In the opening round of the Admirals’ Cup Tournament held Monday at The Mullett Center at Arrowhead High School in Hartland, the University School boys’ hockey team defeated Germantown 7-2.

The Wildcats took an early lead in the non-conference game and continued to forge further ahead as the contest continued.  Brandon McGill scored two of the Wildcats’ goals.  Tommy Ferrara, Jerzey Judge, Nick Epperson, Andrew Malek and Logan Geisness each added a goal to USM’s total.

“We did what we were supposed to do, win,” said Jason Woods, USM’s head coach.  “Our discipline was much better today, and we put some pucks in the net. Now we need to get ready for a tough battle against Kenosha tomorrow.  We are going to have to raise the bar in regards to playing with a fire in our bellies. We have a tough stretch against some very solid teams ahead. I am excited to see how we’ll do.”

The Wildcats opened the scoring at 2:26 of the first period.  McGill won a face off in the Germantown zone and the puck went to Ferrara at the center of the blue line.  Ferrara fired.  The incoming puck went to Newton who took a step toward the net, then knocked the puck to the right to McGill who snapped a quick one-timer past Germantown’s goalie, Paul Perdzock.

The scored stayed at 1-0 until the last minute of the first period, when each team tallied a goal. USM scored the first of these last minute goals.  Jake Kandel began the play by gathering up a loose puck in center ice and skating into the Germantown zone and down the left boards. He met resistance from the Germantown defenders.  Eventually Kandel won control of the puck again.  He sent a pass back to the blue line to his defense partner, Ferrara.  Ferrara line a shot into the net at 16:39.

Germantown scored right away.  On the center ice face off, center Ethan Rentmeester won the puck and skated unimpeded into the USM zone and down the right boards. His progress was checked, but he flicked the puck to Mike Chavez who skated away from the scrum, through the circle and fired a backhand shot.  The puck hit a defenseman and glanced back to Chavez who swiftly fired it again.  This time his shot went past USM’s starting goaltender, Mac Schmidt, at 16:50.

Only 19 seconds ticked off the game clock before the Wildcats resumed their two-goal lead.  9 of those seconds were in the second period.  Off the face off to start the period the Wildcats got the puck into the Germantown zone.  Robby Newton got the puck on the left boards and feathered a pass to Epperson farter in.  Epperson skated toward the high slot and passed the puck to McGill in the right circle. McGill took a low shot that went through the five hole at 0:09.

The Wildcats scored again on a power play at 4:16 into the period.  On a breakout from the USM zone, Logan Geisness skated the puck deep into the Germantown end.  He was stopped, but the defense cleared the puck to his older brother Levi in the right circle.  Levi Geisness calmly passed it to Judge as he moved in from the center point.  Judge fired. Judge scored.  4-1, Wildcats.

The Ice Bears scored the next goal at 8:35 of the second period. Tony Koerner got the puck in the Germantown zone and rifled a hard clearing pass of the boards.  The puck bounced past a USM defender as Germantown’s Trevor Herzberg swept out of the zone.  Herzberg took off on a breakaway.  He moved in, deked Schmidt, and popped the puck into the USM net.

The Wildcats scored their fifth goal exactly three minutes later.  On a breakout from the USM zone, Ferrara sent the puck to Newton on the right boards.  Newton saw Epperson speeding like an Indy car with a tank full of premium into center ice and put the puck perfectly onto Epperson’s stick.  Epperson made some moves that mesmerized Perdzock before he clipped the puck in at 11:35.

The final two USM goals came during power plays.  The first occurred late in the second period.  The Wildcats set up in the Ice Bears zone and moved the puck around.  Evntually Levi Geisness got the puck on the right side and passed it to his brother Logan at he point.  Logan Geisness fired a low shot that Andrew Malek tipped past Perdzock at 15:52.

Logan Geisness scored USM’s final goal at 10:36 of the third period.  Defenseman Will Kennedy gloved a Germantown clearing pass from the air near the Germantown blue line, dropped it to his stick, and passed it to Geisness who was all alone in front of the Germantown net.  Geisness pulled it away from Perdzock an flipped it into the net at 10:36.

USM is 6-2-1 and 1-0-1 in the Classic Eight Conference.  The Wildcats turn right around and play Kenosha in a Classic Eight Conference game at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday, December 22nd at the Pleasant Prairie IcePlex in Pleasant Prairie.