WEBSTER GROVES, Mo. - Edwardsville's Mid-States Club Hockey Association team has had a very successful season.
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The Tigers, though, took a stumble in their regular-season finale Saturday night, forging a 2-2 tie with St. Louis University High before the Junior Billikens came alive to score a 7-3 win over the Tigers at Webster Groves Ice Arena.
The loss left the Tigers at 14-6-1 (29 points) overall and 12-5-1 (25 points) in the MSCHA's Municipal Conference; the win put the Junior Bills at 18-2-0 overall (36 points) and 14-2-0 (28 points) in the Muny, giving them their first-ever conference or division regular-season championship in the program's 46-year history going back to the first days of the MSCHA in the inaugural 1971-72 season.
“We weren't able to put together any consistency at all,” said Tiger coach Jason Walker. “I give them a lot of credit; they were short-benched like us and their guys just wanted it more. They outworked us for sure.
“We didn't possess the puck much and they did and we had some rushes (to the SLUH goal) where we didn't throw the puck to the net like they did; that's the reason why they were able to rack up the goal total. They got pucks to the net and won the battles up front. We just never got pucks to the front of the net.”
“We were short-benched and our kids worked so hard,” said SLUH coach Kevin Fitzpatrick. “We had back-to-back games – we played last night (a 9-1 win over Fort Zumwalt West in Affton, Mo.) and played again tonight with 11 skaters – unbelievable.
“Our kids were on a purpose tonight; it's the first divisional title in SLUH history – 46 years and our first divisional title ever. We had a lot to play for and our kids just played their hearts out. Edwardsville was missing guys too; that's how it goes in high school hockey. They've got some good guys, they're well-coached and work hard; we were just fortunate tonight.”
SLUH opened the scoring nearly five minutes into the game when Jack Wachter beat EHS goaltender Mason Young, with assists going to Dominik Skroska and Joseph Winkleman, then upped the lead to 2-0 on a Louis Garavaglia goal at 7:32 of the first from Kevin Einig and Erik Floyd.
Edwardsville answered with a goal from Stanley Lucas from Logan Bielicke with 5:49 left in the first, then tied it 25 seconds into the second when Lucas Tucker scored off helpers from Connor Stewart and Rory Margherio; the Junior Bills answered 33 seconds later when Winkleman scored unassisted to put SLUH back up at 3-2.
Ening (from Winkleman and John Sieckhaus) and Peter Hoffmeister (from Winkleman and Wachter) extended the lead to 5-2 in the second; Edwardsville scored 27 seconds into the third as Lucas (from Stewart and Tucker) scored past Junior Bill goaltender Dylan Bak to make it 5-3, but Sieckhaus scored midway through the third from assists from Winkleman and Wachter and Seickhaus sealed the deal with 1:32 left from Blake Riley and Garavaglia assists.
SLUH got 56 shots on the Edwardsville goal, with Young making 49 saves, while Edwardsville was limited to 21 shots, with Bak making 18 saves.
“He played well,” Walker said of Young's effort. “For him to come in and play against (CBC and SLUH), I thought he was outstanding.”
The Tigers now await who they will play when the MSCHA playoffs begin this coming week. “I think they're a motivated group already; this game certainly wasn't something that's normal for this group,” Walker said. “We'll be better next game. We know we've been one of the top teams in the league, so we'll see where we fall and we'll be ready for the playoffs. It'll be a fun experience.”
