get to the hospital.”

“I just want to say, Mac deserves so much credit.  He made this so easy on us.  He never complained or used cancer as an excuse.  His last treatments were the first week of practice, when we were having two a days.  He never missed a practice,” Steve stated.

After the interview, we still had the Game of the Week to get to.

The game brought together the remaining high school players, which played for BRH.  The starting goalie for Baraboo was Mac Ebert.  The game started off at a very past face.  The first goal of the game was a power play goal scored at 13:21 of the first period.  Baraboo’s Brett McCutchin fired a pass to TJ Laux to the right circle.  TJ takes the puck behind the net and spotted Eric Thompson three feet to the top left of the crease and rocketed a pass to him.  Thompson one timed the shot top shelf to spot Baraboo to a 1-0 lead, which held up through the first period.  Ebert posted 11 saves for Baraboo, while Zach Arneson had 4 saves for RWD.

The pace continued in the second period and both goalies were making saves to keep their respective team in the game.  RWD tied the game at 1, when Sean Teske started bringing the puck down to Ebert’s left.  Teske made a pass to Luke Bjorklund as Bjorklund was falling to the ice with an assist from a Baraboo’s Michael Bostwick.  Bjorklund tipped the puck towards the net, which slipped by Ebert and into the goal as Bjorklund slid into Ebert at 6:04 of the second period.  Arneson stopped 6 shots for a total of 10 saves.  Ebert collected 10 saves for a total of 21.

The third period saw players from both sides starting to exhibit a little frustration as the game wore on.  Baraboo took the lead for good at the 5:52 mark of the third period.  Gus Werhane skated the puck in deep for Baraboo.  Werhane found TJ Laux in front of the goal and Laux put it in giving Baraboo a 2-1 lead.  The teams kept the pressure up, but most of the time was being spent with RWD in their defensive zone or getting the puck to neutral ice.  Griffin Nicksic gave Baraboo a two goal lead with Gus Werhane picking up his second assist at 11:53 of the third.  The scoring was completed with 36 seconds remaining in the game as Baraboo converted their second power play goal of the evening.  Brett McCutchin collected his second goal with Gus Werhane and Eric Thompson assisting on the play.  Ebert added 2 more saves to his total and finished with 23.  Arneson gathered in 8 shots for a total of 18 saves.

Baraboo opens conference play with a 4-1 win.  We caught up with Coach Blosenski after the game.

WiPH:  “Coach, a big win to start the conference season, rivalry win.  Fairly well played game, in general when you play a game where players know each other that well it’s going to get chippy every now and then, but that’s hockey.”

Coach Blosenski: “With a rivalry like this, it’s going to get chippy.  We try to make it as clean a game as you can, but in a game like this, tensions are high.  A lot is at stake, not just conference wise, but bragging rights and all that.  For us it was a big important win, because we had yet to beat them since they formed the new co-op.  For this senior group and myself it was nice to accomplish that before the end came.  All-in-all it was a great game, both teams had adversity they had to fight through.  This time we were fortunate enough to come out on top.  Next time you never know.”

WiPH: “This season, actually before the season ever started, started on a kind of rollercoaster for you…knowing the person that was your starting goalie, what he had to battle with before the season started and then coming in fighting hard, playing hard and he had a heck of a game tonight.”

Coach B:  “He had a great game.  What you’re mentioning is he diagnosed with cancer and underwent treatment.  His last treatment was on Wednesday the first week of practice.  He has battled through, fought adversity and we talked about it.  This team has had a year of adversity.  Taking it, running with it and not using it as an excuse.  And these guys have done that.  All-in-all everyone has stepped up the best they can to make this successful.”

WiPH: “With this win, I know, you will take it and build off it.  I’m sure your team will gain confidence from this win and build on it.”

Coach B: “We needed a confidence boost.  We needed a nice close game that was back and forth, just to prove that we could grind it out.  We’ve played some tight games, tied Sparta 2-2, close game with Aquinas.  But to take a team like this on was a good win.  I am very impressed, the RWD coaching staff has done an impressive job in getting this team ready.  I was a little nervous coming in.  They lost a little scoring punch from last year, but they still have a lot of punch.  What is scary about this team, is they’re going gain more experience and get better and better.  They’ll be a different team, when we face them again.  Hopefully, we’ll be a better team too.”

WiPH:  “Mac, tonight was a big win.  A rival game, you played with some of the RWD players as a freshman.  What does it mean to you to get a big win over RWD?”

Mac Ebert:  “It means everything, because we’ve never beaten RWD before.  Puts more trust in my team and makes me want to play even harder.