Park Boy’s Hockey Shows Strong Potential in Home Opener

December 5, 2008 • written by Cory Hunt

          Park Boy’s hockey had a fine showing last night after a 5-3 win against South St. Paul.  The Park Boys (1-0) came out to a large, supportive crowd at the Cottage Grove Ice Arena, and they did not disappoint.  The Wolfpack, despite making some mistakes, played a good game according to third year head coach Jay Moser.  The Wolfpack scored five goals, quite a bit for the defensive minded team.

            After being back and forth for most of the first period, junior forward Sean Dougherty netted the first goal of the game to give the ‘Pack a 1-0 lead.  The Packers responded fairly quickly on the power play tying the game up 1-1.  Later in the first, senior Mitch Giese scored one of his two points on the night.  Towards the end of the first a hit on goaltender Matt Fretwell gave the Wolfpack a four minute power play, which carried into the second period.  At the end of a close first period the score was 2-1.

            In the second period the Wolfpack exploded for three goals in a span of less than four minutes.  Including the ‘Packs lone power play goal of the game by junior forward Nate Youso.  Goalie Matt Fretwell played a great game for the Wolfpack shutting down the Packer’s offense during the second period.  Kentucky, as most call him stopped 24 of the 27 Packer’s shots.  The Wolfpack ended up going 1 for 9 on the power play for the night and gave up three power play goals.  When asked about the special teams Coach Moser said, “The special teams are probably my biggest concern right now.  We did not move the puck well on our power plays, even on our 5 on 3 opportunities!  Our penalty kill did not follow the plan we had been working on.”  As for the strengths of the Wolfpack?  “I think our strength begins with our goaltender Matt Fretwell and our veteran group of defensemen.  They will be the core of our team,” said Moser.  

The Wolfpack were not able to score in the third period, giving up two goals to the Packers The Wolfpack still prevailed in the end winning the home opener 5-3.  The next game for the Wolfpack is against a strong Minnetonka team, Saturday, December 06 at 7:30 p.m. at the Cottage Grove Ice Arena

Notables:

Sean Dougherty, Mitch Giese, and Nate Youso all had a goal and an assist

Capitan Nick Mohr had an assist and was a plus 3

Matt Fretwell saved 24 of 27 shots

Filed Under Sports, Uncategorized
Tagged:  

 Email This Story        Print This Story