While Luke Bjorklund added another two goals to his recent offensive explosion, goaltender Shane Moilanen was unbeatable, and the RWD squad, made up of players from Reedsburg and Wisconsin Dells high schools, earned a 2-0 shutout over Black River Falls.

 

The meeting was the second between these two teams, and in both, Black River Falls goaltender Kubko Polerecky, an exchange student from Slovakia, has been as much of a factor as possible.

 

The 42 shots faced by Polerecky must have seemed like an easy night, though. When they first met in the opening of a Tomah tournament at the beginning of December, RWD earned a 6-1 win and surpassed the 60-shot plateau.

 

This time, though, the action was not all at one end of the pond. Moilanen was almost as busy at Polerecky and he turned aside every one of the 32 shots triggered against him.

 

Playing for a team that generates a lot of offense, Moilanen may not get noticed as much on a game to game basis. However, co head-coach Jeremy Klosowski is certainly paying attention.

 

"Shane doesn't get as much credit, due to the fact our offense is so talented, and we are scoring some goals with the high powered offense, but, you know, without Shane back there, we're just an average team. Shane puts us over the edge and makes us a good team and we know that with Shane back there, he gives us a chance to win no matter who we're playing."

 

Moilanen is always solid in goal, but in recent games he’s looked even more stingy and he said he has been focusing on staying sharp.

 

"Yeah, in practice recently I’ve been trying to work a little harder. I was kind of getting into a mid-season lull, but I really just go back to my old goaltending coaching and try to work harder in practice and I think it’s starting to pay dividends in the games."

 

Moilanen said he sensed early he was going to have a good night.

 

"I felt good all night, you know. My hands were good and my legs felt good too just because of all the practice I’ve been doing. I was able to stay in the zone for the whole game. That really helps."

 

Having a goaltender like Moilanen allows RWD to take chances on offense and while generally, team members are able to get back quick if things go wrong, he has on occasion been thrown to the wolves on defense. For the most part, he has no problem with that.

 

"I’m all right with it," said Moilanen. "Tonight, between one of the periods I kind of had a few strong words for the guys to just not let them walk right in and I think they responded really well, especially in that third period.

 

Teams played through a scoreless first period and the game’s first goal didn’t come until the final minute of the middle frame when RWD enjoyed its first and only power play. Bjorklund notched the goal with assists for Ryan Theiler and Josh Krueger.

 

A flurry in front of Polerecky resulted in a Black River Falls player throwing his stick near the halfway mark of the final period and the Cheavers were awarded a penalty shot. Coaches selected Bjorklund to take the shot but Polerecky made a big stop to keep it close.

 

RWD finally got some breathing room with just a little over four minutes to play when Bjorklund took a feed from Alex Yacko and let go of a wrist shot that beat Polerecky high on the glove side.

 

For Krueger, the fifth win was nice, but he, like all of the other players, realized his goaltender deserved a pat on the back.

 

"Thanks to Moilanen. He kept us in it the whole game until we could put some in the net," said Krueger. "It was a little rough putting them in the net. We had some good quality shots from the point that just got tipped and didn’t want to fall. He kept us in it, so it’s good to have him."

 

The special teams play has been huge for RWD in recent matches and Krueger plays a primary role on both. A quarterback from the blueline on the power play, Krueger also plays on the penalty kill and is the often the other half of a clearing attempt turned offensive chance with Bjorklund hovering around the blueline.

 

Despite scoring on its lone power play and denying the Tigers on its chances, Krueger wasn’t completely happy.

 

"Yeah (power play) and penalty kill, I think we do a great job at, except for tonight, we kind of, in our defensive zone we weren’t playing very well. We were thinking offensive minded before defense.