Team Walser took a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period and held on to that lead for the rest of the game to advance to the championship beating Milwaukee 3-2.  But the key to the Walser victory was the play of goalie Noah Hanson.  Hanson stopped 35 of the 37 shots officially.  YHH count had Hanson stopping 51 of 53 shots.  The Walser forwards shot 22 times at the Milwaukee net putting three into the goal, scoring one goal in each period.

Cody Carlson scored Walser’s opening goal with Andrew Stoneman getting the assist to put Walser in lead 1-0.  It was a lead that Walser would never give up.  Team Milwaukee had the better play in the first period, putting 13 shots on the Walser goal.  But they couldn’t quite beat the Walser defense men and when they did, Walser’s goalie Noah Hanson was there to make the save.

It was the pattern of play for the game and as Team Milwaukee wore down the Walser defenders, Hanson’s play became stronger denying Team Milwaukee time and time again.  The first period ended with Walser leading 1-0.

Team Milwaukee came out of the locker room storming Team Walser’s net.  They moved the puck well, but were still slowed by the Walser defense.  Halfway through the second period, a tough Walser shot resulted in a soft rebound to the left side of the net.  Walser forward, Matthew Howard, picked up the loose puck and drifting away from the net fired a hard shot that beat Team Milwaukee’s goalie.  Walser led 2-0.  Jack Bailey got the assist.

Walser’s two goal lead lasted less than two minutes as Milwaukee continued the attack.  When a strong Milwaukee shot from the right side of the Walser goal resulted in a rebound into the slot area, Milwaukee’s Carson Caponi picked up the loose puck and beat Hanson on a quick hard shot to cut the lead to 2-1.  Brock Baker got the assist.

Milwaukee continued to work the puck well in the offensive zone for the rest of the second period, moving the puck around the perimeter to gain good scoring opportunites.  With Walser’s defense men starting to slow against the bigger Milwaukee forwards, Hanson started to pick up steam.  Like an old steam locomotive pulling out of a train depot, Hanson was playing stronger and stronger as the second period ended.  He was becoming the story.

In the first four minutes of the third period, Walser manage to turn the pressure, bottling Milwaukee in Milwaukee’s zone and trapping the Milwaukee’s line while making a successful line change.   Walser’s good play resulted in fresh legs against a tiring Milwaukee defense.  Scott Moyer scored what turned out to be the game winning goal with Aaron Fenkel and Justin Bohlig getting the assists.  That goal put Walser up 3-1.

It took Team Milwaukee six minutes to cut the lead to 3-2 and get back into the game.  Milwaukee’s Spencer Weisgram scored a weak side goal from the left side over the outstretched diving Hanson.  Kyler Kleven and Jay Bucholz got assists on Weisgram’s goal.

Team Milwaukee upped the tempo after that score and held the Walsers in the Walser zone.  When, with three minutes left in the game, a Walser defense man drew a hooking penalty, things looked tough for the Blue.  But their defense men came through on the penalty kill clearing the puck and keeping pressure off Hanson as the game clock wound down.  Out of frustration, Team Milwaukee drew a roughing penalty in the last minute of play and a few seconds later, drew a second penalty for fighting with a game misconduct.  The game ended with Team Walser on a two man advantage power play.

Thunder Bay took a 1-0 lead at the end of the first, built a 2-0 lead and then gave up two power play goals halfway through the second period, letting the Fire tie the game 2-2 at the end of two periods.  The Thunder’s first period goal was scored on a penalty shot.  The Fire took a 3-2 lead in the first minute of the third period.  The Thunder came back to tie the game at the five minute mark only to lose the game 5-3 by giving up two quick goals in the minute following their tying score.

Jacob Antonen scored the penalty shot in the first period to put the Thunder up 1-0.  Antonen scored his second goal at the four minute mark of the second period to add to the Thunder lead 2-0.  Thomas Michaud assisted Antonen on the second goal.

Dru Senich scored the Fire’s first power play goal in the second period to cut the Thunder lead to 2-1.  The goal was unassisted.  Sam Scott got the second power play goal to tie the game 2-2.  Max Plunkett got the assist.

Aiden Bachand scored in the opening minutes of the third period to put the Fire up 3-2; Plunkett got the assist.  At the five minute mark, the Thunder’s Nicholas Dangelo tied the game 3-3 with Nicholas Fazzari and Tateum Cava getting the assists.

Aiden Bachand scored the game winner thirty seconds later with Michael Lilya getting the assist.  Fire led 4-3.  Grant Sorensen scored the insurance goal a minute later to end the scoring 5-3.  Punkett and  Logan Loiselie got the assists.  It was Punkett’s third assist of the game.

Both Team Walser and the Rapid Fire Black came into the USA International Cup 2000 Championship game with blemished records.  Team Walser were tied by the Minnesota Wisconsin Elites 4-4 and the Finlandia Hockey Club 4-4 in pool play.  The Rapid Fire Black had tied Thunder Bay Thunder 2-2 in pool play.

The championship game was evenly played in the first period and ended in a 0-0 tie.  The second period was all Team Walser.  They scored five straight goals to take a 5-0 lead.  Walser’s Aaron Frenkel scored the first goal of the game in the first minute of the second period.  Garret Runyon got the assist.  The Fire’s Max Punkett scored unassisted in the last 10 seconds of the second period to cut the Walser lead to 5-1.  Walser added a third period goal to win 6-1.

Walser controlled the play for most of the first period, holding the Fire in the Fire zone, but Walser could not beat the Fire’s goalie Tommy Higgins.  The Rapid Fire Black had their chances to score in the first period when their forwards would break the Walser pressure and turn the breakout into rushes on the Walser goal.  But Fire forwards could not beat Walser’s goalie Conan Hayton.  The first period ended in a 0-0 tie.

Walser’s Aaron Frenkel scored the opening goal in the first minute of the second period putting the puck in the net off a face off to put Walser up 1-0.  Garret Runyon got the assist.  Runyon scored Walser’s second goal four minutes later to put Walser up 2-0.  Cody Carlson got the assist.

For most of the second period, the two teams battled with nobody scoring.  With less than three minutes left on the clock and the score still 2-0, Walser’s Ben Johnson scored on a penalty shot to put Team Walser up 3-0.  Two more quick Walser goals followed in the next minute of play.  Andrew Stoneman scored the fourth goal with Carlson and Austin Baker getting the assists.  Frenkel and Runyon combined again to put Walser up 5-0 twenty seconds later.  Frenkel got the goal, Runyon the assist.

The Fire finally got on the board with less than 10 seconds remaining in the second period when Max Punkett scored unassisted.  When the dust had settled and the second period ended Team Walser leading 5-1.  They had locked up the 2013 USA International Cup championship.

Frenkel scored the only third period goal for Walser.  It was unassisted and scored five minutes into the period.  That was Frenkel’s third goal of the game for the hat trick.  Runyon ended the game with a goal and two assists.  The shots on goal were fairly even, Team Walser had 24 and the Fire has 18.

Walser’s Andrew Stoneman and Team Milwaukee’s Brock Baker ended up tying for the most point scored in the tourney (12 pts each).  Team Milwaukee dominated the 2000 scoring leader board placing four players in the top 6 (Jay Bucholz, Kyler Kleven and Landon Overbo besides Baker).  Team Milwaukee’s goalie Brock Herrick led the 2000’s goalie states with a 5-1 record.

The top point getter at the tourney was Cameron Berg from the Minnkota Nationals 2002 team.  Berg put 22 points on the scoreboard.  Omaha Tropics 2001 goalie Hudson Hopper scored the most wins of any goalie in the tourney posting a 6-0 record with a 2.31 GAA.

 The USA International Cup tourney has been played annually in June at the Super Rink.  Last week’s youth tourney consisted of six tourneys for boys and girls borne in the six years ranging from 1999-2004.  It was the third boys oriented tourney played in June; two other tourneys for older boys were completed earlier this month.  This really a youth tourney.  Youth is a recognized hockey term that means boys and girls can play (usually on the same team) in the tourney.

At the end of July, the Super Rink hosts a girls (meaning only girls can play) U16, U19 Tier I and Tier II tourney as defined by USA Hockey.  YHH will cover those games.  Last year’s coverage can be read elsewhere on this site.