ORIGINAL ARTICLE

ST. PETERS • By his own admission, De Smet junior Jacob Kausch had a regular season to forget.

“It was pretty bad,” he said. “I just couldn’t get going.”

Kausch has more than made up for the rough three-month stretch.

The speedy winger scored two third-period goals Saturday night to propel the Spartans to a 3-1 win over Chaminade in Game 2 of the semifinal round of the Mid States Challenge Cup ice hockey tournament.

Coupled with a Game 1 victory last week, De Smet (19-6-3) advanced to the championship game at Enterprise Center at 8 p.m. March 13 against either St. Louis University High or Kirkwood.

Kausch has had plenty to do with a late-season surge in which his team has won seven of eight games.

“It was hard to stay positive, but I kept doing it,” Kausch said.

A second-line grinder, Kausch has scored six times in the postseason after just four goals in the first 21 games. He broke out of the slump with two goals in an early-round win over Edwardsville. He also scored in the Spartans’ 4-2 win over Chaminade in the first leg of the semifinal series Feb. 23.

“The last few weeks, this whole team, their focus has been right on,” De Smet coach Christopher Durso said. “And Jacob is a big part of this.”

Kausch broke a 1-1 tie with a laser-like shot off a breakaway along the left wing with 8 minutes and 3 seconds left in regulation. He sealed the victory less than five minutes later by pumping in the rebound of shot by Cameron Osdieck.

Sophomore Jed England got the Spartans off and running with the first goal of the game midway through the second period.

Junior goaltender Jakub Dobes, a native of the Czech Republic, made 19 saves, including a trio of stops in the first period to keep the contest scoreless.

Jackson Kremer scored for Chaminade (9-12-6), which turned in a strong run to the final four.

“I couldn’t ask any more from these kids,” Chaminade coach Joe Watson said.

De Smet had a 5-0-1 mark in six games against the Red Devils this season.

The Spartans fell to SLUH 4-0 in last year’s championship contest.

Immediately after that setback, Kausch and his teammates vowed to return.

“It’s something we’ve been working hard, almost all year for,” Kausch said. “Now, it’s finally here. And we want to make the most of the opportunity.”