MIDDLETON, Wis. – Carter Meyer picked a good morning to have a great game. His Amery teammates were pretty good, as well.
Meyer stopped 34 shots to propel Amery to a 3-1 victory over top-seeded Waunakee on Thursday in the Division 2 semifinals of the Wisconsin boys state hockey tournament, sending the Warriors to the title game for the second consecutive season.
“Once we got settled in, I thought we played really well,” Amery coach Matt Humpel said. “You want to be playing your best games at the end of the year, and that was definitely our best game we played all year in all three zones. We’ve been struggling a little bit in certain situations, and today we nailed it.”
Fourth-seeded Amery (20-8) advances to Saturday’s title game at 11 a.m. against the winner of third-seeded Somerset/St. Croix Falls (17-10) and second-seeded Northland Pines (20-6).
Amery lost to Tomahawk 5-3 in last year’s state title game after beating Somerset/St. Croix Falls 4-3 in the semifinals.
Somerset/St. Croix Falls defeated Amery twice this regular season, 7-6 in overtime and 8-5. Amery also lost to Northland Pines, 4-2, early in the season.
Carter kept Waunakee off the board with 15 saves in the first period and 11 in the second. After Waunakee’s lone goal, he stopped two breakaways in third period and survived constant pressure over the final 2:52 after Waunakee pulled its goalie.
“I kept telling people that he’s going to steal us a game, he’s going to win us a game,” Humpal said of Carter. “And today, he did. It’s the biggest one yet. So, I’m really happy for him. We see that every day in practice.”
Waunakee dominated play early, but Meyer’s stinginess in net and a goal by Leo Jenson gave the Warriors a 1-0 first period lead. Jensen snapped the scoreless tie with 1:45 left in the period with a sharp angle shot from the bottom of the left circle.
Amery extended the lead to 2-0 midway through the second period when Oscar Troff got a stick on Gavin Lindsay’s shot from the right side and re-directed it into the net.
Waunakee got on the board just 38 seconds into the third period when Andrew Mussallem gathered in a pass directly in front of the goal and tapped it into the upper left part of the net.
Just 17 seconds later, Amery’s Evan Schultz was assessed a two-minute penalty for tripping, but the Warriors killed the penalty and halted Waunakee’s newfound momentum.
Meyer then turned away a pair of breakaways by Waunakee’s Sam Cutrano.
“I know I played well, so I’ve got that,” Meyer said. “Once you get in the groove, the breakaways are not that tough.”
Jacob Maxen restored Amery’s two-goal advantage with a shot from the left side with 10:34 remaining.
“Hockey coaches are supposed to try to stay calm and I got pretty excited when we scored the third goal,” Humpal said. “You never know, but I didn’t feel like Carter was giving up four goals today.”
Waunakee outshot Amery 35-22 and was not called for a single penalty, while the Warriors were whistled four times. Waunakee goalie Weston Meyer had 19 saves.
“I’ll have to go back and look at the film, but just the general feeling that we out-chanced them,” Waunakee coach Chase Drake said. “I don’t think it was the lack of chances. Their goaltender played extremely well.”
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