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Old Abes earn second title with win over Verona

By Michael Trzinski, 03/02/13, 5:15PM CST

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Geving and Bresser lead charge in ECM victory


Jake Bresser scored twice, Charley Graaskamp added a goal and two helpers, and goalie Alex Geving came up big with 28 saves as Eau Claire Memorial eased past Verona 6-1 in the 2013 Boys State Championship game played Saturday afternoon at the Alliant Energy Center.

Verona might have used up most of their gas in defeating reigning state champion Notre Dame Friday in semifinal play, and it showed today as the Old Abes seemed to have a little more hop in today's game.

The game was scoreless until late in the first period. As Zach Jones was releasing a shot from the high slot area, a Verona forward and ECM defenseman got tangled up and the resulting pile-up screened Geving as the puck hit the back of the net. The score at 14:35 was assisted by Nolan Kepler.

Twenty-six seconds later, the Old Abes tied the score on a fluke play.

Brady Bollinger ripped a shot from the top of the right circle and the shot went wide to the right of the net. The puck hit the kick plate and bounced back toward the net where it hit Verona goalie Alex Jones' left skate and slid across the line at 15:01. Dylan Ross was credited with an assist.

Shots were 14 to 9 in favor of Verona.

The Old Abes scored just 1:24 into the middle period when Ross tapped in a rebound from the low left side with help from Bollinger to take a 2-1 lead.

Memorial nearly had a two-goal lead with just over six minutes left, but an apparent goal was waved off because the puck did not completely cross the goal line.

Three minutes later, a Verona scoring chance from the right dot was negated by a stingy left post.

With just over two minutes left, the Abes scored while killing off a penalty.

Bollinger corralled a loose puck in the NZ and skated down the left wing and slid a pass across to the back door where Bresser calmly flipped the puck into the net to make the score 3-1 on the shorty.

WiPH Game Summaries

Shots were 9-7 in favor of ECM in the period.

The early part of the third saw both teams with power play chances, including a 5-on-3 for the Abes. They failed to convert on the two-man advantage, but were happy to score while playing one man up.

Just five seconds after Verona returned one skater from the bad boy bench, Bresser pounded in a rebound with assists to Graaskamp and Tye McLaughlin at the 6:45 mark to change the scoreboard to 4-1.

Sixty-four seconds later, Graaskamp punched the puck through the five-hole on a breakaway to make it 5-1. Nathan Pientok and Geving got assists on the Brady Sand-type scoring play.

Verona took a time-out in order to slow the momentum, but the Old Abes would capitalize three minutes later on the power play.

After a Verona bench minor for too many men, Graaskamp motored down the right side and as he crossed the goal line he dumped a pass back to the trailing Austin Phippen, who beat Jones on the glove side to account for the final score. ECM outshot Verona 12-8 in the period.

Geving stopped 28 of 29 in the win, playing a solid game as he had done all weekend. Jones made 24 saves in the game for Verona.

Eau Claire Memorial is a perfect 2-0 in state title games, winning their first in 2008. This was the first championship game for Verona.