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Wildcats must win out to share Big 8 title

By Verona Press: Jones, 02/05/16, 9:45AM CST

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Any chance the Verona boys hockey team had of winning the Big Eight Conference title outright took a big hit Thursday when the Wildcats were upset 3-2 inside the Janesville Ice Center.

 

Verona hosts Sun Prairie Friday, Beloit Memorial Tuesday
By: 
Jeremy Jones

Any chance the Verona boys hockey team had of winning the Big Eight Conference title outright took a big hit Thursday when the Wildcats were upset 3-2 inside the Janesville Ice Center.

With the loss, the Wildcats must now win out to have a shot at sharing the title.

Verona, which still has three conference games against Sun Prairie (13-7-0), Beloit Memorial (5-14-0) and at first-place Middleton (11-2-0) to end the season, fell to 12-8-1 overall and 8-3-0 in the Big Eight.

The Wildcats are the only conference game left on the schedule for Middleton, which hosts Verona at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 11.

Verona defeated Sun Prairie, 4-0, and Beloit Memorial, 11-2, early this season, but lost 3-1 at home against Middleton.

 Janesville forward Tyler Perkins struck pay dirt twice, two minutes apart early in the second period to break a tie with the Wildcats.

Verona freshman Graham Sticha, who had two goals on the night pulled the Wildcats within a goal with just over five minutes remaining in the third period. The Wildcats were unable to find the equalizer though.

Kyle Kobs of Janesville and Sticha exchanged first-period goals. 

Senior Alex Jones stopped 13 of 16 shots on net in the loss, while Janesville’s Jack Bostedt stopped 30 of 32 for the Bluebirds.

“Janesville has historically been a tough place for us to play and this year was no different,” Wildcats head coach Joel Marshall said. 

Verona was again missing senior captain Zach Lanz from the lineup due to post-concussion protocol.

The Wildcats also lost Jacob Keyes early due to injury.  

“Without those two in the lineup hurts our depth a bit, but still we had plenty of chances to score and win the game,” Marshall said. “The team played pretty well, just couldn’t beat a hot goalie when we needed it.”

Verona had dominated the Janesville co-op in the team’s previous meeting, winning 6-1 back in mid-December.

The Wildcats host Sun Prairie on Friday and Beloit Memorial on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 7 p.m. before facing Middleton in the regular season finale.

“A couple bad conference losses lately does eliminate our chances for an outright conference title, but we still believe in this team and like our chances in the playoff run if we are healthy and play with confidence down the stretch,” Marshall said.

Verona is 7-2-1 against teams in its sectional and figures to be seeded anywhere from second to fourth depending on how they finish out the season.

“Our guys feel we should be in the top four of our section, we have had the toughest regular season schedule, so hopefully it’s prepared us come playoff time ... Everyone has lost to one team or another in our section so it should make for an exciting seeding meeting and tournament series in our area,” Marshall said.

Big Eight Conference

Team W-L

Middleton 11-2

Verona 8-3

Sun Prairie 8-3

Janesville co-op 7-4

Madison Memorial 5-7

Madison West 5-8

Beloit Memorial 3-9

Eastside Lakers 0-11