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Kepler's hat trick leads Verona past West

By Michael Trzinski, 02/28/13, 2:30PM CST

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UPDATED WITH GAME STORY


Verona scored three times in a wild third period to edge Wausau West 6-3 in the opening game of Quarterfinal Thursday at The Clamshell.

The Wildcats scored the only goal of the initial period while on a delayed penalty.

With goalie Alex Jones off for an extra skater, Nolan Kepler scored from the low left circle area at the 6:28 mark. Philippe Fromberger got an assist on the play.

Verona held a 13-5 shot advantage.

West tied the game in the second period with Sheldon Oja's shot from the top of the right circle at 10:38, with an assist to Kevin Conley.

Just under a minute later, Kepler scored his second goal when his bad angle shot bounced off goalie Sam Wiegert and into the net to give Verona a 2-1 lead.

Zac Keryluk made it 3-1 for the Wildcats when he skated from the right circle into the slot and ripped an on-ice shot that snuck just inside the left post at 13:13 for the score, which would prove unlucky for the Warriors. Zach Lenz and Fromberger got helpers on the play.

Shots were 10-4, Verona.

West scored twice in the first five minutes of the final stanza to tie the game.

Cale Bowman scored from the slot on a nice pass from behind the net by Tanner Gould  to cut the lead to 3-2 at 4:40.

Just 26 seconds later, Justin (Juice) Anderson skated down the middle and pitchforked the puck past Jones on the glove side to knot the score at three each. Justin Zahn got an assist on the play.

Overtime appeared to be looming, but then the Wildcats answered thrice in five minutes.

On what was the most controversial goal in the tournament, Brogan Baker's shot on the power play had three Verona players bouncing off the glass on a major celly while West went 3-on-2 the other way with thoughts of scoring.

WiPH Game Summaries

The whistle blew, the refs conferred, and in the end, Baker's goal counted and Verona led 4-3 with just over six minutes left.

Kepler earned his hat trick with just under two minutes left on a rebound goal with an assist to Charlie Parker to make it 5-3.

Coach Pete Susens pulled Wiegert for the extra skater, but Parker scored an empty-netter for the 6-3 final.

Shots were even at ten in the period.

Jones made 16 saves for Verona in earning the win. Wiegert stopped 27 shots for West on the other end.

West ended the year with a record of 17-10-1.