In the opening period, both teams played great hockey.  Shattuck opened with some big hits and both teams rolled.  Both teams wanted to win this game and they were flying in their skates.  The puck movement was end to end, but both teams struggled to get good shots on the net.

Twenty two shots were taken in the first period (MSPers got 14 shots off).  Few of the shots were good scoring opportunities.  The MSPers forwards were being boxed to the perimeter by the Shattuck defense; the Sabre forwards constantly tried to hit the pass in the slot and could not connect.  If the Sabres got a brief opportunity at the net, Driscoll shut them down.

But it was the Team Northeast penalty kill that the Preps had trouble contending with; the Sabre’s officially went 0-6 on the power play (YHH had them going 1-6).  Team Northeast went 1-1.

Team Northeast used a four man box in the neutral ice challenging the Sabre forwards to beat the box.  The MSPer defenders kept position in neutral ice and rarely chased the puck into the Sabre’s zone on the penalty kill (the one time they did cost them the goal and the shutout).

The Sabre forwards tried to attack the Team Northeast box, but always started the attack with a single puck carrier trying to draw the first defense to the puck and hit another forward in the open spaces.  The MSPer defense was prepared and pinched the pass target off the puck or intercepted the pass.

The first period ended in a scoreless tie.

There was not slow start in the second period; the MSP forwards found a gear that Shattuck did not have and buried the Sabres in the first 8 minutes of the second period.

The game pace was fast in the first period; in the second it was faster and Team Northeast scored three times to take a 3-0 lead.  Three minutes into the period, Slattery broke away from the Sabre defense and carried the puck down the slot.  He maintained control of the puck fighting off a poke check from behind and stuffed a backhander through Shattuck’s goalie Luke Kania to put the MSPers up 1-0.  Luke Notermann/Blaine and Austen Long/Spring Lake Park got the assists.

The second goal came off a 2-on-0 rush that caught the Shattuck defense high in the Sabres’ zone.  Ian Scheid carried the puck left and beat Kania on shot to the lower right side.  The MSPer’s led 2-0.  Brandon Notermann and Tyler Cline got the assists.  All three players Scheid, Brandon Notermann, and Cline play for Blaine.

Jake Wahlin scored the third goal.  Joey Anderson/Hill-Murray hit Wahlin in the slot with a pass from the right.  Wahlin buried the puck beating Kania with a shot to the upper left corner.  Anderson got the assist.  The MSPers led 3-0 halfway through the second period.

Trailing 3-0 and with 10 minutes left on the clock in the second period, Shattuck attacked the MSPers’ net in a series of strong rushes.  They reached for their own gear and started to beat the MSP defense.  But they could not find the shot on the 2-on-1 rushes and usually ended the rush by trying to beat Driscoll with a hard shot.

For the last half of the second period, Driscoll controlled the flow of the game using his angles well to keep Shattuck out of scoring position.  He zeroed the Sabres.  When the second period ended, the MSPers led 3-0 but were outshot by the Sabres 15-14.

Shattuck opened the period playing aggressively, but when they couldn’t beat Driscoll and company in the first two minutes, the Sabres took a penalty.

Team Northeast scored on the power play.  They set up shop in the Sabre’s zone, moved the puck around the perimeter, found Slattery alone in the left slot area, and partially screened the Sabres’ goalie while Slattery buried the puck in the left side of the net.  The MSPers led 4-0.  Ryan Zuhlsdorf/Edina and Pete Sienko/Spring Lake Park got the assists.

After that goal, Team Northeast’s defense took over.  They stymied the Sabres’ offense until late in the period when an MSPer drew a 5-minute major.  Team Northeast went into their 4 player box in neutral ice and stopped the Sabres’ power play for the first two minutes before an MSPer forward got over anxious and tried to stop a Sabre breakout in the Sabre’s zone.  The Sabres moved the puck quickly through the neutral zone.  Ryan Norman scored the goal from the left slot area on a nice pass from Larry Jungwirth to end the scoring 5-1.  Jungwirth got the assist.

The Sabres’ loss hurts their chances to win the league title this year.  A two point win would have closed the gap on the league leading TCF Bankers to four points going into a key series in Lacrosse, WI this weekend.  Now the Sabres could fall off the chase for the title after this weekend’s play.

If they do, the race becomes a three-way race between the Bankers, the MSPers, and Team Wisconsin.

The MSPers are suddenly in a great position to take the top spot this weekend with a win over Wisconsin.  The Bankers will play two tough games against Wisconsin and Shattuck on the weekend.  Regardless of what happens at the Onalaska Omni, Team Northeast’s good play this week has put the MSPers squarely in the title chase.

Now the MSPers have to return to Shattuck for another game next Wednesday.