EAST ALTON - Monday night was a return to East Alton Ice Arena for the Edwardsville Tigers hockey program, playing in MVCHA action against Bethalto.
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The Tigers offense started off “slow”, by head coach Jason Walker’s standards, but only needed two periods to short-game the Eagles, 12-0.
“I thought we played well,” said Edwardsville head coach Jason Walker following the win. “We kind of got off to a little bit of a slow start. One of the things we really wanted to focus on was our possession and moving the puck, and we had our ups and downs with that.”
Despite those stated ups and downs, it didn’t take long for Edwardsville to get on the scoreboard. Edwardsville had put two goals beyond Bethalto goalie Alexander Riddell in the first two minutes of the game, thanks to Andrew Mohesky and Grant Huneke, and never looked back.
The Tigers scored four more in the first period, and for many of the goals, there was nothing Riddell could do between the pipes. Mohesky scored his second to make it 3-0, Fred Bramstedt the fourth, Dean Schlarman the fifth, and Bramstedt doubled his total to make it 6-0 before the first period horn.
It was Edwardsville’s first game at the East Alton Ice Arena in some time, but the Tigers looked right at home. In the second period, the Tigers picked up right where they left off and then some, finding plenty of space to create in the attacking zone, leading to easy goals.
“We haven’t played a game in East Alton in a long time,” said Jason Walker. “We’ve got a schedule that’s kind of all around… But we enjoy playing our traditional rivals, and teams around the Metro East, so it’s nice to be back here.”
The Tigers started Miles Rosenthal in goal, who stopped all 11 Eagle shots to notch a shutout in the contest.
“Obviously Kai (Vetter, senior goaltender) is our starter, he’s been our starter for the past two years, and he’s been unbelievable, and in some tough situations too. But we really feel good about having that position covered the way we do.”
Atticus Arth opened the second period scoring for Edwardsville just 30 seconds in, and Luke Thomlinson added the eighth six seconds later. Grant Huneke’s second goal of the night made it nine, and the 12-goal mercy rule wasn’t far away.
The last three Tiger talliers were Alex Fox, Zach Cohn, and Luke Thomlinson’s second made it 12 to trigger the mercy rule just under nine and a half minutes into the second period for Edwardsville’s second MVCHA win of the young season.
Despite a lopsided scoreline, Walker was complimentary of the Bethalto team that battled with a much shorter bench.
“I thought Bethalto played really well, they played physical, they played tough, they played hard, and honest.”
Bethalto hits the road to the McKendree Metro Rec Plex to take on O’Fallon Tuesday night, while Edwardsville will be right back at East Alton Ice Arena to take on the Alton Redbirds.
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