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RWD Rally Stuns Waunakee

By Delmar Scanlon, WiPH Staff, 01/27/17, 6:30PM CST

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Four goal lead not enough for the Warriors

The game started with RWD trailing Waunakee by 3 games in the Badger North Conference.  RWD dominated the first five minutes of the game by keeping the puck in the offensive zone and pressuring the Warriors.  Waunakee's Kurt Johnson led a breakout from their defensive zone and hit Brennen Pellino with a pass.  Pellino took a shot and put the Warriors up 1-0 at 5:43 of the first period.  The Warriors boosted the lead to 2 a 6:58 of the first period aith a power play goal, when Zach Ferris put the puck into the upper right hand corner of the net with Jeremy Werner and Kyle Ihrke assisting on the play.  Waunakee took advantage of another RWD player sitting in the sin bin, when Kyle Ihrke scored with 2:45 remaining in the period with Justin Kakuska and Jeremy Werner assisting.  Ihrke picked up his second goal of the evening at 15:32 of the first with Zane Marshman and Justin Kakuska assisting.  The Warriors led 4-0 at the end of the first period.

The second period started and the question going through the RWD fans was, "How do we get back into this game?"  The answer started with Chris Jones scoring a short-handed goal with Dylan Brown and Alek Severson being credited with assists at 4:20 of the second period.  RWD's Tarren Gruber converted a power play goal with the assist of Dylan Brown and Alek Severson at 5:48 of the second.  The period concluded with Waunakee leading 4-2.

Derek Pawlak pulled RWD within 1 forty-seven seconds into the third period with Dylan Brown and Garon Kirby picking up assists.  Chris Jones helped RWD convert another power play opportunity at 2:27 of the third with Brown and Severson assisting once again.  RWD had come all the way back to tie the game at 4.  Forty-three seconds after coming out of the penalty box, Chris Jones tied the game at 4 with Brown and Jonathan Zobel.

RWD picked up a penalty with 1:23 showing on the clock and the Warriors took this opportunity to call a timeout.  Waunakee took this time to pull their goaltender.  After the timeout, the Warriors had a 6 on 4 power play.  Waunakee kept the offensive pressure on RWD, but were unable to tie the game.  RWD picked up a huge conference win, but still trail by 2 games in the Badger North.  Jacques Semandel collected 23 saves for the Warriors, while Dylan Stein had 32 saves for RWD.

After the game, WiPH asked RWD head coach Neil Mattson, "What is the largest deficit one of the teams you have coached came back from?"  Coach Mattson responded, "As far as I can remember, this is it."

WiPH Game Summaries