2014-2015 Chaska/Chanhassen (Last season 17-9-1)

After winning their first three games of the season, the Storm Hawks lost a tough 4-3 game to defending Class A Champions Blake in a home game played last Saturday.  Last year, playing in the now defunct Missota Conference, Chaska/Chanhassen finished second in the league behind Red Wing.  The Storm Hawks play in the new Metro West Conference this season, but the CC’s remain in Section 2AA this year along with Edina.  The early season game with Edina will affect the how the coaches vote on Section 2AA seeds next February.  The Storm Hawks have beaten one Section 2AA already this season beating Holy Family Catholic/Waconia 4-2 in their opening game of the season.

Last season, the Storm Hawks posted a 3-1 Section 2AA record, drew the #4 Section 2AA seed; beat Holy Family Catholic/Waconia 4-2 in the first game, but lost to Eden Prairie the #1 seed 4-3.  This season, the Storm Hawks will play five Section 2AA games that will determine sectional seeds.  Besides playing Holy Family Catholic/Waconia and Edina, the CC’s will play Eden Prairie and new Metro West foe Jefferson/Kennedy twice.

Offensively, the Storm Hawks return their 7 of their top 10 scorers including leading scorer sophomore Lydia Passolt (40 points/18 goals), #2 scorer junior Sofia Poiner (28 points/9 goals), and #3 junior Molly Wise (22 points/14 goals).  Still, last year’s CC’s averaged only slightly over three goals a game.  This year they are averaging five goals a game in their first four games.  The argument can made that the Storm Hawks’ offense is still a year from performing at top speed.  Despite have seven returning players, the offense is anchored by sophomores and juniors.  That part of the CC’s story will unfold next January.

Defensively the Storm Hawks skate five seniors and two sophomores this year.  The defensive corps is led by the Storm Hawks #5 scorer senior Megan Hinze (18 points/7 goals) and senior Morgan Tentis.  Last year, the Hawks defense held their opponents to 2.4 goals per game in regular season.  This year, they have held their four opponents to seven goals in their first four games.

As a sophomore last year, goalie Bailey Jackson, posted a 6-3-1 record for the CC’s giving up 2.2 goals per game while stopping 91% of the shots on goal.  Jackson has been in the nets for the Storm Hawks the three of the first four games this season posting a 2-1 record and started Tuesday’s game.  Sophomore goalie Erica Peterson posted a shutout (6-0 over North St. Paul) in her only start of the season.

2014-2015 Edina (last season 17-8-3)

The Hornets opened their season with three solid wins over Armstrong/Cooper, Lakeville North, and Stillwater.  With Roseau and Warroad playing at Braemar this weekend, the Hornets had to stay focused playing a Chaska team Tuesday they had not seen on the ice in game conditions for two plus seasons.  The Hornets have a solid offense, a solid defense, and good goaltending.  But this season, the offense is built around the Hornets’ returning leading scorer and one of the top players in the state, Taylor Williamson (42 points/26 goals) and a returning veteran from last season’s varsity team ninth grader Emily Oden (22 points/9 goals).  After that, the offense falls to senior Kate Murney, sophomores Sophia Slattery and Anna Klein, ninth grader Lolita Fidler, and the Edina defense (four Hornet defensive corps are among the Hornets top 10 scorers going Tuesday’s game).

Defense sophomore Grace Bowlby (Hornets #5 scorer last season with 17 points/4 goals) and ninth grader Eva Hendrickson are the Hornets #2 and #3 scorers in this early season.  Senior defender’s Emma Schatz and Paige Reno are also in the top ten.  The defensive corps fronts senior goalie Shannon Peterson and sophomore goalie Anna Goldstein.  Shannon has started the last two games going into Tuesday’s game.  Goldstein posted a 3-4-1 record as ninth grader for the Hornet varsity.

Period 1: Storm Hawk experience wins the period

Edina opened the period playing position and moving the puck.  Chaska/Chanhassen showed their experience holding their positions whenever the puck was in the CC’s half of the ice.  As a result Edina was getting the puck deep into the Chaska zone, but the Storm Hawks were constantly turning the puck deep, but struggling on their breakout.  

Edina’s defense kept a good spacing whenever the Hawk forward would handle the puck along the boards to set up a breakout play.  The good spacing slowed the Storm Hawks’ play.  That let an Edina back checker fill the passing lane and turn the puck.  It resulted in pressure in the opening minutes as the Hornets kept the puck in the Storm Hawks’ zone.  The pressure led to the first Hornet goal two minutes into the opening period.

The Hornets’ Katie Murney scored off a melee in front on the Storm Hawks’ net.  The puck ended up trickling through the Storm Hawks’ goalie Bailey Jackson’s pad rolling through the crease into the net.  Lolita Fidler and Taylor Williamson got the assists.  Edina led 1-0.

After that score, the CC’s did not fall to the temptation of trying to outskate Edina.  Instead they maintained their discipline and kept their positions.  It resulted in the Storm Hawks starting to succeed in the breakout, but not being able to beat the Edina defense at the Hornets blue line.  For the next four minutes of play, the two teams’ defense controlled the play.  With six minutes gone in the opening period, the Storm Hawks beat the Edina defense and carried the puck into the Hornets’ zone.  They caught the Edina defense backing low.  Chaska’s Lydia Passolt ended up with the puck at the top of the right slot, skated left and drilled a shot from the left face circle beating Edina’s goalie Shannon Peterson.  Passolt’s goal tied the game 1-1.  Sofia Poinar and Mollie Wise got the assists.

With the score tied 1-1, play opened up and the overall tempo increased.  The Storm Hawks maintained their discipline as they increased their speed.  They needed to, Edina started to gain game control as Williamson’s and Emily Oden’s lines started to dominate play.  Nine minutes into the period, Edina drew the first penalty of the game, a trip.  The Hornets killed the penalty, but before Edina could transition to a 5-on-5 game, the Storm Hawks’ Passolt, Poinar, and Wise line struck.  They continued to move the puck controlling the play in the Hornets’ zone and putting the shots on net until Chaska’s Poinar picked up a rebounding puck at the top of the crease and beat Peterson on a quick shot to give the Storm Hawks a 2-1 lead.  Passolt and Wise got the assists.

The remaining six minutes of the period saw the action return to the CC zone triggered in part by a Storm Hawk penalty less than a minute after taking the lead.  The Storm Hawks were still holding position, but were starting to scramble a little.  The defense low in their zone slowed slightly on their decision making and the Storm Hawks’ wing and center started to edge closer to the Storm Hawk puck handler.  It resulted in some tough stops by CC goalie Jackson and it resulted in Edina outshooting the CC’s 14-9 in the opening period.

Period 2: The bench position matters

The Storm Hawks tried to return to the steady play that they had used in the opening period.  The Hornets came out with the early pressure.  The CC team played as if they expected it.  But with the teams swapping goals for the second period, the Storm Hawks’ goal in now on the opposite end of the ice from their bench and in front of the Edina bench.  Any team playing a Hornet team in the second period of a game, the bench position matters.  And the Hornets played to that by avoiding the random shot on the net, working on keeping the puck deep in the Storm Hawks’ zone, and going for only good shots.  The result is that the Storm Hawks could not easily change lines.  More than once, the Hornets succeeded in holding the CC’s in the Storm Hawk zone while the Hornets changed their line putting a fresh line out against a tiring CC defense.  Tiring from facing the pressure, the Storm Hawks started to abandon their position style of play looking to create stoppages to change their line.

The CC’s managed to keep the Hornets off the scoreboard for the opening minutes, but with six minutes gone in the second period, the Storm Hawks drew a penalty.  For the first ninety seconds of the Edina power play, the Hornets bottled up the puck in the Chaska zone pressuring the Storm Hawk defense and forcing Jackson to make some tough saves.  With thirty seconds left in the penalty, the CC’s finally got a stoppage.  Edina sent Williamson’s line out to take the faceoff.  The Williamson line controlled the play down low beating the defense to the Storm Hawk net and pounding on Jackson trying to drive the puck into the goal.  They succeeded in getting Jackson down on the ice as the puck rebounded to the right side to Williamson.  Taylor Williamson buried the puck into the net over the prone goalie to score unassisted on a power play and to tie the game 2-2.

Thirty seconds after tying the game, the Hornets drew a roughing penalty.  They were killing the penalty easily when they drew a second penalty as a result of hooking a breaking Storm Hawk after she had beat the defense.  The Storm Hawks had a better power play on the second Edina penalty.  They beat the Edina penalty killers when the Hornets tried to turn the play back at the Edina blue line.  Still the CC’s could not score.  But the penalties eased the pressure on the Chaska/Chanhassen team.  The second period ended in a 2-2 tie.

Period 3: Williamson and Oden take control

The first minute of play in the third period, Chaska/Chanhassen played position, but before they could establish any flow to their game, the Storm Hawks drew a hooking penalty.  The defense, playing in front of the CC bench, had a decent penalty kill.  For the first ninety seconds they controlled the puck enough to force Edina out of Storm Hawk zone.  It was then that the Hornets’ Emily Oden made the key play of the game.  Oden got the game winner on a power play three minutes into the period.  She beat the defense breaking right across the Storm Hawk’s blue line.  Oden cut to the top of the crease and using her strength to maintain control slid the puck between Jackson's pads for the score.  Edina led 3-2.  Anna Klein got the assist.

Oden’s second goal broke the game open.  She scored four minutes later with Sophie Slattery and Anna Rusk getting the assists.  Trailing 4-2, the Strom Hawks started to force the play trying to be more aggressive on the offense, but simply good not beat an Edina defense content to drive the breaking forwards wide in the Hornet’s zone and tying up the play at the top of the crease.  The Hornets’ Williamson and Fidler took advantage of the Hawks’ aggressive play and combined to score twice in the last half of the third period as the Hornets pulled away to a 6-2 win.  With five minutes left in the game, Williamson scored.  Fidler got the assist.  In the last minute of the game, Fidler scored.  Williamson and Murney got the assist.  Williamson posted four points (two goals) in the game; Fidler ended the game with a goal and two assists.  Edina outshot the Storm Hawks 19-3 in the third period.

What is next?

Edina hosts Warroad and Roseau on the weekend.  The Hornets then play Breck, Rosemount, Hill-Murray, Dodge County, and Minnetonka in the next three weeks.  The Breck game, played Saturday November 27 at Braemar is the game to see matching Grace Zumwinkle’s line of 44’s against Williamson and Oden.  Tuesday, Breck (5-0) beat South St. Paul 6-1 giving up their first goal of the season.  Edina plays three Section 2AA games this season.  Besides Chaska/Chanhassen, the Hornets have two Lake Conference games with Eden Prairie.  Those two games will likely determine Section 2AA’s #1 seed.    

Chaska/Chanhassen plays Minnetonka, Breck, Hudson WI, Mound Westonka, and New Ulm over the same time period before playing their nemesis and rival Eden Prairie.  Eden Prairie beat Hill-Murray Tuesday 4-3 in the Hill’s opening game of the season.  The Storm Hawks’ game with Breck next Tuesday will test the CC’s again, but they need to beat Eden Prairie and Jefferson twice to get the #2 or #3 Section 2AA seed next February.  Early games count.