The Hatchet boys entered Tuesday’s WIAA regional game at D.C. Everest at a sizeable disadvantage due to the seeding process, but the short-handed Tomahawk squad also needed to overcome the rare Olympic-sized ice against a much more numerous opponent.
The Evergreens led 5-0 after the first period and kept it up for an 11-1 win.
“It’s hard to motivate a young, small team when you walk into a building like the Greenheck and see how good other teams have it,” THS coach Rick Myre said. “The boys played hard in the second and the third periods, but came out flat and beaten in the first, so I had to kick ’em where they sit to wake them up.
“We held Everest to only one goal in the second period and I was proud of the guys for that. Jakob Panzer put us on the board at the start of the third with a power play goal, but Everest was too deep for us to be able to continue our season.”
That lone second-period goal came 4:17 into the second. Panzer cut it to 6-1 on that unassisted power play goal just a dozen seconds into the third. But the Evergreens would tally five more in a span from 3:04 to 12:52 elapsed.
Thirteen different factored into the scoring, led by: Grant Dennis (3 G); Michael Plaza (2 G, 1 A); Josh Merchant (3 A) and Derek Tomczik (3 A).
Saves–THS–Dan Hanke 11-11-10–32. DCE–Michael Moe 3-4-2–9.
THS finished the regular season at 3-20 overall and 2-12 for seventh in the eight-team GNC. D.C. Everest was 6-5 in the Valley for fourth and 13-10 overall before losing to SPASH in the regional final on Friday.
“So it’s over, but I’m super proud of this group of kids,” Myre said. “They’ve come together this year and have a clear understanding of the word teamwork. I told them your four years go by faster than a snap of your fingers and you would do anything to just put that sweater on one more time after you’re done. So work hard and give each and every minute like it’s your last, because for Kevin Bolder, Cole Hoeppner and Matej Sklar it was their last.”