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Pine City Tournament

Semifinals-

Rogers 1

Chisago Lakes 0

After defeating Minneapolis Edison in the first round, the Chisago Lakes Wildcats stumbled on their way to the championship game of the Pine City/Rush City High School Hockey Tournament, losing to the Rogers/Zimmerman Royals 1-0 in the semifinals at Moose Lake Arena on Tuesday, December 28. This marks the first time the Wildcats have been shut out all season.

The Wildcats defeated this same Royals squad 8-2 on Saturday, December 11 and they certainly put the pressure on during this game. The Wildcats outshot the Royals 41-18 and kept the puck in the Royals end most of the evening, but the Royals were able to combine good goaltending with a little luck to come away with the victory.

The only goal of the game came at 8:11 of the third period. Royals forward Marcus Orrock carried the puck into the Wildcats zone into the right circle. He left a drop pass for forward Eric Smith, and Smith one-timed it through a screen and beat Wildcat goalie Tom Fitzer just inside the left post.

The Wildcats turned up their pressure the rest of the period, but could not manage to score despite several power plays, including two five-on-three advantages totaling one-and-a-half minutes. One shot with about five minutes left trickled through the goalie’s five-hole and came to rest an inch from the goal line. But before any onrushing Wildcats could knock the puck across the line, a Royal defenseman swept the puck away and crashed into the net.

The Wildcats’ last great scoring chance came with just over a minute to play. Josh Angrimson took a pass and beat the goalie from close range on the right side. But the puck clanged off the pipe and rebounded to the side. The Royals were able to hold on for the final minute and claim the victory, sending the Wildcats to the third place game.

To Wildcat head coach Corey McKinnon, the reasons for the loss weren’t complicated.

“We didn’t play our game. If you don’t show up to play, you can’t win. We struggled offensively when we weren’t scoring goals right away. The kids expected goals to come in bunches, like the first time we played Rogers. When that didn’t happen, we started to press and play too individually,” said McKinnon. “When a team can pull you away from the things you want to do, they gain the advantage. Their goalie made every save and we hit a couple of posts. This game was a good lesson – we realize we can’t just get dressed and expect to win, no matter who we’re playing – we have to work hard and execute.”

Rogers/Zimmerman 1

Chisago Lakes 0

1 2 3 F

Rogers/Zimmerman 0 0 1 1

Chisago Lakes 0 0 0 0

Scoring:

First Period-

No scoring

Second Period-

None

Third Period-

1) RZ Smith (Orrock) 8:11

Saves-

Fitzer 17

Pine City Tournament

Third Place Game-

Chisago Lakes 6

Pequot Lakes 0

After faltering in their semifinal game against Rogers/Zimmerman, the Chisago Lakes Wildcats took out their frustrations on the Pequot Lakes Patriots, crushing them 6-0 to take third place in the Pine City/Rush City High School Hockey Tournament last Wednesday.

The Wildcats took the lead early in the first period, scoring two goals in a span of ten seconds. Josh Angrimson took a pass from Jake Miles along the right boards. He fired a pass to his brother Luke in the low slot, and Luke beat the goalie with a shot in the upper right corner to put the Wildcats up 1-0. at 2:49. Miles won the ensuing face-off and passed the puck to Josh Angrimson who hit Luke Angrimson with a pass, again in the low slot. Luke pasted the puck into the back of the net to give the Wildcats a two-goal lead. And Luke Angrimson nearly added a third goal to complete the hat trick on the same shift just a few seconds later, but had to settle for two of the fastest goals in Wildcat history.

Lance Baumgard took over the Wildcat scoring duties in the second period. The Patriots iced the puck to relieve intense Wildcat pressure, but for some reason the referees waved off icing. The Patriots were in the middle of their line change when an alert Zack Stimson picked up the puck behind his own net and fired it up the ice to a wide open Baumgard. Baumgard skated in alone, deked the goalie to the left and flipped a backhand into the right side of the net to make the score 3-0 midway through the second period.

The Wildcats scored two goals early in the third period to put the game out of reach. Just over a minute into the period, Scott Liebsch passed the puck to defenseman Terry Bergren at the left point. Bergren fired a shot through traffic and Baumgard tipped the shot past the Patriot goalie to put the Wildcats up by four. And just over 30 seconds later, Ross Jones stole the puck in the Patriot zone and fired a quick shot from the left circle into the net to make the lead 5-0.

With just over two minutes left in the game, freshman Jeremy Patterson capped the scoring with his first varsity goal. He picked up a loose puck just outside the blue line, skated into the Patriot zone and fired a long shot. The puck skipped through the goalie’s five-hole to make the final score Wildcats 6, Patriots 0.

The Wildcats outshot the Patriots 45-10 for the game. Wildcat sophomore goalie Tom Fitzer earned his first varsity shutout and was named to the all-tournament team.

“We certainly came out with more of an edge than we did yesterday” said Wildcat head coach Corey McKinnon. “We gave Pequot no room. I think the Pequot goalie is better than the Rogers goalie, but we came out with an attitude one hundred eighty degrees different from last night. We got the puck in deep and went hard after it instead of sitting back and waiting for the other team to make a move with the puck – we played with a whole different mentality.”

And it was a balanced win. Along with two goals from Luke Angrimson, Baumgard added two goals and Josh Angrimson dished out two assists. In all, nine different players registered a point for Chisago.

“We played a well-balanced game. On Luke Angrimson’s scores, the puck went in with authority. Luke just rocked back and ripped his shots; he wasn’t trying to be too fine. And I was glad to see Tom Fitzer get some recognition on the all-tournament team. Tommy played solid in the nets, giving up only three goals in three games.”

It was a good way to end the tournament. Despite their disappointing third-place, McKinnon saw some positives.

“It was nice to carry a win back into conference play,” remarked McKinnon. “And a silver lining is that, since we didn’t play against them in the championship game of the tournament, we’ll be seeing Pine City for the first time next Friday [January 7], which will be to our advantage.”

Pine City will be among seven conference games the ‘Cats play in the next month. Their chase for the Rum River title begins right now.

Chisago Lakes 6

Pequot Lakes 0

1 2 3 F

Chisago Lakes 2 1 3 6

Pequot Lakes 0 0 0 0

Scoring:

First Period-

1) CL- L. Angrimson (J. Angrimson, Miles) 2:49; 2) CL- L. Angrimson (J. Angrimson, Miles) 2:59.

Second Period-

3) CL- Baumgard (Stimson) 10:25

Third Period-

4) CL- Baumgard (T. Bergren, Liebsch) 1:15; 5) CL- Jones (unassisted) 1:50; 6) CL- Patterson (unassisted) 14:39.

Saves-

Fitzer 10

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