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Wildcat boys earn second at Admirals Cup

By Tom Geilfuss, USM Asst. Coach, 01/01/16, 8:30PM CST

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Loss to Cedarburg and victory over DePere cap week

After defeating Germantown 7-2 in the opening round of the Admirals Cup Tournament on December 21st, the University School boys’ hockey team went 1-1 the final two games of the tournament Tuesday and Wednesday. The Wildcats tied Cedarburg 3-3 then lost in a shoot out on Tuesday at the Bradley Center.  They then defeated Depere 5-1 on Wednesday at The Mullett Center at Arrowhead High School in Hartland. As a result of the outcomes of the three games, the Wildcats took second place in the tournament.

The Wildcats took a 3-0 lead in Tuesday’s match against Cedarburg on two goals by junior Logan Geisness and one by senior Levi Geisness.  The Bulldogs came back to tie USM on a late second goal by junior James Furey and third period goals by sophomore TJ Storck and senior Brett Benning.  Then, by tournament rules, a three-player shootout was used to determine the winner.  The three USM shooters did not put any of their shots past Matt McCoy, Cedarburg’s senior goalie. Furey was able to fire a shot past USM’s senior netminder Mac Schmidt to give the Bulldogs the win.

The Wildcats out shot the Bulldogs 36-23 in the game, and they made three of those shots count.  USM opened the scoring at 8:33 of the first period.  Breaking out of the USM zone, freshman Andrew Malek passed the puck to Logan Geisness cutting into center ice.  Geisness pulled the puck to his stick, skated past a defenseman, swooped across the low slot to deke McCoy, then deposited the puck in the net.

USM went ahead 2-0 in the opening minute of the second period.  Senior Tommy Ferrara got the puck along the left sideboards in the Cedarburg zone and skated around the near corner.  As he headed toward the net, Ferrara took a low shot.  The rebound off McCoy came out to the right circle, and Logan Geisness one-timed a shot into the goal at O:44.

The Wildcats increased their lead late in the period.  Logan Geisness got the puck and crossed into the Cedarburg zone on a two-on-two with his brother, Levi.  Logan cut in on net and fired a shot.  The rebound burst out front, and Levi tapped in a backhand shot at 13:19.

The Bulldogs started their comeback seconds later.  Furey intercepted a USM breakout attempt near the USM blue line.  He skated into the left circle and bombed a shot past senior John Ostermyer who had replaced Schmidt in the USM net.  Time of the goal: 13:41.

In the third period Schmidt went back in as USM’s goalie, but the Bulldogs had the momentum and they scored twice in the period.

While forechecking, Furey got the puck and in the center of the USM zone.  He threw it into the corner for Benning to collect.  Benning lined a crossing pass to the backdoor to Storck who tapped the puck in at 2:44.

The Bulldogs scored their third goal at 5:10.  Furey got the puck from Storck, and as he was being checked near the USM blue line, he chipped it deeper into the zone.  Benning raced to it, cut behind the net and came out the far side for a wraparound.  He jammed the puck in to tie the game.

Neither team scored in the remaining twelve minutes, and the shootout resulted.

Although Cedarburg won the game for the tournament standings, the game was recorded as a tie on the both teams’ records.



Wednesday afternoon, in their final game in the round-robin tournament, the Wildcats faced off against DePere.

Similar to what they had done in Tuesday’s game, the Wildcats outshot their opponents 25-18. They forged ahead 3-0 on goals by Malek, Levi Geisness, and senior Jerzey Judge.  DePere got an early third period goal from junior Bryce Paul; then the Wildcats added goals by Logan Geisness and Brandon McGill to secure the victory.

“It was a good bounce back win for us after a difficult tie the day before,” said Jason Woods, USM’s head coach.  “We brought energy and focus to the rink, which really carried us in this one.  We’ve had two straight games where we carried the play and owned the shot column.  8-2-2 at the halfway point of the season is a very nice start for us.   I think we are headed in the right direction leading into the new year.”

USM got the scoring started just over three minutes into the game.  Taking a face off in right circle in the Voyageurs’ zone, Logan Geisness won the draw and moved the puck to Malek on the left.  Malek skated right at the net and whipped a shot past DePere’s senior goalie Luke Nystrom at 3:09.

The Wildcats scored again at 6:43 of the first period.  As the Wildcats forechecked, Levi Geisness got the puck near the DePere blue line after a blocked shot.  He passed the puck to senior Jake Kandel at the right point and headed toward the net.  Kandel fired a low shot into Nystrom’s pads.  The puck rebounded to Levi Geisness in the slot, and he gunned it into the net.

A few minutes later the score became 3-0.  Junior Brandon McGill got the puck high in the DePere zone and started to skate further in.  His progress was stopped by a check, but the puck trickled to Billy Miller.  Miller went through the right circle and fired a low shot.  The rebound went to Ferrara in the left circle.  He tapped it to Judge in the slot and Judge buried it at 11:00.

Although the Wildcats out shot the Voyageurs 14-4 in the second period, there was no scoring until early in the third period when the Voyageurs finally put a mark on the scoreboard.  Taking a face off in the USM end, Goheski won the draw and rushed to the puck in the low circle.  He whipped a pass across the crease to Paul who snapped a shot past Schmidt for the goal at 4:10.

The Wildcats were not about to repeat their woes of Tuesday.  They increased their lead instead.  Sophomore defenseman Charlie Mahoney sent a breakout pass to junior Nick Epperson on the mid-boards in the USM zone.  Epperson raced through center ice.  Nearing the DePere blue line, he tapped the puck to Logan Geisness who sped past a defenseman, cut in on Nystrom, and drilled a shot past him at 8:11 of the third period.

USM concluded the game’s scoring at 13:06.  The Voyaguers pulled Nystrom for an extra skater and put a furious onslaught on the Wildcats in the USM zone.  Eventually Logan Geisness was able to get the puck and skate it free into center ice.  He passed the puck to Epperson who gunned a shot from center ice into the empty net.

USM is now 8-2-2 and 2-0-1 in the Classic Eight Conference.  The Wildcats next play Monona Grove in a non-conference game on Friday, January 8th at Hartmeyer Ice Arena in Madison at 8:15 pm.

Final Admirals Cup Standings:

1) Arrowhead; 2) USM; 3) Homestead; 4) Marquette; 5) Cedarburg; 6) Whitefish Bay/Nicolet/Shorewood; 7)  De Pere; 8)  Germantown.