Tartan put pressure on the New Richmond defense from the opening minutes of play in the first period.  The Titan’s defense slowed the Tiger’s on the breakout but the Titan forwards were just a step faster in the corners.  Still, it was the Tiger’s defense led by goalie Jake Erikson that shinned stemming the Titan’s attack for much of the first period.

Tartan drew a tripping penalty four minutes into the first period.  After New Richmond set up in the Titan’s zone, the Titan’s forwards managed to knock the puck loose at their blue line.  Tartan’s Sam Lindahl picked up the puck in the neutral zone and beat the Tiger’s defense.  Skating down the right slot, Lindahl beat the Tiger’s Erikson on a hard shot dead on to the goal to put the Titans up 1-0.  Luke Martin and Dalton Reither got the assists.

Ninety seconds later, the Titan’s Robert Veitch tipped in a pass from the left side blue line.  Veitch was in the low right side, playing the weak side, beating Erikson’s sliding save attempt.  The Titan’s led 2-0 after the first six minutes of the period.

Tartan held New Richmond in the Tiger’s zone, continually pressuring the Tiger’s outlet passes by swinging a forward into the breakout player while simultaneously bringing the defenseman in from the blue.  The play slowed the Tiger’s breakout play by causing him to hold on to the puck slightly longer than normal.  It resulted in intercepted passes inside the Tiger’s blue line and led to numerous Titan counterattacks.

But the Tiger’s goalie Erikson zeroed Tartan out for the rest of the period.  New Richmond was out shot 19-3 in the period, but it wasn’t a game where Titans dominated, more a game where the Tigers could never covert the opportunities they had.

Both teams upped the tempo in the opening minutes of the second period.  Tartan started to lose control of the puck in the Tiger’s zone and the Tiger’s started to hit on odd man rushes.  Neither team could score.  The Titan defense really played well closing the New Richmond forwards down once inside the Tartan’s zone.  They cutoff a number of New Richmond shots on net.

At the 6 minute mark, leading 2-0, Tartan’s Anthony Hurley hustled his way to a Titan’s score.  It was a key play.  Trailing a Tiger defense on a solo rush to the net, Hurley managed to get to the puck rolling in front of him and the Tiger defender.  Hurley got his body between the defender and the puck.  He put the puck in the net for a 3-0 Tartan lead beating Erikson’s poke check attempt.  It was an unassisted score.

It was the only score of the second period.  Again the Titans outshot the Tigers by a wide margin in the second period, 15-4.

The third period opened with Tartan leading 3-0.  The ice had been cleaned, but as happens so often at youth games, both teams were slow out of the locker room.

It resulted in sort of play with no real focus.  Both teams returned to a wide open offensive style of play in the opening minutes of the third period.  Both teams could move the puck.  The Tigers could not beat the Titan defenders for the good shot.

Gradually as play progressed in the third, the Titans started beating the tiring Tigers defense often ending up in solo shots at the goalie.  Erickson stopped 16 of 17 shots on goal for the period.

The one goal the Titans got came at the 6 minute mark.  Tartan’s Luke Mountain scored the goal.  He came up with the loose puck on the left side, skated to the top of the left face off circle and blistered a shot on the net that beat Erikson.  Mountain’s goal ended the scoring 4-0.

Erikson ended up stopping 50 of 54 shots on the net (YHH count).

New Richmond’s team is a product of USA Hockey’s Tier II system, but it is more the product of an imaginative approach taken by New Richmond’s association to find a way for their program to compete cost effectively (in money and time).  They did so by bridging Minnesota Hockey with WAHA/USA Hockey finding a niche that fits their association best.

There is nothing wrong with that; the Tigers are trying to grow the sport and they are dealing with the cards they have been dealt.  And their approach is not the same as that taken by the Superior, WI association.  The Superior Association’s circumstances are different.

New Richmond plays a Wisconsin schedule as well as playing in D2 and their team last year was officially a USA Bantam 98 Tier 2 team for the 2012-2013 season.  This year, New Richmond was designated a USA Bantam 99 Tier 2 team.  For both years, the Tigers played what some call major hockey (as opposed to minor hockey).

Association hockey generally means players come from a local area.  The players on the New Richmond Bantam A team come from the New Richmond area just as players on other D2 teams come from their local area.  That sets up a potentially interesting end of January for District 2 when the Tigers play the White Bear Lake Bantam AA and A teams within one week.

It will contrast Minnesota Hockey’s two year development approach with USA Hockey’s birth year approach.

The Bears have 9 returnees on their AA team; New Richmond has 11 returnees.  Essentially, both teams are loaded with second year players that have played at the highest competitive level they could have in the 2012-2013 season.  None of the players from White Bear Lake’s B1 team last year that played in the Edina tourney are on the the Bears bantam AA team.

The White Bear Lake Bantam A team has six players from last year’s B1 team that lost 2-1 to the Tigers in the Edina tourney semifinal game last New Year’s Day.  Logic would say that the Tigers beat the Bear’s A’s and lose to the Bear’s AA’s.

Regardless of the outcome, the New Richmond bantam A team is an interesting team to watch.  They will be playing in the Edina Bantam A tourney again over the Christmas/New Year’s Holiday week.