Bayside Chatter: Jan. 25

• Boys' hockey

Zach Duresky makes a save for the North Shore Storm.

Talk about it

Boys’ hockey

What a difference a few days can make. Three days after getting pounded by International Falls, the Storm came back and forced the Virginia Blue Devils to the limit before falling in overtime. This came a week after the Blue Devils beat the Broncos 3-2. In the game against the Blue Devils, it came down to the fact that the Storm wanted the puck, fought for it and thus created some offense. In the game against the Broncos they threw in the towel.

The Blue Devils led 1-0 after one period on a goal from Zach Voss. The Storm struck twice in a span of two minutes, five minutes into the second period, to take a 2-1 lead. Brad Rowlee tipped in the puck on a play set up by Luke Small and Lucas Kempffer and Small put home a loose puck set up by Austyn Wasko. The Blue Devils got two scores 38 seconds apart from Jordan Przybylski and Mitch Sella to retake the lead at 11:39 of the period. The Storm replied a minute later when a Tyler Schramm shot from the neutral zone found its way into the net past a surprised Blue Devil netminder. It was 3-3 after two periods.

Colton Anderson scored off of a faceoff to put the Blue Devils back up by one before Small tied it up with a shorthanded goal via a backhand lifted upstairs with 2:20 left in regulation play. Anderson came out of the penalty to join Voss on a 2 on 1 at the blue line and Voss found him for the winning goal.

Zach Duresky stopped 43 shots by the Blue Devils and Andrew Sederlund had 19 saves in the Virginia nets.

Following that contest the Storm split a pair of games at Lake County Arena. They beat the Ashland Oredockers 6-1 and lost 5-3 to the Greenway Raiders in a penalty filled contest. Small set up three goals and scored one to lead the offense versus Ashland. The Storm led 1-0 after one on a goal from Wasko and 3-0 after two on goals from Schramm and Thomas Anderson. Rowlee scored twice in the final period to go with a goal from Small to end it at 6-1. Duresky picked up the win 14 saves as the Storm outshot the Oredockers 31-15.

The Greenway game saw a total of 26 penalties called for a total of 93 minutes. Greenway came in at 14-58 and the Storm at 12-35.There were 18 power plays with 10 going to the Storm. The referees started out the game calling it tight and continued to do so as the players never got the message.

The game was tied at one after one as Justin Guyer and Schramm exchanged goals. The Raiders went up 3-1 on two power play goals from Alex Troumbly and Bazil Zuehlke before Mills Johnson scored to make it 3-2 Greenway after two. Troumbly and Darin Estey upped it to 5-2. Small scored with 10:48 left to play, but the Storm could get no closer.

All three Storm goals came via the power play. Duresky stopped 28 Raider shots as the Storm were outshot 33-23.

Girls’ hockey

The girls went north for a pair of games last week. They lost 2-1 at Eveleth to the Golden Bears, which was identical to the score in their first meeting this season. At International Falls they ended up with a 1-1 tie versus the Broncos.

At Eveleth, the Bears scored the only goal of the first period when Sam Mugge scored on a breakaway. After a scoreless second period, the Mariners tied it up when Tori Stevens scored with the help of Brooke McMillen and Anna Carman. With 2:59 left to play Carly Hiti walked all alone from the corner to score the game winner. Cassie Swanson stopped 10 Golden Bear shots as the Mariners outshot them 27-12.

At International Falls Carman scored with an assist from McMillen at 9:08 of period two for a 1-0 Mariner lead. Hillary Fox tied it up for the Broncos 3:25 into the third period and that proved to be it for scoring in the game. The Mariners had to kill off a 5 on 3 power play with 2:42 left to play and couldn't capitalize on an overtime power play. Swanson was outstanding in the Mariner nets as she stopped 44 of 45 shots she faced. The Mariners had 17 shots on goal.

Pee-Wee hockey

The Jan. 17 issue of “Let's Play Hockey” had the Pewee B1 state rankings with Two Harbors at 12 and Silver Bay at 20.These teams tied at one in their first meeting at Two Harbors and meet again on Sunday at noon in Silver Bay.

Tags: sports, hockey