Peewee Tournaments (D5 Mound Westonka/Buffalo)

[frederick61]

Down Highway 55 again, but this time I did not have to go as far as Delano. Tonight, Buffalo’s New Arena was the destination for a key D5 peewee A match up between Mound Westonka and Buffalo that could determine the D5 regular season champion and with the title a guaranteed seed to the West Regional. I had been to the New Arena two years ago and thought it was one of the better arena’s to watch youth hockey for an arena that was also home to the high school.

Part of it has to do with sight lines and proximity to the action. That is good, but the thing that is most enjoyed is the seating in high back chairs that circle the arena edge and the bench like table top that goes with each chair. There is even a place to sit with a broader desk like table top suitable for using your laptop. One mother was already doing this when I arrived. Another mother had brought some fast food and was feeding kids at a table just outside the glass in one corner of the rink. The peewee B’s were playing, two feet away the kids were eating.

Going into tonight’s game Mound Westonka held a one point lead over Buffalo. Sartell had stumbled early in the week losing to Litchfield and knocking themselves out of the chase. Whoever won this evening would have the advantage needing only to win their last two games to take the crown.

The New Arena is basically purple and white. All the banners, the ads, the zamboni’s where purple. The ceiling iron beams were purple. A nice crowd of about 400 were there for the game when the home team took the ice. They weren't purple. The D5 format is three 15 minute stop time periods with the ice cleaned every two periods. One time out is allowed.

The game started slow. Buffalo has good size and Mound Westonka is a little smaller (not much) but had more speed. In the first period, the Buffalo defense used their size to poke check the White Hawks off their rushes. Both teams moved the puck well looking and making passes to the open forward when playing even. Unfortunately Buffalo drew three first period and their defensive play became ragged. The result was a lot of close in shots on by the White Hawks on each power play, but the Buffalo goalie played well making a series of tough saves.

It also became apparent that the Buffalo defense looked for opportunities to rush the puck, even short handed. They did it well, it led to the first goal on a shot from the right face off circle that found a small gap between the goalie and the pipe at the 9 minute mark. Buffalo led 1-0. It happened again near the end of the period when a defenseman triggered a rush that ended in a nice passing play and tip-in. The period ended with Buffalo up 2-0.

As the second period opened, Mound Westonka drew a penalty that Buffalo capitalized on to go up 3-0. Then with the Buffalo defense playing like “riverboat gamblers” and their goalie dodging White Hawk bullets, in a little more the one minute, there were seven end to end rushes by the two teams, four rushes by the White Hawks with the Bison goalie dodging four bullets and three by the Bison before an icing stopped play. It was exciting hockey, but not for the coaches. Halfway through the second, the White Hawks finally scored, the first bullet was stopped, but not the rebound. Buffalo still led 3-1.

The third period started slow and then a defensive mistake at the 10 minute mark left the puck lose and a White Hawk forward picked it up and had time to take aim. The score became 3-2. But before the game could start to heat up, the Bison struck back ten seconds later to go up 4-2. The game slowed as the White Hawks regrouped. Their big chance came at the 7 minute mark when two quick penalties on the Bison put the White Hawks on a 5-on-3 power play for nearly two minutes.

The White Hawks attacked fiercely and put pressure on the Buffalo goalie and he shut them down, but the defense instead of clearing the puck put together a 2-on3-rush and almost scored, only to have the White Hawks take another shot at the goalie, who stopped them again. The White Hawks failed to score and the game slowed. They called time, pulled their goalie and mounted one more attack, but their defense broke down and Buffalo added an empty netter to win 5-2.

With that win, Buffalo has a single point advantage over Mound Westonka with each team having one fairly tough game of the two remaining. If the Bison win out, they are the D5 champs and take one of D5’s two regional seeds. It was a good night for hockey and a good game.