Note: YHH would like to bring the STA/Breck game to our readers but were informed by Breck's officials at the Duluth Marshall game that YHH would need permission to write the story in advance and that any story written has to be reviewed by Breck's officials before posting.  Breck considers their rink private property.  Cretin was a kind host at the game last night.  Both the arena management and Cretin officials sought ways to help YHH better report this story.  

Cretin Derham Hall is actually a St. Paul team.  The CDH campus occupies an area of St. Paul equal to six St. Paul City blocks that is roughly equal to the size of either St. Thomas, Hamline, Macalester, or Concordia universities all located in the city of St. Paul.  St. Catherine University (occupying 20 St. Paul city blocks) is larger.

The Raiders are playing in the Highland Arena this year.  CDH is playing out of the Highland Arena also known as the Charles M. Schultz Arena, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip.  Schultz is from Minnesota and learned to play hockey on the outdoor rinks of St. Paul.  He probably skated in games played on St. Paul’s outdoor rinks at Edgecomb, Groveland, and Langford.   In Schultz’s Peanut Comic Strip, he made Snoopy a hockey player.  When he became successful, he built his own rink in Santa Rosa, CA, and had his office built above the rink.  He drew most of his comic strips in that office watching people skating and hockey games being played.  It is fitting that an arena is St. Paul is named for him.

Pre-Game

The game last night was a key Suburban East Conference game that match conference leader, CDH (9-1-1 league record) against fourth place Stillwater Area (7-4-0).  Cretin had beaten the Ponies in early December 4-0, this game would be their second conference match.

The game was also a key match between a top Section 3AA team (Cretin Derham Hall currently rated #2 among 3AA teams with a 6-0-0 record against 3AA foes) and a top Section 4AA team (Stillwater Area rated #3 among 4AA teams) and the result will have some impact on the Class AA State Tournament seeding a month from now.

CDH is in a neck and neck battle with Eastview for the #1 seed to the Section 3AA playoffs.  St. Thomas Academy and Eagan are their nearest challengers.  The Cadets have only one game with a Section 3AA foe this season and that is next Tuesday’s game with CDH at Highland.  Eagan is 4-2-1 in Section 3AA (11-6-2 overall). 

The top two Raider scorers are both juniors; Nick Reis (27 points/17 goals) and Bret Hubner (24 points/6 goals).  Cretin’s outstanding senior defenseman, 6’4” Derek Olmschenk, is the Raider’s #4 scorer.  The Raiders and the Ponies rosters are dominated by seniors and juniors.  Last night, CDH suited 19 players, 8 seniors and 10 juniors.  The only underclassman on the Raiders’ bench was Ryan Smith, a sophomore.  The two Raider goalies, junior Trent Jancze and senior Alex Bailey, has split the CDH goaltending duties this year.  Last night Trent Jancze (8-1-1 record giving up an average of 2.1 goals a game while stopping 92% of the shots on goal) started for CDH.

For Stillwater, a win last night over Cretin Derham Hall was a must.  The Ponies trail both Hill-Murray and White Bear Lake in Section 4AA rankings and have posted a losing record this season (2-3) against 4AA foes.  A win over the Raiders would have a positive impact come Section 4AA seeding time.

Three of the Ponies’ games were played against Roseville (Ponies winning twice 4-0 and 2-1; losing once 4-3).  The other two 4AA games were losses to Mounds View 6-5 in overtime and to White Bear Lake 6-1.  Stillwater has both these teams left on their schedule.

The Ponies have two more Section 4AA foes to play this season besides the return matches with Mounds View and White Bear Lake.  A win over Cretin would really enhance their chances to get the #3 seed or higher.  Still the Ponies would need to beat Cretin, White Bear Lake, and Benilde-St. Margaret’s (in their season finale) to have a shot at getting  on of the top two seeds unless the top two teams start to struggle.  After last night, they are.

The Ponies suited 19 players last night.  Fifteen were upperclassmen (5 seniors and 10 juniors).  Four were sophomores.  The Ponies have a balanced offense with 7 players scoring 9 or more points this season.  Their top two scorers are seniors John Heddle (20 points/13 goals) and Mitch Reinke (16 points/3 goals).  

The Game

After an evenly played first period that ended in a 0-0 tie, Stillwater scored a shorthanded goal early in the second period to take a 1-0 lead into the third.  Cretin tied the game in the first minute of the third period. The Ponies came back to tie the game in four minutes later only to have the Raiders tie the game with 30 seconds left in regulation.  Two minutes into the overtime, Stillwater’s Brandon Jungmann picked up a loose puck along the left boards just inside Cretin’s blue line, cut to the face off circle and blasted a hard shot beating the Raider’s goalie for the win.

Period One

After a slow start in the opening period, Stillwater gained control of the puck in the Cretin zone and were successful in moving the puck, but not successful in finding the good shot.  The Raider’s defense is large (average height 6’2”) and physically bodied the smaller Stillwater forwards out of position.  The Hall gradually gained control of the play as the period progressed.  They started to beat the Ponies’ defense in neutral ice either carrying the puck along either boards or dumping the puck.

The last five minutes of the period, Cretin controlled much of the play in the Ponies’ zone.  The Cretin forwards tried to use their size advantage to set up shots in the slot area, playing the body in front of the Ponies net.  Stillwater’s defense collapsed to take away the open ice and the Raiders could not get the puck to the open areas along the blue line.  The first period ended in a 0-0 tie.  Stillwater outshot Cretin 7-5 in the first period.

Period Two

Ninety seconds into the second period, Stillwater drew a slashing penalty.  Twenty seconds later, the Ponies scored a shorthanded goal.  Stillwater’s Brandon Jungmann picked up a loose puck at the Ponies blue line and beat the Cretin defense coming down the slot.  Jungmann drew Cretin’s goalie, Jancze to the left center of the net with his stick and scored putting the puck mid-net into the right center to put the Ponies ahead 1-0.  Jack Manning got the assist.  It was a nice goal.

After Jungmann’s goal, the game became a mixed bag of play.  Part of the reason was six penalties were called, four on Stillwater.  Neither team could assert themselves as both teams’ defenses dominated the play.  Both teams had trouble moving the puck through neutral ice.  Stillwater’s defensemen kept quickly moving the puck out of their defensive corner, taking hits along the boards as they made the breakout plays.  This trapped the Cretin defense that tried to pinch low on the boards.

Still once in neutral ice with the puck, the Cretin forwards would stymie the Ponies attack.  The second period ended with Stillwater leading 1-0.  Shots on goal were even in the second period, each team had 9 shots.  Stillwater drew a penalty in the last thirty seconds of the period.  The period ended on an emotional note with the Hall on a 1:24 minute power play at the start of the third period. 

Period Three and Overtime

Forty seconds into the second period, the Raiders Max Jackson scored a power play goal.  Cretin Derham Hall established control in the Stillwater zone and worked the puck to Jackson at the right point.  Jackson put a hard one timer on net just pass Andrew Traxler’s tip attempt.  Traxler’s move was just enough to distract Josh Benson’s save attempt with his blocker.  The puck ended up in the right upper corner of the net to tie the game 1-1.  Bret Huebner and Andrew Traxler got the assists.

After that power play goal, the Ponies offense and defense started to click.  For the four minutes, the Ponies pressured the Hall in the Raider’s zone.  It led to an interference penalty and 4 seconds later to a power play goal.  It was simple and text book.  In a faceoff to Jancze’s right, the Ponies drew the puck back to the point to Stillwater’s Mitch Reinke.  Reinke moved to center blue line and put a quick shot on a partially screened Jancze for the power play goal.  Jungmann got the assist.  With 12 minutes left in the game, the Hall trailed 2-1.

With less than 3 minutes left in the game, the Hall still trailed 2-1.  Stillwater’s quickness had started to consistently beat the Raider’s forwards and defense.  At first CDH could not beat the Ponies in neutral ice.  For the next four minutes they chased the puck in their half of the rink, then both teams went through a slow down where each played the game as if they were holding on to their reserve energy.  With less than 3 minutes left in the game, the Hall’s big defense man, Olmschenk, took matters into his own hands.  He picked up the loose puck in his zone, beat the Stillwater defense on the left boards and put a shot on Benson.  Benson made the save with the puck bouncing to the right end boards.  Olmschenk picked up the loose puck and passed to a wing who rotated the puck to the right point.  Olmschenk immediately set a screen in the right slot after making the pass. 

Cretin’s Jackson tied the game with a hard shot from the right point beating Janzce in the upper right corner with Olmschenk waving his stick in front of Benson.  Chad Fleischman and Nick Reis got the assists.  Jackson’s goal put the game into overtime tied 2-2.  Two minutes into the overtime, Jungmann beat Cretin’s defense along the left boards and fired the winning goal past Jancze.  Stillwater won 3-2.

The Players

Section 4AA and Minnesota Hockey’s District 2 have nearly the same high schools and associations.  White Bear Lake (peewee AA/A teams), Stillwater (peewee AA/A teams), Roseville (peewee AA team), Tartan (peewee A team), Mounds View (peewee A team), and North St. Paul (peewee B1 team) are all skating in D2 this season; all of their high schools are in Section 4AA.

Eight players on the Ponies roster this season played for Stillwater’s 2009-2010 peewee A team that made the state 2010 peewee A tourney played at Faribault that year (goalie Josh Benson, Devin Cates, Johnny Heddle, Jack Manning, Zach Eder-Zdechlik, Jackson Cates, Gordy Harvieux, and Luke Hoffmann).  A ninth player from Stillwater’s peewee A team, Trent Jancze, started in goal for the Raiders last night.

The peewee A Ponies lost in 2010 to Eden Prairie 2-1 in the quarterfinals at Faribault.  The Eden Prairie peewees were led by goalie Jake Kielly and forwards Will Duda and Michael Graham).  Kielly is skating for Victory Honda’s Major Midget team this season playing in the Tier I Elite Hockey League.  Kielly has posted a 9-4-2 record giving up an average of 2.5 goals while stopping 92% of the shots on goal; Duda is a junior playing for Benilde-St. Magaret’s; and Graham is the third leading scorer for Eden Prairie.

What is next?

The Ponies continue play in the Suburban East with road games at Hastings and White Bear Lake.  The win over Cretin was needed and a great one for the Ponies at this point in the season.  Roseville’s game with Irondale to be played at the Roseville Ice Center (15 minutes from Highland) last night was postponed.  That helps Stillwater maintain at least #3 in 4AA.  Hill-Murray, #1 in 4AA, lost to St. Thomas Academy 4-2 last night.  White Bear Lake, #2 in 4AA, is on a three game losing streak and plays Hermantown at Hermantown tonight.  The Ponies could overtake both Hill-Murray and White Bear Lake before the season ends.

Cretin Derham Hall plays three Section 3AA foes this week, Park-Cottage Grove, St. Thomas Academy and Woodbury.  The Hall’s loss to Stillwater really cost the Raiders.  Eastview losing 4-1 to Lakeville North last night helps, but St. Thomas Academy’s win over the Hill, puts the Cadets in the driver seat with season running down.  The emphasis shifts for CDH to the St. Thomas Academy game played next Tuesday at Highland.

Tuesday’s game with Cretin will be the only Section 3AA foe the St. Thomas plays this season.  The Cadets have to play Breck (at Breck) this Saturday.  If they win that game and beat the Cadets, STA should sweep the rest of their regular season games and have a good case for Section 3AA’s #1 or #2 seed.

Section 3AA’s current #1 team’s, Eastview, schedule does not get any easier.  The Lightning have three straight home games, Woodbury tonight, Burnsville Saturday, and Apple Valley Tuesday.  All three will be tough, especially the Apple Valley game considering the rivalry between the two schools and the Eagles 2-1 loss to Duluth East on the same ice a week ago.

On Tuesday at Highland, the crowd should be packed in the Highland Arena for the Cretin Derham Hall/St. Thomas Academy game.   St. Thomas Academy should see a lot of pressure in that game.  Snoopy’s Home rink maybe in Santa Rosa CA. but his hockey playing heart lies in the confines of the Highland Arena and Cretin’s hockey team.  Just ask Charles Schultz.  After all, Cretin is a St. Paul team, all six blocks.