White Bear Lake vs. Hill-Murray | 1/16/14 at 7:30

[slacsap]

I've seen HM play several times the past two years. I don't think Slattery is lazy. He skates so effortlessly and is so patient on the ice, he sometimes may appear that way. He is an incredibly talented player, a good skater, good size and tremendous hands. He has, at times, been a bit selfish, although I think that is much less of a problem this year than it was last. He can also be undisciplined, as was the case tonight in the first two periods, but this is true of many young players, as Edina proved last Saturday night.

[WBLHockeyfan04]

Not really sure what to think of this game. I thought when Hill Murray was fore checking, they were giving the WBL defensemen all sorts of problems. (which is nothing new) They controlled a lot of the play in the early going, and were generating some good scoring chances. I thought the poor goaltending and bad penalties kept WBL in this one. HM is the more talented team, but I was happy to see WBL keep up with them for the most part 5 on 5. WBL just needs to start periods off better, and Wahlin needs more help offensively. They need to put more shots on net, especially when the opposing goalie was struggling.

[nobama]

more ice time than the referee makes it hard to get any help..

[Pioneerprideguy]

This Pioneers team has the talent & depth to win it all. However, unlike their recent teams, this team lacks an elite goalie,discipline, and leadership. I'm wondering if Lex has gotten soft in his old age because in the past, players would be sitting for a while after not playing the game the correct way. The good thing is Roseville & Stillwater are down this year & HM got their "scare" from WB out of the way earlier this year.

[BodyShots]

This Pioneers team has the talent & depth to win it all. However, unlike their recent teams, this team lacks an elite goalie,discipline, and leadership. I'm wondering if Lex has gotten soft in his old age because in the past, players would be sitting for a while after not playing the game the correct way. The good thing is Roseville & Stillwater are down this year & HM got their "scare" from WB out of the way earlier this year.

I was thinking the same about Lex after watching Mills celebration after the first goal (classless). I think in the old days, Mr. Mills would have been sitting at the end of the bench for the rest of the 1st period.

Very surprised WBL was even in the game. HM is much stronger on their skates top to bottom. But a lot of that had to do with the penalties, and maybe a little of the ugly jerseys wearing off on them.

Wahlin's 2nd goal was a thing of beauty. Both he and SlatterME have incredible hands and talent. Joey Anderson is a beast for his grade level. It looked like Lex was double shifting him at times. French is another one that stood out. That 5 on 3 penalty kill that he single handedly killed off was special. Even getting a WBL penalty to even things up.

As PPG said, I think the "scare" came early this year. Expect Hill to coast into the state tourney.

[stpaul]

This Pioneers team has the talent & depth to win it all. However, unlike their recent teams, this team lacks an elite goalie,discipline, and leadership. I'm wondering if Lex has gotten soft in his old age because in the past, players would be sitting for a while after not playing the game the correct way. The good thing is Roseville & Stillwater are down this year & HM got their "scare" from WB out of the way earlier this year.

Agree and disagree. Based on last night's game I fully agree. I also was at the Edina game and HM played with discipline, leadership and an elite goalie. Illgen made some great stops and Edina was the team that completely lost their cool. HM just finished a 4 game stretch at Aldrich and beat Wayzata, Edina, Tartan and WBL. They beat #2, #1, a decent Tartan team and ralied to win a huge rivalry game against WBL. Not bad. I am also not worried about an old and soft Bill Lechner. I doubt the Willie Brown decision was an easy one. I am hopeful that we will see another HM-WBL game in the final Coliseum game on Feb. 28. Wouldn't be surprised to have another OT that night. PS- Slattery is not a lazy and selfish player. He leads the team in assists with 17. He hangs on to the puck too long sometimes but it is because he can. He's very talented and can maneuver himself into the slot to shoot or pass better than anyone I've seen. He could play a little more defense.

[UntouchableFlow]

My take on a few things:

Firstly, I don't think that Lex is getting "soft" with old age. I think that he realizes that the "cellies" after goals are becoming more popular with kids in High School these days and I would be very surprised if he didn't have a word with Mills during the game or at some point after the game. From my standpoint, there's a fine line to walk between acceptable and out of line and I thought that Mills "cellie" was out of line, even given the fact that it was a big rivalry game.

Secondly, I think that Slattery is a tremendous hockey player. I also thought that he looked lazy at times when I saw him play last year but I think that has to do with how effortlessly he can skate and handle the puck. He has been a great leader for the Pioneers and can continue to lead them through the home stretch of the regular season and postseason.

Lastly, Sean Wendlandt was the goalie that was touted as being Hill's next star goalie, but he has only had limited chances to prove that so far. Illgen has played very well and it seems as though Lex is trying to ride out his hot streak. As others have noted, this has been somewhat of a surprise, but when a goalie is hot you have to keep starting him. I suspect that Wendlandt will be the go-to guy come March, but that's just my opinion.

In a huge rivalry game like we saw last night, it's obvious to see that tempers can get the best of some players, heck, they're High Schoolers. I'm very excited to see how things shake out in March as I feel it is as wide open of a field as we have had in recent years, with no clearcut favorite.

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

I'm surprised there haven't been any comments on the poor officiating. There was a clean check that resulted in a 5 minute major. There was a slashing call when there wasn't anything approaching a slashing motion. Slats got called for a clean check in the corner. It was very appropriate that the refs were in black with orange (arm bands).

Sagar called the oddest time out I've ever seen. They were playing well, and Hill was getting called for as much as breathing on an opposing player. There was about 2:20 left in the 2nd and WBL was just called for a 2 min minor to make it 4 on 4 (in a few seconds). What in the world was the purpose of that? Usually it's easy to see the rationale for a time out, even if it's somewhat questionable.

[JoltDelivered]

& HM got their "scare" from WB out of the way earlier this year.

In the voice of Monte Burns...."Excellent"