How do you establish an identity when nobody can pronounce or even spell your name correctly?  That is the problem the Bulldogs’ hockey high school team faces each year.  Their name is LSHSTPTCUC and their home arena is the LeSueur Community Center.  The team represents four high schools (Le Sueur-Henderson, St. Peters, Tri-City United, and Cleveland) and seven cities (Le Sueur, Henderson, St. Peters, Montgomery, Lonsdale, Le Center, and Cleveland) or as the team puts it “everything south of Shakopee”.

If one uses the official team name on the Minnesota State High School League site, the Bulldogs are officially called the LSHSPTCUC Bulldogs.  Got that?  That was their official name last year and it is their official name this year.  Few in the media use that name.  Media covering the Bulldogs have invented their own name.  Some label the Bulldogs Le Sueur-Henderson/St. Peter.  That name leaves out two high schools that participate on that team.  Some media label the team LSH/SP/TCU.  That leaves out one high school.  Others call the team St. Peter/L-H/TCU.  Still leaves out one high school.  At YHH, we call them the Bulldogs and we respectfully acknowledge all the schools and cities that participate.

2014-2015 LSHSPTCUC Bulldogs (16-8-2 last season)

This past summer, the rink at the Le Sueur Community Center started a renovation program.  One of the principle changes is that the elevated seating was moved from being elevated on the south side of the rink to rink side.  The change puts the fans right on top of the action on the ice instead of over the action.  It makes watching the Bulldogs more personal and with a veteran returning team, should get the crowd roaring.  That happened in Thursday’s season opener.

The Bulldogs have eight of their top ten scorers returning.  All top ten scorers posted 12 or more points playing 24 or less games last season.  The ‘Dogs top two scorers, senior Sam Wenner (64 points/27 goals) and junior Alex Hoehn (47 points/22 goals) averaged two plus goals in the 24 games they played.  Hoehn did not suit for Thursday’s game.  Returning forwards Brett Zallek (senior 28 points/12 goals), Isaac Westphal (sophomore 19 points/11 goals), Mac Malecha (senior 13 points/6 goals), Nathaniel Wenner (junior 12 points/6 goals), McCray Grams (junior), Jared Pudwil (senior), and Scott Crady (senior) complete a veteran Bulldog offense.

Five defensemen return from last year’s winning team led by seniors Jackson Keeley (13 points/7 goals) and Scott Crady (12 points/1 goal).  Two returnees, senior Keenan Burg and junior Avery Bachman are joined by newcomers to the varsity, junior Kallan Hudson and sophomore Brandan Pelowski.

Goaltender junior Zeke Haugen returns.  Haugen posted a 10-4-1 record for the Bulldogs in 2013-2014 giving up an average of 2.9 goals a game while stopping 88% of the shots on net.  Haugen is joined by senior Noah Weiers in the nets.  Haugen was in the nets for the game against Austin.

As a side note, Haugen, Sam Wenner, Alex Hoehn, Brett Zallek, Sam Gerdts, and Jackson Keeley played together on the St. Peter/Le Sueur peewee A team in 2009-2010.  That team advanced through the District 4 playoffs to play in the Peewee A South Regional at Maple Grove.  They lost tough game to New Prague in their opening game of regional pool play 4-3 in double overtime.  Last season, a New Prague Varsity team that included former Trojan peewee A’s Ben Witt and Alex Gregor won the Section 1A title and made it to the Class A State Tourney semifinals.  The New Prague peewees that year also included Tyler Jutting who played for Mankato West last season and is now playing defense for the Shattuck Prep team.

The St. Peter peewee A’s also lost to Wayzata’s peewee A team in that same regional tourney.  The Wayzata peewee A team that year featured Vaughan Ahrens (goalie for the Minnesota Magicians), Max Zimmer (committed to play for Wisconsin starting in 2017), Alex Stevens (Wayzata defenseman who was selected this past summer to try out for the USA U17 team), Matthew Freytag (playing this season for the USHL’s Tri-City Storm), and Rem Pitlick (playing for the USHL’s Waterloo Blackhawks and committed to play for Minnesota in 2016).  Nine of the Trojan’s peewee A team are now on the roster of the 2014-2015 Wayzata varsity team as the 2014-2015 season opens.

2014-2015 Austin Packers (3-22-1)

Austin struggled last season; but one of the three Packers’ wins was a 3-0 victory over the Bulldogs.  Austin plays in the Big 9 Conference that has grown this year to 12 teams with the addition of Northfield and Red Wing from the defunct Missota Conference.  The Packers will play an 18 game Big 9 schedule this season.  The Bulldog game Thursday was one of seven non-conference games the Packers will play.

Austin lost last year’s starting goalie, Connor Poczos, to the Kansas City Mavs Elite Midget Minor (U16) team.  If Poczos had returned he would be a junior playing goalie for the Packers.  That left a hole to be filled by returning senior Jacob Johnson (0-2-1 record giving up an average of 4.5 goals a game while stopping 82% of the shots on goal last season) and freshman Noah Bawek.  Johnson played Thursday against the Bulldogs.  Bawek is not new to YHH.  He was in the nets for the Austin peewee A team two years ago in a tourney at Faribault.  He played well then and looks to have improved.  It will be interesting to watch him play some future game as he matures.

Austin’s defense has been giving up an average of forty shots on goal per game.  In seven of the twenty three games that now gone goalie Poczos played in last season, he faced more than forty shots.  In the Packers’ 5-4 loss to Faribault in the Section 1A opening round, Poczos faced 49 shots.  A good goaltender will actually reduce the number of shots on goal simply by playing the puck well and controlling the rebound.  It helps build the defensive corps.

Fronting the Austin goalies will be a defense led by two returning seniors, Adam Maxfield and Sam Bennett.  Both defensemen were scorers for the Packers last season.  Maxfield was their #2 scorer and Bennett was their #8 scorer.  Juniors Jason Stoulil and Logan Kittridge and sophomores Tanner Hoban and Jace Greenman complete the Packer defense.  Stoulil and Greenman skated for the varsity last season.  Maxfield is a fun player to watch.  He has size, can skate, and knows the game.

Offensively, Austin returns six forwards including their #1 leading scorer senior Dan Larson and their #3 leading scorer senior Blake Halsey.  They are joined by seniors Trevor Stevens and Brandon Miller and juniors Kenny Ree and Dan Bolingberg.  The question this season for the Packers offense is can the veterans up their goal production.  Last season the team managed only 39 goals in 25 games.      

Game Summary

Period 1: Shaking the Rust

The first minutes of the opening period was a feeling out process for both teams.  The game had no flow; but the Bulldogs scored first off a rush that resulted in a rebound to the lower right crease.  After the initial shot, Brett Zallek barreled through the lower crease area between a Packer defenseman and goalie Jacob Johnson keeping the puck low in front of the crease for the trailing Bulldog forward, Isaac Westphal.  Westphal beat Johnson on a low shot to score the first goal of the season and give the ‘Dogs at 1-0 lead.    Mac Malecha and Zallek got the assists.

The rough start by both teams continued for the next few minutes until Austin pulled an interference penalty.  The Bulldogs gained puck control in the Packers’ zone and moved the puck around the perimeter, but a minute into the penalty the Bulldog defense man and the wing on the left side of the Packer zone let the puck slide loose.  Austin’s Jace Greenman picked up the loose puck and one timed a pass to a breaking Dan Larson now alone in neutral ice.  Larson beat the ‘Dogs defense to the Bulldog net, broke left and beat goalie Zeke Haugen on a top shelf shot into the upper left side of the net from the left crease.  The game was tied 1-1, Greenman got the assist.

The remainder of the period was dominated by a string of penalties that resulted in 5-on-4, 4-on-4, 4-on-3, 3-on-3, 5-on-3, and 5-on-4 penalty situations.  Both teams struggled with the power play, the penalty kill prevailed.  No more goals were scored, but as the period was ending, the Bulldogs drew a roughing penalty.  The 'Dogs would be on the penalty kill the first two minutes of the second period.

Period 2: Penalties

Austin had the edge in play in the first period, their forwards were quicker to the puck and played position well on the breakout.  Inside the Bulldog’s zone, however, the Packers slowed on their decision making and it often cost them the opportunity to score.  Maxfield showed he could move the puck through the Bulldog defense given an opening, but often had no play to make once in the ‘Dogs zone and was left with taking a hard shot on the net.

The Bulldogs’ forwards were rusty, their passes not hitting the mark, and they lost more races to the puck than they won.  Austin outshot the ‘Dogs 11-7 in the first.  Now on the penalty kill to open the second, Austin looked to build on the edge they had in the first period.

The Packers didn’t.  The Bulldogs killed the penalty and less than a minute later scored what turned out to be the winning goal.  The ‘Dogs established puck control in Austin’s zone and moved the puck around the perimeter of the net to defense man Avery Bachman at the right point.  Bachman put a quick shot on the Austin net beating the goalie to put the ‘Dogs up 2-1.  It was the game winning goal; Sam Wenner and Zallek got the assists.  But nobody was celebrating a win yet.

At that point of the second period, the game tempo picked up and both teams showed for a few minutes they could play the game well.  Then the Bulldogs drew a hooking penalty.  That set off a chain of penalties.  Eight of the last 13 minutes of the second period was played with players in the box.

Austin had pressure on the Bulldog net for most of their initial power play and forced Bulldog goalie Haugen to make some great stops.  Two minutes after failing to score on the power play, Austin drew a tripping penalty and killed that penalty.  With the tripping penalty about to be killed, Austin drew a needless unsportsmanlike conduct during a stoppage of play.  That set up the third Bulldogs’ goal.  With the faceoff in the Austin zone, the defense cleared the puck to the Bulldog end boards.  The Bulldogs turned the puck quickly hitting Sam Wenner with a pass bouncing off a Packer defender.  Wenner broke through along the left boards, skated into the left faceoff circle and beat Johnson on a high hard shot to put the ‘Dogs up 3-1.  The goal was unassisted.

Austin drew two more penalties as the second period ended.  The score remained 3-1; but the Packers would start the third period down two players for the first 40 seconds.  The ‘Dogs out shot the Packers 14-11 in the second period but Austin still held the edge in shots 22-21.

Period 3: Lost Packer Opportunities

Austin’s defense stepped up in the opening minutes of the third period.  They kept the ‘Dogs from generating any significant offense killing both the 5-on-3 and then the 5-on-4 penalties.  The Packer offense also stepped up the play and control of the game started to favor Austin.  Austin, by playing aggressively, drew two successive Bulldog penalties.  With a little under 13 minutes left in the game, the Packers would have nearly a two minute 5-on-3 power play and they trailed only by two goals, 3-1.

On the power play, Austin forwards moved the puck into the Bulldog’s zone and set up.  They moved the puck methodically, but the forwards would not pull the trigger.  They would see the opening and hesitate and by the time they made a play, the Bulldog defense would shut the opening down.  It left the Packer puck handlers along the board with no place to pass and the defense on the blue line simply returning the pass down low.

The Packers did not score on the 5-on-3 power play.  When the Bulldogs pulled two more penalties a few minutes later, the Packers had second shorter 5-on-3 power play.  This time, the Bulldogs kept the Packers from establishing control in the ‘Dogs’ zone and killed the penalty.

The score was still 3-1 with six minutes left in the game.  At that point, Austin drew two successive penalties setting up a Bulldog 5-on-3 power play.  The Packers killed the 5-on-3, but the Bulldogs scored their fourth goal on the 5-on-4.  The 'Dogs caught the Packers trying to transition into a four player penalty kill and got the puck down low in a melee at the edge of the crease.  The Bulldogs Mac Malecha picked up a rebounding puck and buried it in the back of the Austin net for the final score of the game.  Jackson Keeley and Bachman got the assists.  The LSHSTPTCUC Bulldogs won their opener 4-1 despite being outshot 34-33.

What is next?

The Bulldogs head for the Blue Mound Arena next Friday to play defending Section 3A champs, Luverne, in their first Big South Conference game ever.  The new Big South Conference consists of high schools that rely on District 4 hockey associations for players for their programs and for the first time in a number of years, District 4 has a bantam A and peewee A league.  Things are improving in the southwest area of the state.

The Bulldogs are the only high school team in the Big South with a non-District 4 association.  The ‘Dogs rely on St. Peter and Titans Youth Associations for players.  Both are in District 9.  The Bulldogs will be battling the Cardinals for the Big South title this year.  The 'Dogs will keep playing Big South conference games over the next two weeks.  They will play Worthington, Fairmont, and Windom Area and will be the favorite in each game.  But then the Bulldogs play a big Section 1A game with Mankato West in Mankato on December 11th.

Thursday’s game was an important win for the Bulldogs.  They had four losses against Section 1A foes last year.  Last year’s Section 1A losses to Austin and La Cresent caused the Bulldogs to drop in the seeding and was one reason Rochester Lourdes got the #3 seed after a Lourdes had a miserable losing season.  As a result, instead of playing Faribault at home in a quarterfinal game, the Bulldogs had to beat Mankato East and then play the #2 seed Mankato West in an away quarterfinal game that they lost to end last season.  The West game is a big one for the 'Dogs.  With New Prague and Mankato West losing key players through graduation and other means, the Bulldogs have a chance to move up and could catch a break and have Rochester Lourdes playing them at Le Sueur Community Center in a Section 1A quarterfinal game next March.

Austin packed three Big 9 games into their schedule before the Thanksgiving Holidays playing Winona, Mankato West (in a rare Sunday game?), and Faribault.  Austin’s defense played well and their offense controlled the game play for long periods of times in the first half of the game; but penalties kept the Packers from establishing a game flow and they played to cautiously on the power play.  Still the Packers should improve over the season and move up in the Section 1A seeds and in Big 9 Conference play this year.