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Fixxer, rumor has it Casanova wanted to play against Century Thursday since he has never played against them. I thought Waalken played very well tonight and made some great saves to keep AL in the game. Both teams had good chances throughout the night. Just a very good game by two pretty evenly matched teams. Must have only been 5-6 penalties callled all night which contributed to pretty good flow of the game. Both teams with 1 PP goal. The PP goal by West was a thing of beauty

the rotation was switched around for the AL goalies... cassanova will be in net thursday against century.

Marshall came out flat and played flat for two periods. New Ulm played well and had Marshall on their heels. Marshall came out in the 3rd, wore them out and outplayed them and got it into over time. Play was back and forth, Marshall pulled it out with a nice shot from the slot over Buegler's shoulder. All the credit goes to Marshall's goalie, Haukom stood on his head, stopped multiple breakaways and 2-on-1's, with out him Marshall would have been done in the first period. Marshall did not play well but found a way to win, this is what good teams do.

Goldenjet i would have to agree with you for the most part on this one. I thought the game was a very sloppy one for both teams especially for Marshall. But they did find a way to dominate the game terrirorally. Haukom played a great game. The third period was an entertaining period of hockey along with the overtime each team had their chances but couldnt seem to put it away until Marshall did in overtime. To me Marshall is almost there as far as being a good team they just need a few more things to click and get more physical. I liked New Ulm too, they have a good skating team but need to find more of a go to guy. Both teams are going to have to keep on improving to be where they want to be and I think this goes for all the teams in the section.

Well, I stand corrected. Obviously West brought more game than I thought they would. Who scored for both teams? How did the Litchfield kid from West look? Early season scores would indicate both teams to be fairly inconsistent. Top 3 teams: Marshall, West, AL seem to be pretty even...with New Ulm right behind. Will be interesting to see how the season plays itself out. Being an AL alumni, I will be pulling for Roy and his boys. However, whichever team makes it out of the section, I will be rooting them on at state. I would like to see this section gain some state-wide respect. We'll see how the teams do in their holiday tournaments. Should be a good measuring stick to see how they play against unfamiliar teams.

JRdeez. Aside from the game with New Prague, which was a little deceiveing as West played there 3rd and 4th lines the entire 3rd period(MY guess Essay was a little dissatisfied with his top two lines effort) West has played pretty consistently. The JM game was totally dominated by West the last two periods and if not for the fluke goal with time expiring West would be 6-1 right now. Very entertaining game last night between West and AL. 5 penalties called the entire night which is a far cry from what's been happening in the earlier games where play is dominated by special teams.
Litchfield had a hand in all 3 goals last night 2g 1a. He is still getting up to speed as he is recovering from a bout with mono.
Looks to me to be a wide open section.

bugsy wrote:JRdeez. Aside from the game with New Prague, which was a little deceiveing as West played there 3rd and 4th lines the entire 3rd period(MY guess Essay was a little dissatisfied with his top two lines effort) West has played pretty consistently. The JM game was totally dominated by West the last two periods and if not for the fluke goal with time expiring West would be 6-1 right now. Very entertaining game last night between West and AL. 5 penalties called the entire night which is a far cry from what's been happening in the earlier games where play is dominated by special teams.
Litchfield had a hand in all 3 goals last night 2g 1a. He is still getting up to speed as he is recovering from a bout with mono.
Looks to me to be a wide open section.

I'd say West definitely outplayed A.L., and was definitely the better team. At times AL looked alright, but just couldn't get anything going all night long. Actually, AL's 3rd line seem to generate the most offense all night long, which is not going to bode well for AL if that continues.

Good game, I'd say West is tops in the section at this point, followed by Marshall, then AL. Don't count out NU.

Edit: Reffing was very good.

Very good game by West, and I loved that there werent many penalties, I wish all the refs in the state were at this game. Only thing I didnt like was the music played between face-offs, it was very depressing.

The outcome of the NU Marshall game was decided by the officals. A 4:00 call in a 1-0 game in the 3rd period that allowed Marshall to tie. Then a check from behind call in OT. Kid turned his back on the play. Marshall had 6 penalties to NU's 13. Really too bad to see the ref's have a hand in who wins games. I think NU still outshot Marshall 35-30.

I'd agree that the ref's had a hand in the NU game but they did it to themselves, a number of times they got away with punches after the whistle. The 4:00 minor happened because the NU kid made a blatant trip and argued the call. The check from behind was questionable but the puck was in the kids skates and he turned well before the hit to recover the puck, the NU player had enough time not to make the hit, it sent the kid head first into the boards from about 2 feet away. I believe the right call was made.

Just a little interesting the kid who was hit scored the goal.

Nice try, bombsquad. People who were at the game know what went on.
What? No mention of the penalty on Marshall in the last 2 minutes of regulation for the phantom "boarding" call? Give me a break.
Anyone who has ever played in New Ulm is gonna know the chances of being helped by referees is slim and none. NU took some stupid ones, Marshall did too. The refereeing had nothing to do with the outcome.
It was Marshall's worst flow of the season. Some (most) credit for that needs to go to New Ulm's team. As has been said, they play hard. So does Marshall. The game last night was ugly and disjointed, with two great performances by the goalies.
Marshall always has a hard time adjusting to the big ice surface, and NU uses it's advantage. The first 5 minutes of each period, players had to deal with pucks that wouldn't slide 6 inches. Figure out what is wrong there, New Ulm people. Crank down the temp on the chiller or something. The ice was choppy and sticky all night, and the play suffered because of it. Stop worrying about keeping fans warm and make some decent ice. NU's first goal was from a sticky puck, and half of Marshall's 4-minute advantage was wiped out by unplayable conditions.
New Ulm gave their all (no surprise) and will get better. Their new coach will be great for them. He brings life to them. Marshall has to get back to out-skating people like they can. The past two weeks has been a step-back. They need to regroup and relax. To play that poorly and win has to be a relief.
AL/West sounded tight, no surprise. Anyone who takes a night off mentally or physically this year will be beaten. The way it should be.
And oh, btw, shots were Marshall 32 New Ulm 26.

Thursdays game AL vs Century ----AL 1---Century 6 sorry to say


Albert Lea has been playing poor of late. They have no passing game. Their shooting is very poor. They have weak shots and they seem to be missing the net a lot...they need to practice more on some fundamentals.

Thoughts......?????

I think both goalies will get the chance to play in this game. It won't matter who the starter is, he will be pulled and the back up will play. Century will pretty much have target practice on both of albert lea's goalies.

wow, HOTSHOT's back, now this will make the rest of the board miserable

slapnasty wrote:wow, HOTSHOT's back, now this will make the rest of the board miserable

Speaking of HOTSHOT...........where's his kid playing this year. The last couple of years, he sure made it sound like he was going to make USHL for sure.

How is Jordan playing for Albert Lea?

SiouxFan, I watched Jordan play last night in the West-AL game. He played on the top line and did OK. You can never question his work ethic. Did not seem to generate much offense although that line did not generate much all night. West contained that line very well. Since Coach Essay broke up the Leiverman, Litchfield and Anderson line, West seems more balanced.

I think these two teams have alot of respect for each other from the head coaches on down as I saw the two head coaches watching the JV game side by side chatting throught the first two periods.

ZAMBONI wrote:I think both goalies will get the chance to play in this game. It won't matter who the starter is, he will be pulled and the back up will play. Century will pretty much have target practice on both of albert lea's goalies.

i agree with this opinion

QRF rankings after last night's section games .....

No. 18 Mankato West (32.4) 1-0-0 5-2-0 5.6 3.6 Won 3
No. 20 Marshall (31.0) 4-0-0 6-1-0 4.9 1.9 Won 1
No. 25 Albert Lea (29.7) 2-1-0 4-2-0 3.7 2.8 Lost 1
No. 33 Waseca (25.5) 2-1-0 4-3-0 5.7 4.9 Won 3
No. 55 Windom Area (15.5) 3-2-0 3-5-0 2.6 4.1 Won 1
No. 64 Mankato East (13.4) 2-0-0 3-5-0 3.1 6.4 Lost 2
No. 69 Luverne (11.9) 1-3-0 2-5-0 4.0 6.4 Lost 2
No. 51 Austin (16.6) 1-2-0 2-6-0 4.3 5.6 Lost 6
No. 57 New Ulm (14.9) 0-2-0 1-4-1 2.0 3.3 Lost 4
No. 74 Red. Valley (9.7) 0-3-0 0-6-0 2.8 6.3 Lost 6
No. 78 Sleepy Eye (8.3) 0-2-0 0-6-0 1.0 7.5 Lost 6

hotshots kid is playing down in colorado on i think a junior b team... not for sure though...

as far as things go with jordan smerud on AL, he is one of the hardest workers on the team and is doing well on the top line.

also rumor/newspaper has it that an Austin hockey player was caught with possession of cocaine on tuesday... pathetic... i know names but ill let someone else be the one to soil the kids name

from what i have been told it is not a rumor... three kids were caught with it in school!! my feeling on this is thats just plain stupid.. u would have thought that if u are gonna do it keep it out of school.. its like trying to drink a beer in class.... two only got five days of suspension from school, along with no particpation in sports.. knida weak if you ask me.. i would think that almost getting busted before you would keep your nose clean!! no pun intended.... oh well life goes on

Thats too bad

They need to find these people and get rid of em.

Austin's program seems to be in serious disarray. Their youth program has been declining too.

Talk about a bad image. Can it get any worse for Austin? How many players do they have on suspension now?

What ever became of that hazing incident, were players suspended? Do we know for sure that these guys were players?