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USM skates past Kenosha in Classic Eight battle

By Tom Geilfuss, 01/23/14, 7:30PM CST

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Browns and Epperson lead Wildcats in 10-1 win


The University School boys’ hockey team defeated Kenosha United 10-1 in a Classic Eight Conference game at USM Wednesday.

The Wildcats took 35 shots on their opponents net and fired a number of others that missed the net. They jumped ahead quickly with four goals in the first period and added five more in the second period before easing up in the third. Duncan Brown, Hayden Brown, and Nick Epperson led the USM attack with two goals apiece.

USM coach Tim Quinn said, “Too often this season we have played down to the level of our opponents. I challenged our team not to let that happen tonight, and we didn't. With the exception of one or two mental errors, we played our game for 51 minutes. I've never been a fan of running the score up on a team, but after the low-scoring games we've had this season, it felt good to put up a big number. We called off the dogs in the third period, and the boys finished the game with class and character. Needless to say, I was pleased.”

Kenosha nearly scored the game’s first goal, but USM’s starting goaltender Bryan Botcher stopped a 2-on-0 break. The Wildcats scored their first goal right after Botcher’s fine save. From the faceoff in the USM end, Duncan Brown sent a pass out of the zone to Nick Epperson. Hayden Brown joined the rush for a 2-on-1. Moving across the Kenosha blue line, Epperson slid the puck across to Brown who fired a low shot that beat Kenosha’s starting goalie, Tommy Laken a 9:26 of the first period.

The Wildcats then scored three goals in the final four minutes of the first period. The first of these came at 13:44 when Peter Barney collected a rebound from a shot by Riley Hill and backhanded the puck high into the Kenosha net.

USM soon scored another. Taking a faceoff in the Kenosha zone, Billy Miller drew the puck back to defenseman Chris Keliher at the left point. Keliher quickly gunned a shot into the net at 14:01.

The Wildcats made it 4-0 just under a minute later. Skating in on a 2-on-1, Duncan Brown passed the puck across to his brother Hayden Brown on the right circle. Hayden Brown immediately took a shot. The rebound came to Duncan Brown who was heading in to the low slot. Like a skillful grave digger, Duncan Brown buried his shot and Kenosha’s hopes along with it at 15:00.

The Wildcats came out of the locker room ready for more. They made it 5-0 early in the second period. Forechecking ferociously, Hayden Brown knocked the puck to Duncan Brown behind the Kenosha net. Duncan Brown tapped it out front to Epperson near the crease, and Epperson one-timed a low shot inside the post at 2:52.

USM scored two shorthanded goals in a row to make the score 6-0. Epperson scored the first of these. He took a pass from Botcher as he headed out of the USM end. Epperson pushed the puck under the stick of a defender and stepped around him. He then lofted a backhander high into the Kenosha net at 6:02.

Duncan Brown scored the second shorthanded goal for USM seconds later. Keliher sent the puck ahead to Epperson who was rushing out of the USM zone. Epperson skated across the Kenosha blue line and shoveled a one-handed pass over to Duncan Brown who skated in and, like a sharp shooter at target practice, rifled the puck past Laken at 6:46.

USM soon made it 8-0. This time Duncan Brown fed Hayden Brown for a close in shot into the net at10:35.

USM completed the scoring rout on a second period shot by Will Perry and one in the third period on a shot by David Mai.

USM is 11-3-2 overall and 5-0-1 in the conference. The Wildcats play Hayward in a non-conference game in the first round of the Pines Classic Hockey Tournament in Eagle River on Friday, January 24th at 7:30 p.m.

WiPH Game Summaries