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Chisago Lakes  5, Princeton 2

The Wildcats boys’ hockey team and the Princeton Tigers played a scoreless first period as the fans, coaches and players settled in for what looked like a nail-biter at Princeton First Bank and Trust Ice Arena last Wednesday, January 10.  But the Wildcats exploded for five goals on just eleven shots in the second period and went on to tame the Tigers 5-2.

Jack Bakken bookended the Wildcats’ scoring binge.  He scored the game’s first goal at 1:04 of the second period, assisted by Joe Alexander and Dustin Palewicz.  Nolan Purdy put one in the back of the net at 5:36, with the assists going to Max Koch and Landon Kerkow.  Almost exactly one minute later, Ty Gajeski scored to make it 3-0.  Ben Kerkow and Landon Kerkow picked up the assists.

The Tiger scored at 12:08 of the period to cut the Wildcats lead to 3-1.  But Joe Alexander scored just 25 seconds later, assisted by Gajeski and Bakken, to push the Wildcat lead back to three.  Bakken scored with just 28 seconds left in the second period, with Palewicz getting the lone assist, and the Wildcats led 5-1 after two periods.  The Tigers scored the only goal of the third period to make the final score 5-2.  The Wildcats outshot Princeton 27-21 for the game, and Wildcat goalie Brett Hanson stopped 19 of the 21 shots he faced to earn the win.

Hudson 3, Chisago Lakes 1

The Hudson Raiders took a 3-0 lead into the third period of their game against the Wildcats but spent the majority of the period shorthanded – practically begging the Wildcats to take over the game.  But the Wildcats scored just once, letting the combative cheeseheads escape with a 3-1 win last Friday, January 12 at the Hudson Sports and Civic Center.

All four goals in the game were power play goals.  The Raiders scored once in the first period and twice in the second period.  Their final goal came when the Wildcats were two men short.  The referees apparently then decided they weren’t going to put up with any more shenanigans from the home team, calling the last six penalties of the game on the Raiders.  Jack Bakken scored for the Wildcats in a 5-on-3 situation at 12:51 of the third period to cut the Hudson lead to 3-1, but the Raiders held off the Wildcats the rest of the way to pick up the interstate victory.  The Raiders outshot the Wildcats 30-27 for the game.

Hockey Hullaballoo

Senior Jack Bakken, who led the Wildcats in scoring last season with 19 goals and 18 assists for 37 points, leads the Wildcats in scoring again this year with 12 goals and 15 assists for 27 points.  Junior Max Bobrowski is nipping at his heels, with 13 goals and 12 assists for 25 points.

The Wildcats (8-8-0) will welcome the Monticello Moose to Chisago Lakes Arena for a Mississippi 8 Conference game tomorrow night at 7 p.m.  On Tuesday, January 23. The Mahtomedi Zephyrs will come to Lindstrom to play the Wildcats at Chisago Lakes Arena at 6:30 p.m.

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