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USM comes out firing in 5-0 win over Hayward

By Tom Geilfuss, USM Assistant Coach, 01/26/19, 6:30PM CST

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Wildcats blow past Hurricanes with 57-20 shot edge

No matter what the conditions, the University School boys’ hockey team continues to stay hot.  The Wildcats fired 57 shots at Gavin Abric, the Hayward goalie, put five of those shots past him and won the first round of the Pines Classic Tournament, 5-0 on Friday, January 25th at the Eagle River Ice Arena in Eagle River.

Jason Woods, USM’s head coach commented on USM’s 17th win, “it was a really good game against Hayward tonight.  We have been on a stretch of playing really high level goalies, and Gavin Abric is certainly one of the top goalies in the state.  He made big save after big save tonight.  Fortunately, we were able to get a few past him. I thought we were in a good mind frame, had great energy, and put on constant pressure.  Defensively, we were dominant, and our goalie, when tested, was focused and locked in. Short turn around to our game against Pines.  We will need to bring our top game.”

The Wildcats were on fire from the start in the Dome, where the temperature was out-right cold.  The air outside the storied ice arena was 10 degrees below zero, but it didn’t affect the team from southern Wisconsin, where the air was relatively balmy.  USM scored three goals in the first ten-plus minutes to demonstrate why the Wildcats are ranked number one in the state.

USM scored its first goal at 6:42. Blake Carey blocked a shot in the USM zone.  The puck popped to Tyler Herzberg, who swept it to Robby Newton near the blue line. Newton turned on the jets and flew down the left side.  He flew around the defenseman as he entered the Hayward zone and zoomed in at Abric.  He deked the goalie, then tucked the puck past him for the goal.

The Wildcats scored their next who goals in the space of 13 seconds.  Noah Eghbali won a battle for the puck in the right corner of the Hayward zone.  He passed it to the near point to Jacob Como.  Como sent it to his defense partner, Alex Thundercloud.  Thundercloud one-timed a slap shot past Abric at 10:29.

In the blink of an eye, it was 3-0, USM.  From the center ice faceoff, the puck went to defenseman Ethan Ford who skated it across the red line and dumped it into the Hurricanes’ end.  The puck bounced off the Dome’s shallow end boards to Eghbali in the slot.  He fired a shot.  The rebound came out to Carson Mogush who shoveled it into the net at 10:42.

USM scored two more goals within two minutes of each other in the early moments in the second period. The Wildcats scored the first of these at 3:09.  From the left corner in the Wildcats’ zone, Herzberg sent a long pass to Carey at the Hurricanes’ blue line.  Carey turned and immediately lasered a shot past Abric to make the score 4-0.

The Wildcats finished the game’s scoring at 4:42 of the period.  Skating into the Hayward zone, Ford passed the puck to Sterling Cooke. Cooke whizzed in and took a shot into Abric’s pads as he swept through the crease.  Trailing, Reid Woods knocked the rebound into the net.

The victory improved USM’s record to 17-1. The Wildcats move on to play Northland Pines in the annual Pines Classic Tournament championship game.  The non-conference game begins at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday January 26th at the Eagle River Ice Arena in Eagle River.

WiPH Game Summaries