Period 1: Bears attack, Scobee holds and Zumwinkle scores    

The game opened with a change.  Breck’s line of “44’s” (Grace Zumwinkle #4, Gabby Billing #14, and Leah Schwartzman #44) was gone, at least for the game.  Billing was moved to center a line with Cheyenne Harris and Kenndall Williamson.  Amanda Navratil (#16) took Billing’s place on the “44’s”.  Blake would counter with a Bear line of high scorers, Carly Bullock, Karlie Lund and Jordan Chancellor.  Both Breck and Blake’s top lines had good games and at times the Breck’s line with Billing at center created havoc against the Blake defense.  In the end, the game came down to a battle of the scoring leaders, Breck’s Grace Zumwinkle and Blake’s Carly Bullock.

Bullock’s line did not take the first period opening faceoff.  They came off bench 90 seconds into the game and put the Breck defense into a box in front of their net and pressured the Breck breakout in the corners.  The move to have Bullock's line come off the bench worked as the Bear forwards succeeded in getting low for some open shots on Breck goalie Sydney Scobee forcing the Mustang goaltender came up with some good saves in a hectic first few minutes of play..  But a Blake interference penalty ended the Bears’ attack and Breck went on the offensive.  

Breck brought tremendous pressure to Blake on the first power play working the puck low and attacking from the edge of the crease as the puck rebounded around Blake goalie Kruesel.  Blake’s defense held and killed the penalty, but Kruesel had to make some tough stops.  The teams played evenly over the next four minutes with the Bears gradually asserting themselves in the offense zone by cycling (moving in a circular pattern passing the puck usually to a trailing player while looking for a scoring opportunity).  Blake executed their cycling fast and with quick passing that kept the Breck defense turning.  To Breck’s credit the defense always managed to get a piece of a Blake forward trying to move into the crease area on an attack, but had problems breaking up the cycling.  Breck’s goalie Scobee had to stop some tough close in shots.

Play was going Blake's way and it got better when Breck drew a slashing penalty.  Halfway through the first period, Blake went on the power play.  The Bears applied pressure initially but relaxed retrieving a puck behind their net.  Against Breck and the Zumwinkles, that is a bad thing.  A Bear tried to hit a wing along the left boards at the Blake blue line, but the puck was turned by Breck’s Anna Zumwinkle.  She intercepted the pass and quickly hit Grace Zumwinkle waiting at the right crease.  Grace one-timed the puck to beat Kruesel for the first score.  Anna Zumwinkle got the assist.

Breck killed the rest of the slashing penalty and drew two more penalties in the period.  Blake continued to move the puck well, but could not score.  The period ended with Breck leading 1-0.  Blake outshot Breck 12-7 in the first period.

Period 2: Blake’s offense slows and Zumwinkle scores.

Blake’s forwards slowed slightly in the second period.  They still controlled play on the ice and outshot the Mustangs 11-9, but the game took a different turn.  Blake opened the period on the power play and for the first minute failed to do much with the puck.  Breck killed the power play and when Blake drew a slash a minute later, the Mustangs went on the offense.  They brought pressure on the Bears goal and had Blake's defense starting to scramble.  But Blake killed the power play and with 12 minutes left to go in the second period, the game settled down.  Breck would have some more scoring chances in the remainder of the second period but could not convert chances into goals.

Blake had opportunities also.  They would work the puck into the Breck zone, but their puck handling slowed slightly in positioning for shots.  They were more indecisive then they had been.  Blake had opportunities if they moved the puck as they had in the first period, but hanging onto the puck that extra split second allowed the Mustang defense to stop the Bears’ shots.

Then Grace Zumwinkle struck.  With less than four minutes left in the period, Grace Zumwinkle broke free from the Bears defense along the right boards in the neutral zone.  Grace hit the Blake blue line in full stride along the right boards and moved slightly in to put the Blake defender on her hip as she skated into Blake's zone.  She skated low keeping the puck to the outside and cut sligthly at the lower right faceoff circle leaving the Bear defender behind positioning herself to shot at the short side right or break across the top of the crease left.  A slight move left opened some space on the short side between the goalie and the pipe.  As Zumwinkle hit the top of the right crease, instead of driving across the crease for a shot, she slowed and fired the puck into the short side high to put Breck up 2-0.  Nicloe Oppenheimer and Claire Mancheski got the assists.

The period ended with Breck leading 2-0.  Blake looked beaten coming off the ice, Breck looked like they were on their way to an easy win.

Period 3: Lightning Strikes on the Faceoff

The key play in the game came at the opening faceoff of the third period.  Blake trailing 2-0, send out a line consisting of ninth grader Sarah Chute, sophomore Lucy Burton, and ninth grader Sara McClanahan to take the faceoff against Breck’s top line.  The three took the face off, carried the puck wide into the Breck zone where McClanahan on the right hit Burton in the left face off circle with a pass.  Burton took the pass in stride at the top of the left face off circle, took one stride and buried the puck beating Scobee with a high shot to the left side.  It was the Bears’ 24th shot on net and cut Breck’s lead to 2-1.  McClanahan goot the assist.  That goal opened the dam.  Blake had broken through.

Blake was back to cycling the puck and applying pressure on the Breck goal.  They did that for the next two minutes until the Bears drew a holding penalty.  Six seconds into Breck’s power play, the Mustangs drew a tripping.  There would be nearly two minutes of 4-on-4 hockey.  Both teams had good shots during the 4-on-4, but couldn’t score.  A minute after the penalties expired, Breck drew a trip.  Blake was back on the power play.

The Bears set up in Breck’s zone and worked the puck around the perimeter for the first minute of their power play.  They worked the puck to the lower right side and took a shot from the slot with Blake’s Karlie Lund picking up the rebound ten feet from the Breck goal on the right side of the crease.  Lund took a stride to the Breck goal and fired the shot.  Scobee made the stop, but the puck rebounded back to the right in front of Lund.  Lund put the second shot in the back of the goal to tie the game 2-2.  Carly Bullock and Madeline Wethington got the assists.  A minute later, Blake drew a penalty.

Breck, on the power play, moved the puck into the Bear zone only to have it picked off and passed to a breaking Jordan Chancellor.  Chancellor beat the Mustang defense skating down the slot, cut across the net to the right and slid the puck into the net past the Scobee for the game winner.  Grace Voita got the assist on the shorthanded goal.  Blake killed the remainder of the power play and playing even strength went into a defensive mode keeping the Breck team wide and not forcing action low in the Breck zone.  Breck had some chances to tie the score with the best opportunities generated by Billings’ line.  The game ended with Blake winning round one (of three rounds) 3-2.  Round 2 of the 2014-2015 season will be played Tuesday Jan 20th at Breck.

What is next?

Both Breck and Blake are young teams.  Each team has just three seniors on their roster this year.  Blake is the younger of the two young teams.  The Bears have nine players that are in the ninth grade, eighth grade, or the seventh grade (1).  They have five juniors and three sophomores on their roster.  Breck has eight juniors on their roster; five sophomores, one ninth grader and one eighth grader on their roster.  These two teams will be fun to watch over the next few seasons.

Blake is off for the rest of December.  They do not play again until they play a tough Hill-Murray team Jan 1st.  Breck has two tough December games left, Red Wing and #10 ranked Lakeville South before they open play in the Edina Tourney December 29th against Hopkins.