skip navigation

Kimmel makes 45 saves to help Timberland tie Fox 3-3

By Joe Harris / stltoday.com, 12/05/21, 10:15AM CST

Share

WENTZVILLE — Timberland goalie Jeremy Kimmel Jr. couldn’t even raise his head over the boards during a late timeout Friday night.

The brief break was the only one Kimmel had as the Wolves played Fox in a Mid-States Club Hockey Association game at Wentzville Ice Rink.

“I was so tired,” Kimmel said.

Kimmel was pivotal in helping Timberland earn a 3-3 tie after making 45 saves and faced 36 total shots in the final two periods.

The effort kept Timberland (5-0-2) undefeated. The Wolves are off to their best start in program history.

“J.J. is a (heck) of a goalie,” Timberland coach Jeremy Huber said. “He's super athletic and sees the puck well, and he never stops battling.”

Corey Warden, Lucas Matkovich and Parker Myers scored for Timberland.

Caden Harrison had two goals and an assist, and Richard Sheffey also scored for Fox (4-1-2), and Justin Greer made 14 saves.

“It's always frustrating,” Fox coach James Hohmeier said about not getting the win, despite his team outshooting Timberland 48-17. “Good for him. He stood on his head. That's a great game.”

Fox erased a two-goal deficit to earn the tie.

Harrison finished off a perfect feed from Adin Kelly to bring Fox back to within a goal with 2 minutes, 38 seconds left in the second period.

Sheffey drew Fox even with nine minutes to go in the third period, burying a one-timer from a Harrison pass behind the net to make it 3-all.

“We had like 50 shots,” Harrison said. “He (Kimmel) was amazing.”

Wagener, Kraus lead Priory past Fort Zumwalt West
Kimmel makes 45 saves to help Timberland tie Fox 3-3
Webster Groves blanks Clayton, off to its best start in 19 years
Ice hockey season preview spotlight: CBC has depth to make another championship run
Charles Walker, senior, Priory
Kimmel saved his best work for the third. After Sheffey’s goal, Fox’s forecheck dominated and the Warriors came at him in waves.

Kimmel spent the majority of the third sprawling on the ice making save after save.

“He was in a different zone tonight,” Huber said. “We just got let him go and just kind of keep doing what he's doing.”

Warden got Timberland off to a quick start, stealing the puck from a Fox defenseman right in front of the Warriors' net and scoring his 11th of the season to make it 1-0 with 6:03 left in the first period.

Matkovich added to the Wolves' lead less than two minutes later, showing nifty puck handling by going between a Fox defenseman’s legs before snapping a quick wrist shot into the net.

Harrison got Fox back into it with his fifth goal of the season to cut it to 2-1 with just 10 seconds left in the first.

Kimmel, after making several big saves for Timberland in the first, stood tall against an early barrage from Fox to start the second. Buoyed by the momentum of Harrison’s goal, the Warriors peppered Kimmel with seven shots in the first four minutes of the middle frame but couldn’t find the equalizer.

“I just tried to stay square to the puck,” Kimmel said.

Timberland capitalized on Kimmel’s play as Myers poked in a loose puck in front of the net to make it 3-1 with 3:26 left in the second.

Huber hopes the winning ways continue for the Wolves.

“We just got a good group of guys,” Huber said. “We're kind of buying into the systems that the coaches are implementing and we're just taking it game by game, battle by battle, and just figuring it out as we go.”

Hohmeier believes Fox can grow from the tie as well.

“We talk about developing a winning pedigree, a winning culture, and that's kind of our mantra going through the season,” the coach said. That's going to be going through our mind until the end of the year. So, every game we're going to battle back when things go wrong.”