New Ulm has made six straight Class A state tourney appearances in the last six years and the Eagles (14-5-0) are on a path this year to return to the Xcel for their seventh straight appearance.  In past six appearances, New Ulm has lost their quarterfinal game.  They are on a path this year to end that streak.  They are an unbeaten 10-0 in the Big South Conference this year dominated their Big South opponents outscoring them 109 to 6.  Against non-conference foes, the Eagles are 4-5 this season losing to Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato twice, Chaska/Chanhassen, Dodge County, and St. Cloud.  In the nets Thursday night was freshman Karlie Ries.  Ries has been a mainstay in goal for the Eagles posting a 7-6-0 record giving up 2.8 goals a game while stopping 90% of the shot on goal.  Ries was a YHH top 50 peewee A pick in 2013.

The non-conference game between New Ulm and Burnsville was played at the Burnsville Ice Arena.  The Blaze (7-12-1) have been up and down as a team, playing well enough to contend in Section 3AA, but struggling at times offensively.  Thursday’s game on the ice would match two teams with two different objectives.  New Ulm needed to skate well in part to test themselves for a tough opening quarterfinal match in the Class A tourney against most likely Proctor/Hermantown, a team that Burnsville lost to 3-1 over the holidays.  The Blaze needed to get their offense rolling.  Their defense has played well enough, but the Blaze forwards have scored only 31 goals in 19 games.

Period 1: A tip and a lost opportunity

For 12 plus minutes, the New Ulm forwards moved the puck and moved it well.  Their defense turned the puck in the Eagles’ zone; their forwards move the puck and attacked around organized plays in the Blaze zone.  The Eagles’ top line of Ali Beltz, Erik Ries, and Brook Schugel kept the pressure on the Blaze; but their next line out with Dani Weiss moving the puck kept the Blaze pinned and relying on their defense to block tough shots from the Eagles.  At the 12 plus minute mark, the Blaze scored.  It was a simple shot by Burnsville’s defense man Mady Bodick from the left center blue line.  The puck was high and was re-directed as it passed through a maze of players.  The puck's flight that would have been high and wide of the goal was deflected downward into the right upper corner of the net to put the Blaze up 1-0.

Thirty seconds later, after two successive Burnsville penalties had been called, New Ulm had a 90 second 5-on -3 power play with the face off in the Blaze’s zone.  Burnsville packed a triangle of forwards around the net and let New Ulm move the puck on the perimeter.  The Eagles slowed their play as if they thought too much.  It resulted in a power play with few shots on net even though the Blaze failed to clear the puck into New Ulm’s zone on the penalty kill.  It turned out to be a big missed opportunity for the Eagles.  Back at full strength, Burnsville began to move the puck into the New Ulm zone consistently.  The period ended with the Blaze up 1-0.  New Ulm outshot Burnsville 8-4 in the period.

Period 2: Penalties-a great stretch of hockey-more penalties

For 5 minutes in the middle of the second period the two teams played some great hockey.  Each team aggressively challenged the other during those five minutes, but neither scored.  The period started with New Ulm drawing a tripping penalty in the first minute of play.  The trip came off a play where the Eagles made a slow line change forcing the defense to attack the rusher to avoid a pass to a solo weak side Blaze wing.  Burnsville had two good shots on the power play, but could not beat Eagles' goalie Karly Ries.  The Eagles had a second penalty at the twelve minute mark that they killed.  After the second New Ulm penalty, the game kicked into high gear.  Both teams skated well and played excellent hockey.

As the New Ulm rush became more and more frequent, the Burnsville defense pair were consistently stopping the Eagles as they crossed into the Blaze zone.  Often, the Eagle rusher along the board would fire the puck low and try to accelerate around the Blaze defender away from the boards.  The Blaze defender would simply slow and let the Eagle rusher skate into her.  The Blaze defense, led by Kayla Henning, would simply take away the Eagle shot with their stick or their body.  The Blaze outshot the Eagles in the second period 12-4, but the Eagles had at least ten shots blocked by the defense.  Those ten pucks never reached the goalie.

With time left in the period under 2 minutes, the Eagles drew a 5 minute major and they looked tired.  The Blaze kept the puck in the Eagles’ zone off the face off and had New Ulm's four player defense on the edge of scrambling, sacrificing position in an attempt to clear their zone.  Amazing the Eagles held their positions as the period ended.  Burnsville still led 1-0.

Period 3: Who makes the play or the mistake?

Still facing a 3:03 second major penalty kill to open the third period, the Eagles did not flinch.  They simply went about their business, held position and consistently drove the Blaze attack back into the Burnsville zone.  They killed the penalty easily.  With just under eleven minutes to go, and the score still 1-0, the game had settled into a battle of wills.  Who on which team would gather her strength and make the big play?

The Blaze’s Sloane Taylor made the play.  Recognizing that a pass from the right boards at the New Ulm blue line by the New Ulm defense was tentative, Sloane charged the receiver beating her to the puck for a solo rush on the Eagles goalie.  She beat the Ries to put Burnsville up 2-0.

There was still opportunity for New Ulm to make a comeback.  The Eagles pressured the Blaze in the Burnsville zone over the next couple of minutes finally drawing a Blaze penalty.  At that point, the Eagles tired.  Their power play slowed and they failed to develop puck control in the Blaze zone.  Worse, the defense gave up a second solo that forced the Eagles goalie Karley Ries to make a great save to avoid a shorthanded Blaze score.  The Eagles tired in the last minutes of the third period and it showed.  They missed at least three great scoring opportunities when the Eagle forward failed to get their stick on the moving puck for a quick one-timer at a mostly open Blaze net.  The game ended with Burnsville winning 2-0.

Before the game

The New Ulm captains spent some time with YHH before the game.  New Ulm is one of the strongest pick to make the Class A state tourney this year.  They have dominated their Section 3A foes.  At YHH, the thought is that they will have to beat a team like Proctor/Hermantown to win their quarterfinal game, a feat that in the prior six seasons, the New Ulm teams have not accomplished.  In conversations with YHH, the Eagle captains (Brook Schugel, Erika Ries, and Brittany Denn) felt they were prepared to give the Blaze a game.  They had worked on their defense and breaking out of the defensive zone in practices leading up to their match with the Blaze.  They looked at the game with Burnsville as not a win or lose, but as preparation for a potential upcoming Section 3A tourney and a potential Class A quarterfinal game.  They and their coaches were intent on finding out what their weaknesses were as much as winning.  YHH watched Proctor/Hermantown beat Burnsville 3-1 on the same ice two weeks ago; New Ulm will compete well with a team like the Mirage.  The Eagles can still improve and should challenge a Proctor/Hermantown in a quarterfinal Class A game.

YHH also spoke to goalie Karley Ries and asked if she knew was a top 50 YHH pick in 2013 when she played goalie for the New Ulm peewee A team.  She was surprised to hear that.  She didn't know.  When asked about the game, the freshman answered that she knew she would be tested but she wanted to make something positive happen.  When asked if she rather face pressure or play an easy game, she just smiled widely.  Ries has a great attitude towards the game.  For her benefit, here is what YHH posted at the end of March 2013 about Ries as a peewee A goalie.

37-#1 Karlie Ries/New Ulm-Sleepy Eye-YHH liked the New Ulm-Sleepy Eye team this year from the start.  Part of the reason is that they skated three girls (Alexandria Beltz, Danielle Weiss, and Lauren Klein) in addition to Karlie at goal.  When they won the D5 Silver Peewee A regular season title, a small cheer when up at YHH.  Danielle especially caught our eye; she skates and plays like Rhett Pitlick.  But Karlie’s goaltending was outstanding in District 5 playoffs.  The Indians gave up 13 goals in their last 11 district games with her in the nets.  In the playoffs, Karlie gave up 1 goal and led her team to a D4 championship title and a #1 seed to the South Regional beating Luverne 1-0 in the championship game.  At the South Regional, NUSE faltered losing a tough opening round game to Rochester Black 2-1.  Karlie has good size and quick hands.  She holds her position well remains upright ready to make the save.  When she drops to the ice, she remains upright barely letting the pads touch until she is certain where the opponents’ shots are going.  She stymied the Luverne forwards in a pressure packed second and  third period time and time again, including a long 5-on-3 penalty.

Based on last night’s performance, nothing has changed with Ries, she has only gotten better.  As far as Dani Weiss, Ali Beltz, and Lauren Klein, they all were on the ice for the New Ulm team Thursday night and yes, Weiss still skates like a Pitlick.