Shorthanded SLUH blanks Kirkwood
Photo by: Rick Ulreich special to STLhighschoolsports.com
AFFTON • The motto for the St. Louis U. High hockey team this season is it takes a 30-man roster.
That motto was put to the test against Kirkwood at the Affton Ice Rink on Friday night.
SLUH was missing 14 players due to club commitments. However, the remaining Jr. Billikens still pulled out a 2-0 victory.
“For this group to dig down deep and beat a nice hard-working Kirkwood team, I was very pleased,” SLUH coach Jack Behan said.
Matthew Warnecke and John Hazelton scored for SLUH (16-1), who won its ninth straight game. Brendan Rasch made 20 saves while earning his sixth shutout of the season.
“I can’t do it without my defense,” Rasch said. “Everybody in front of me is really big, plays strong and doesn’t give up on any puck. I couldn’t do it without them.”
The key was a 5-on-3 penalty kill early in the third when Kirkwood had two extra skaters for 36 seconds.
But the SLUH penalty kill stymied any high percentage chances. Christopher Holmes, Jack Wachter and Matthew Hohl in particular were instrumental with the Jr. Billikens down two skaters.
“I love 5-on-3s,” Hohl said. “It’s always nice to successfully kill it off and block shots. It gives us energy.”
Kirkwood coach Mark Fischer lamented the missed opportunity.
“That’s the type of game if you put one in the net you kind of get something going and they’ll start to come and we couldn’t crack that seal,” Fischer said. “That 5-on-3 was huge and we didn’t execute.”
Rasch backed up the effort with several tough saves throughout the contest, including a stop on Kirkwood’s Ferrell Yoviene a minute after SLUH killed off the third period penalties.
“We’ve had a lot of games like this where we haven’t given him a lot of shots, but when we do they’re tough saves and he’s been able to do that,” Behan said. “He’s a special kid mentally.”
Warnecke’s second goal of the season gave SLUH a 1-0 lead with eight seconds left in the first period. Sophomore Alexander Beville got the assist, earning his first varsity point.
Hazelton gave SLUH a 2-0 lead at 4:41 of the second period. Hazelton scored his sixth of the season on a rebound from a Hohl shot.
“I just went to the net hard and had my stick on ice,” Hohl said. “It was a good shot by (Steven) Pawlow and I just got the rebound and took the shot and it went between his legs and Hazelton got the rebound. It’s what you work on in practice.”
Kirkwood goalie Mitchell Day made several tough saves to keep the Pioneers within striking distance. Day finished with 34 saves as Kirkwood (7-9-3) dropped its second in a row.
“Both of our goalies are really the backbone of our entire team,” Fischer said. “They’re the least of our problems. In terms of our game tonight there wasn’t enough passion, heart and effort. We’ve got to get better there.”
SLUH is on a roll heading into the playoffs.
“Team confidence it at an all-time high,” Hohl said. “We’ve had some lows this season, but I really think with our depth and when guys aren’t here we’re all pulling the sled, we’re entering into the playoffs with a bunch of energy.”
