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Big second period propels Bay Port to 5-1 win over Neenah/Hortonville/Menasha

By Bill Berg, WiPH Staff, 01/17/15, 11:15AM CST

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Pirates able to weather a short-handed first period

The fourth-ranked Bay Port Pirates withstood a first period onslaught and took charge in the second period to down the eighth-ranked Neenah/Hortonville/Menasha Rockets 5-1 on Friday night in our Game of the Week at the Cornerstone Community Center.

It was a busy hockey night at Cornerstone, with Kenosha taking on Green Bay United on one rink, St. Norberts College hosting Concordia on another, and the Rockets-Pirates contest in the Resch Pavilion.

This one was a very physical game right from the outset. Lots of hard-hitting, and not all of it legal. The officials called the game tight to keep it under control, and that led to many power play opportunities for both teams.

Bay Port spent most of the first period on the penalty kill. The Rockets had a five minute power play when Bennett DeBouche was off for boarding, during which they put eight shots on goal. Pirate goalie Sean Angle was up to the task and turned them all away.

The Pirates managed to get a short-handed opportunity on a two on one that ended with Logan Froberg in the slot all alone, but he shot the puck over the net.

At the end of the scoreless first period, Angle had 17 saves for the Pirates, while Neenah/Hortonville/Menasha goalie Preston Long had but two.

The hits and the penalties kept coming in the second period, and the teams took turns killing off penalties for the first ten minutes.

Bay Port was finally able to break the seal on the Rockets net with 6:25 to go in the second. A shot from the point that one of the Rocket defensemen tried to block with his skate. The puck changed directions and handcuffed Long on his blocker side. He stopped the shot, but the puck fell to the ice behind his leg pad. Spencer Challe found it and put it in the net.

Less than a minute later, Froberg put a shot on net and Austin Mikesch was there to put in the rebound.

The Pirates struck again with a shot from the point that Long kicked out to his right. Colin Toneys picked it up at the bottom of the face off circle and passed through the slot to Connor Bagnieski on the other side. He shot it into the open net before Long could get back across.

The killer goal came a couple of minutes later when a Pirate Defenseman flipped the puck out of his own zone to center ice. A  Rocket defenseman knocked it down at the red line but couldn't control it the puck.  Froberg picked it up and raced in on Long all alone. He deked and got Long down on the ice, but had no angle at the net when he regained control of the puck. Froberg slid the puck to the front of the net and Challe put it in again, with just 12 seconds left in the period.

Bay Port out-shot Neenah/Hortonville/Menasha 16-9 in the second period and took a commanding 4-0 lead into the locker room.

The Rockets got on board after a penalty on Bay Port. Neenah won the draw back to the pint, put shot on net, and Mitch Gerhartz put in the rebound.

Less than a minute after that, Gerhartz was flagged for a five minute head-contact penalty, during which the Pirates were able to get their four-goal lead back. A shot from the point went wide of the net, Jordan Odea got the puck behind the goal line and put it in front of the net. Colin Toneys was at the top of the crease and his quick one-timer finished the scoring.

WiPH Game Summaries