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Strong second period helps Rapids past SPASH

By Michael Trzinski, 01/05/12, 11:41PM CST

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Paulsen stops 33 shots in win against rival Panthers

On a seasonably warm evening that resembled early March, the Stevens Point Panthers and the Wisconsin Rapids Red Raiders took the ice for the 39th time in the 18 years that the two fierce rivals have competed on the ice. Although the visiting Panthers have won nearly 3/4 of the games, tonight it was the host that came out victorious.

Rapids scored three times in a span of 5:08 midway through the second period for a 4-2 win in the Wisconsin Prep Hockey Game of the Week at the South Wood County Rec Center Thursday night.

Although the first period was scoreless, it had plenty of action that got fannies out of the seats on both sides of the bleachers.

Just four minutes in, Rapids' Matt Edwards nearly tipped in a pass as the puck slid just to the right of the net, much to the relief of Point goalie Jake Krutza. The Panthers missed in a similar fashion a few minutes later as the action was fast-paced and hard-hitting.

With just two seconds left in the period, Rapids' Caleb Schroer snapped off a quick shot from the right circle that Krutza made an even quicker move with his right pad, bouncing the puck into the corner as the stanza ended. SPASH held an 11-7 shot edge in the period.

The score remained scoreless for the first 1/3 of the middle period, even though some excitement was generated as the clock operator was unable to start the clock after matching penalties. Nearly one minute expired before the refs were called over, and after rink manager Jim Arnold did some quick repairs, 45 seconds was taken off the scoreboard and play resumed.

The teams were playing 5-on-5 with two players in the boxes when the first number went on the now-behaving scoreboard.

Rapids struck first at the 5:40 mark when Edwards gathered a pass from Ethan Elgersma and scored from the low right side into a mostly-open net for a 1-0 lead. Luc Kreuser also earned a helper on the play.

Less than two minutes later, a shot from the point by Rapids' Dan Janik kissed off the left post and slid harmlessly into the left corner.

The Red Raiders made it 2-0 at 9:59 when Schroer grabbed a rebound of a Zach Campbell shot and buried the puck from the low left, with a second assist going to Logan Zimmerman.

The Panthers answered quickly when Jon Pirrie stormed down the slot and beat Rapids netminder Cole Paulsen to cut the lead to 2-1 at the 10:23 mark. Matt Dufresne and Tyler McHugh earned assists on the scoring play.

Not to be outdone, the hosts scored just 25 seconds later.

Casey Esselman scored from the top of the left circle to give Rapids a 3-1 lead on the unassisted goal.

Each team had a power play chance, but were unable to score as the period ended, with the shot advantage going to Rapids (15-11).

The third period saw a slew of penalties, including three 'penalties du jour,' the "charging" infraction.

Point nearly cut the lead to 3-2, but Paulsen made a nice right pad save on a semi-bustout by Jake Jaworski with just under three minutes left.

Point coach Dan Francis pulled his netminder in favor of an extra attacker with just under two minutes left, but that strategy backfired as Zimmerman scored an empty-netter with his shot from the right point with 15 seconds remaining.

Jaworski grabbed the ensuing faceoff and scored from the right dot with just six seconds left to account for the final tally.

The guests held a 13-10 shot edge in the third.

Paulsen stopped 33 of 35 shots for the win, while Krutza was impressive on the opposite end, turning aside 28 shots.

WiPH Game Summaries