Bayside Chatter: Dec. 14

Talk about it

The North Shore boys ran their record to 3-0 with a couple more easy victories. They defeated the Ely Timberwolves 11-0 in a home game at Silver Bay and beat the Pine City Dragons 8-1 on the road. The Dragons are coached by former Mariner bantam coach Pat Christopherson, who coached Worthington the last two seasons.

Brad Rowlee scored two goals in each game to go with four points in each contest. Tyler Schramm had four points versus Ely and Luke Small had four points against Pine City. Small, Schramm, Rowlee and Jonah Koehler each scored twice against Ely with single goals coming from Chad Smuk, Thomas Anderson and Mills Johnson. Against Pine City, Small and Rowlee each scored twice to go with single goals from Schramm, Kyle Rasmussen, Brad Smith and Koehler. Smuk scored the game winner versus Ely and it came from Schramm versus Pine City. Zach Duresky was the winning goaltender in each contest stopping 44 out of the 45 shots he faced. The only score came via a power play with 46 seconds left in the Pine City game. The Mariners outshot the Timberwolves 57-18 and the Dragons 43-27.

Co-head coach Steve Wasko said their goaltender deserves a lot of credit for the wins, even though the scores hint at strong offensive play.

“Duresky has been outstanding. We’ve gotten caught a few times in our defensive zone…and he did a great job in stopping those plays. He’s saved us at times and he’s critical,” Wasko said.

Though the team is enthusiastic about their strong start, they’re trying to stay focused on improving every game.

“We’re excited but still trying to stay hungry,” Wasko said.

They’ll be in Wisconsin this weekend playing Ashland and Hayward and they’ll face Hibbing at home in the Two Harbors arena on Tuesday. Hayward will be in the area for a rematch on Thursday.

The girls’ offensive drought continued on their three game road trip. They lost 4-0 at St. Cloud, 3-1 at Princeton and 2-1 at Chisago Lakes .This came after a 6-1 loss at Duluth to the Duluth Northern Stars. Against Duluth, the Mariners stayed with them until half way through the first period with the shots at 7-7 and the game scoreless. Duluth scored with less than a minute left in the period and four more times in period two. Three points each from Alexia Klaas and Claudia Gagnon led the Northern Stars along with two short-handed goals. The Mariners only score came from a Rebecca Dilley goal set up very nicely by Rachel Dilley and Anna Carman. Cassie Swanson stopped 37 Northern Star shots to 11 for Megan Hansen of Duluth.

St. Cloud scored twice in periods two and three via goals from Sabina Milbauer, Alexie Portz Cia Strong and Zayda Ewing as the Icebreakers outshot the Mariners 24-22.Sara Carman had 20 saves in the Mariner net. The Mariners took the lead versus Princeton when Kristiina Thums scored with the aid of Nicole Jaeger 1:32 into the game. Maggie Peterson tied it up before the period ended, Bridget Walter gave the Tigers the lead 5:39 into the third period and Peterson gave the Tigers an insurance goal. Swanson stopped 14 Tiger shots as the Mariners outshot the Tigers 24-17.The Mariners suffered another tough loss at Chisago Lakes. Allison Ives scored the only goal of period late in period one to give the Wildcats the lead until Anna Carman tied it up with an assist from Allison Morris late in period two. The game winner came with 50 seconds left in the game as Amy Buddle put the puck off of a pipe. Swanson stopped 22 Wildcat shots and Katelyn Sargeant had 22 saves for the Wildcats in the very close contest.

Both the boys and girls are at Hayward tomorrow. The boys host Hibbing on Tuesday at Two Harbors and Hayward on Thursday .Both Holiday tournament schedules are now confirmed. The girls are at the Schwan Cup in Blaine. They play Sun Prairie, Wis. on the 27th and Holy Family/Waconia on the 28th. Games on the 29th will be determined by the results of the first two days. The boys play Bagley/Fosston on the 27th at 7:30, Legacy Christian on the 28th at 7:30 and Robbinsdale Cooper on the 29th at 5. All three games are in Silver Bay.

Tags: silver bay, two harbors, sports, hockey