Original Article

MANCHESTER — Branson Appelman is doing his best to keep the Kirkwood High goaltending tradition alive.

The freshman moved from Minnesota this year. When he hit the ice with the Pioneers, he quickly heard about the play of Mitchell Day, a reigning all-metro first teamer known for coming up big when the stakes were at their highest.

Appelman sure looked the part in Kirkwood’s opening game of the postseason, turning away 20 shots as the Pioneers held on for a 2-1 win over Marquette in the first game of the Mid-States Club Hockey Association Challenge Cup Blue Conference round robin at Queeny Park on Thursday night.

“Coming here and hearing about Mitchell and I'm like, 'I got to pick up the reigns, especially as a freshman,” Appelbaum said.

Austin Tyler and Connor Chapman scored for Kirkwood (5-7-5), which had lost to Marquette twice in the regular season. Both of those games were also decided by one goal.

“We obviously had a chip on our shoulder,” Chapman said. “We hadn't beaten them yet this year and we just practiced hard all year and finally got it together there.”

Justin Rapp scored and Cole Eckert made 21 saves for Marquette (8-9).

Chapman snapped a 1-1 tie for Kirkwood at the 4 minute, 55 second mark of the second period. The Pioneers’ forecheck thwarted a Mustangs clearing attempt. The puck ended up on Chapman’s stick, who side-stepped a defender and fired a shot into the upper corner to make it 2-1.

“It's a good play at the blue line,” Chapman said. “Austin Tyler keeps it in, bats it around. Alex Cameron takes a big hit and I was just fortunate enough to get the puck in a good spot and put it in.”

The Kirkwood defense took it from there.

The Pioneers stayed discipline in their zone, clogging up passing lanes with sticks and skates. Thomas Vitt, Charles Munroe and Griffin Young logged clutch minutes and Young added a thunderous hit on Marquette’s Noah Freeman to set the tone early in the third period.

“It says a lot about our structure and system and schematically how we play,” Kirkwood coach Mark Fischer said. “It takes discipline, but that's what you need especially come playoff time to get wins.”

And when a puck got through the defense, Appelman was there.

“You just got to battle through it, just never give up and we did that, and we battled through and we won,” Appelman said.

Fischer is confident in his netminder, whether it is Appelman or Colin Glick, who has logged the majority of the minutes in net this season.

“They're the foundation of our team and they had another good game tonight,” Fischer said.

Tyler gave Kirkwood a quick lead just two minutes into the contest, poking home a rebound off a Munroe shot.

Rapp got the equalizer for Marquette at the 5:35 mark of the first period, fending off tight coverage by a defender to roof a backhander into the net to tie it 1-1.

“They were just a better team tonight all around,” Marquette coach Gary Tockman said. “They forechecked harder, they cycled the puck better, they beat us to almost every loose puck.”

The top 12 teams in Mid-States are placed in the Challenge Cup and are equally divided into a Blue and Red Conference based on seeding. The top four teams in two conferences advance to the quarterfinals.

The win gives Kirkwood, the No. 9 seed, a big two points in pool play with games against No. 4 Vianney on Friday and No. 12 Seckman on Tuesday to round out pool play.

The loss gives Marquette, the fifth seed, little room for error. The Mustangs play No. 1 De Smet on Friday and No. 8 Francis Howell on Sunday.