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woodbury had a great first period, other than that, it was all roseau

Irishmans Shanty wrote:If you are still reading this thread Phil Housley, the adjective for Coach Oliver that you're looking for is "barrellchested"

How about "Barrel chested former Winipeg Bluebomber linebacker"

Roseau schools Woodbury
By Kevin Fee, Herald Staff Writer
Published Friday, March 09, 2007

ST. PAUL Roseau wore its throwback jerseys from the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Woodbury coach Wes Bolin said the Roseau team he saw Thursday showed the same passing, skating and checking skills as the Rams he used to know when he coached Hallock in the mid-1980s.

"It's indicative of the type of talent that the Roseau community breeds," Bolin said of Roseau's offensive fireworks against his team in the Xcel Energy Center.

Roseau scored three goals in each of the final two periods and received three assists from smooth-skating sophomore defenseman Aaron Ness in a 7-2 victory over Woodbury in the Minnesota state Class AA quarterfinals.

Roseau (27-2) plays Rochester Century at 6 tonight in the semifinals.

The Rams have a rich tradition in the Minnesota state tournament, appearing in the event 31 times and winning six titles. Woodbury has one of those programs where it might have been pleased to be in the tournament. The Royals are appearing for the first time.

Early, though, Woodbury looked like the tournament-hardened team.

"You would have thought we'd never been down here before, that we weren't here a year ago," Roseau coach Scott Oliver said. "But that's a hard thing anytime you're dealing with young men like that.

"There's no question we were nervous and tight. You have to give Woodbury credit, too. . . . They didn't play tight."

Woodbury stunned second-seeded Roseau with an early goal. Nick Jarrett stole the puck in the Ram zone, walked in and beat Mike Lee with a bad-angle shot at 4 minutes, 31 seconds.

The Rams answered at 11:14 of the first. Stationed in front of the net, Dustin Moser circled around and put one past Sam Foley after a shot from the point by Kurt Weston.

Then came one of the prettiest goals of the tournament early in the second.

Ness skated into the Woodbury zone and dropped a pass to Adam Knochenmus. Knochenmus quickly slid the puck across to Nick Oliver, who rifled a wrist shot past Foley's glove at 1:40.

Roseau went ahead 3-1 when Nathan Voll completed a bang-bang passing play that also was started by Ness at 12:41. Voll put one past Foley's stick side.

"Our strength is when we move our feet and certainly move the puck," coach Oliver said. "And you could see that we started to move our feet better in that second period. When we're moving the puck and playing unselfish, it's a fun game to watch.

"We have systems we play, but we tell the players to be creative within the system."

The Royals closed the gap to 3-2 just 13 seconds after Voll's goal. Dane Erickson slid one past Lee's glove side.

"We have to do a better job defensively," coach Oliver said. "I'm a bit disappointed with our defensive-zone coverage. . . . We're going to have to get that ironed out on a white board or we're going to have to iron it out on the rink."

The Rams got a lift toward the end of the second on a goal by Ben Nelson. Then Weston scored on a wrist shot at 4:48 of the third for a 5-2 lead.

"That was a big goal to get," Oliver said. "I saw the boys relax just a little bit. It's really important that you go out on the ice and have fun, and I don't think we had a lot of fun in that first period.

"They weren't having a lot of fun, and I don't think the faithful from Roseau were having a lot of fun."

Moser and Nick Oliver added their second goals of the game for the final margin.

Roseau had a 32-29 edge in shots on goal.