Amery allowed an early pair of back-to-back goals and couldn’t capitalize on later opportunities in falling to Northland Pines 4-0 in the Division 2 title game of the Wisconsin boys state high school hockey tournament Saturday.
Bolstered by the early lead, Northland Pines goalie Everett Leslie turned away 24 shots. The fourth-seeded Warriors, who were shut out for the first time this season, also hurt themselves with 12 penalties, including 11 in the final two periods.
“I thought if we could get one and make it difficult on them, who knows what can happen?” Amery coach Matt Humpal said. “We had some chances. There were a couple where I’m looking right down at the goal, right in line, and they just missed. Wide-open nets.
“We didn’t do that very much this year,” he said. “We scored a lot of goals. And to get shut out in a game, kudos to their goalie.”
Amery (20-9) lost to Tomahawk 5-3 in the title game last year in its first trip to state. The Warriors earned a return trip after starting this season 5-5. Northland Pines (22-6), with just three seniors on its roster, won its first state title since 1989 in a single-division tournament.
Northland Pines set the tone with a pair of goals 47 seconds apart four minutes in.
Josh Graves, who had two goals in the Eagles’ 3-2 comeback win over Somerset/St. Croix in the semifinals, took a centering pass in the slot and punched it in for a 1-0 lead with 3:28 gone.
The Eagles quickly made it to 2-0 when Bodie Bakken flipped the puck out while falling to the ice behind the Amery net. Jazek Jantzen tapped to Michael Schmidt for another goal from the slot.
Amery, which upended top-seeded Waunakee 3-1 in the semifinals, was unable to recover despite stretches of controlling play.
“Any time you go up 2-0 like that, you kind of have the ability to dictate how the game is played,” Northland Pines coach Zach Otto said. “Especially going into the third period. We knew all we had to do was not let any red jerseys behind us.”
The Warriors were whistled for seven penalties in the second period, and that eventually cost them. Amery killed the first 5-on-3 situation, but the Eagles capitalized 10 seconds into the second two-player advantage when Graves scored on a rebound to make it 3-0 with 6:09 left in the period.
Five minutes into the final period, Carter Meyer kept the Warriors within three with a save on a penalty shot by Graves, who scored the third-period tying goal against Somerset/St. Croix Falls on a penalty shot.
Northland Pines punctuated the victory with a long empty-net goal by Cooper Saari with 1:07 left.
“I figured we were going to get one like always,” said senior tri-captain Jacob Maxon. “We scored quite a few goals this year, so I wasn’t expecting to get shut out. But it’s hard to get goals when you take as many penalties as we did.”
Under the penalty induced pressure, Amery goalie Carter Meyer registered 29 saves, including 22 over the final two periods.
Amery had the final six shots of the first period, and Leslie had two point-blank saves in the closing minutes of the second.
“Hats off to them. They put the pressure on us,” Otto said. “There was definitely points of the game where they controlled parts of it.”
“They had some great opportunities that went wide of the net, as well, and then when Evrett is shutting down prime opportunities, too, it’s always nice.”
Related Articles
Boys hockey: Moorhead takes down Edina, heads to Class AA title game
Boys hockey: Minnetonka rallies in Class AA semis, defeats Rosemount in OT
Boys hockey: Mahtomedi unable to crack Hibbing/Chisholm goalie in Class A state semis
Boys state hockey: Edina defeats Andover in quarters on McConnell hat trick
Boys state hockey: Lakeville South ousted by Moorhead in 2A quarterfinal
Leave a Reply