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EDWARDSVILLE – Two goals and two assists by Reed Wolfe offset a heroic 63-save performance in goal by D.J. Freeman, Jr. as Edwardsville defeated East Alton-Wood River 5-0 in a Mississippi Valley Club Hockey Association game Thursday night, Nov. 13, 2025, at the RP Lumber Center in Edwardsville.
Freeman played brilliantly in goal, holding Edwardsville to a scoreless tie in the first period, but the Tigers exploded for four goals in the second to take charge of the game they had controlled from the opening face-off. To the Oilers’ enormous credit, they never gave up or gave in, and kept going after it the entire 42 minutes. Edwardsville had 68 shots and he made 63 saves.
The Tigers, two-time defending MVCHA Class 2A champions, are off to another great start at 3-0-0 in the league, and head coach Jason Walker couldn’t be more pleased with how things are started out.
“We played well,” Walker said, “their goaltender tonight was outstanding. I thought we played very well offensively. It’s been a good start, it’s been a good week.”
Wolfe’s four-point game was typical of his play, as he’s one of the Tigers’ top offensive threats.
“Reed Wolfe’s one of our big offensive threats,” Walker said, “a senior leader of our team, and we had that first period where we weren’t able to score, and he came out in the second period, and got two quick goals, and kind of gets us on track.”
The Tigers may have plenty of new faces in the lineup, but the expectations are still very high, and Walker feels his team will be ready for any challenge ahead.
“Yeah, we have a lot of new faces,” Walker said, “but the expectations don’t change, and these guys are hungry to make their mark on the program. So, we’ve gotten off to a good start. We’ve just got to keep getting better.”
As always, Walker is looking forward to many good things ahead for Edwardsville hockey.
“We’re focusing,” Walker said. “We know we’re not good enough right now to get to where we want to be. We’ve just got to keep getting better, but the start’s been great, so everything’s positive, and we’re just working each day to get better.”
The Tigers took complete control of the game in the second period, but the Oilers put up a good fight on the night.
The first period was scoreless, but Freeman played outstanding, making a pair of great saves, one on an Edwardsville power play, and another late in the period, as the Tigers outshot the Oilers in the period 18-8. The Tigers were able to break through at 2:09 of the second, as Wolfe parked in front of the net and tapped home a shot from a pass from Adam Niebling to give Edwardsville a 1-0 lead. Blake Huneke also assisted on the scoring play.
Edwardsville quickly made it 2-0 at 4:31 on a power play with Logan Quigley off for roughing. It only took 20 seconds of the power play for Wolfe to score, assisted by Huneke and Colton Boutelle, to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Reed Poetker made it 3-0 for Edwardsville at 6:11 on assists from Wolfe and Zander Crump, and Jackson Ruf scored unassisted at 8:39 to give the Tigers a 4-0 lead after the second period. Edwardsville outshot EAWR in the period 23-1, giving them a 41-9 edge in shots, but Freeman continued to play outstanding in goal, making beautiful saves of many Tiger shots.
The only goal of the third period came at 7:39, when Boutelle first-timed a rebound home off a shot by Huneke, with Wolfe also assisting on the play, making the score 5-0. Freman again came up with some big saves in the period, and the Oilers kept striving, but it was the Tigers gaining the two points with the win. Edwardsville outshot EAWR in the period 27-7 for the period and 68-16 for the game.
The Tigers are now 3-0-0 on the young season, and next play undefeated Bethalto at the East Alton Ice Arena Monday at 9 p.m., then host Highland next Thursday at 8:15 p.m. The Oilers are now 0-3-0, and meet Belleville Monday night in a 7:30 p.m. start at East Aton, then play Bethalto the next night, Tuesday, at East Alton in a 7:30 p.m. face-off.
