The University School boys’ hockey team continued its quest for a state tournament championship by defeating the West Bend Ice Bears 10-1 in a Sectional 8 semi-final game of the WIAA state tournament playoffs on Tuesday, February 19th at USM.

The Wildcats, the top-seed in the sectional, put the clock on running time in the first period when they scored six goals.  They scored three more in the second period and one in the third.  The Ice Bears managed to get their goal in the second period.

It didn’t help the underdog’s cause to take 13 penalties in the game, giving USM plenty of power play time. Four of the Wildcats’ goals came via the power play.  The Wildcats had just two penalties assessed against them in the contest.

The Wildcats fired 34 shots at West Bend’s senior goalie, Chris Clement, who stopped 24 of them.  Junior Patrick Kelly started for USM and made 3 saves while surrendering a goal.  Senior Frank Fee played the final period in his last home game at USM.  Fee turned aside all 6 of the shots the Ice Bears took while he manned the nets.

It didn’t take long for the Wildcats to start scoring. Senior Robby Newton put a positive number on the scoreboard just 2:48 into the game off assists by sophomore Ethan Mann and junior Tyler Herzberg.

Newton scored what would prove to be the game-winning goal less than two minutes later.  Once again Mann and Herzberg helped him move the puck past Clement at 4:37.

Junior Blake Carey made it 3-0 at 5:28.  He had an assist from his classmate Alex Thundercloud.

USM scored its fourth goal on a power play opportunity.  Junior Casey Roepke scored the first of his three goals at 6:55 with assists going to Carey and Mann.

Senior Ethan Ford scored USM’s next goal on a shot during another power play late in the first period.  Thundercloud had another assist on the goal Ford scored at 15:34.

Time was running out in the opening period, but the Wildcats were not running out of gas.  Roepke took a pass from sophomore Noah Eghbali and fired in a shot at 16:08.  USM’s six goal lead put the clock on running time.

Roepke gained his hat trick with a goal off an assist by Newton at 4:14 of the second period.  The goal assured that the clock would run for the remainder of the game.

The Ice Bears interrupted the Wildcats’ scoring juggernaut with a goal at 8:50 of the second period.   Senior Peyton Kesselhon scored it on assists by sophomores Easton Dick and Andrew Butler.

USM went ahead 8-1 on another power play.  Herzberg scored the goal at 12:20 on assists by Roepke and Newton.

Herzberg scored USM’s next goal in the final seconds of the second period with assists going to his line mates, Newton and Mann.  Time of the goal was 16:53.

The Wildcats concluded the evening’s scoring at 14:20 of the third period.  Sophomore Reid Woods scored the goal.  Eghbali and senior Ryan Kennedy had assists.

After the game, Carey, who is one of USM’s captains, said, “It was a big game for us and a big win. We are excited to be moving on to the next round and making a run at state. The boys came out focused and ready to go tonight. We got contributions from everyone, and that helped. We were able to control the game early and finish with a win, and that’s what matters. We turn right around to prepare for a huge game against a good opponent for an opportunity at Madison.”

The win improved USM’s season record to 24-2.   As Carey noted, the Wildcats play St. Mary’s Springs in the Sectional 8 Finals of the WIAA state tournament playoffs at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, February 22nd at the Blue Line Ice Center in Fond du Lac.  The game will be a re-match of the 2018 Sectional final.