Jeremy Ratliff
Reporter
Bluejay varsity hockey remains in the hunt for their first win after dropping a pair of heartbreakers to Medford (5-2) and Lakeland (5-4) last week.
Merrill drew first blood in Saturday night’s bout with the T-Birds at the Smith Center.
After a scoreless first period, Ivan DeBroux drove in the first goal of the night, assisted by Ben Brown. Then, with just over a minute left the in 2nd, Brown and DeBroux swapped roles as DeBroux assisted Brown.
Lakeland answered right away in the third, only to have the Jays bring it back with Joe Ladewig’s goal, set up by DeBroux and Brian Root.
The T-Birds made it an all-out slug fest, swiping in a pair of goals to tie it up at 3 just over halfway through the third. Lakeland would prove to have a bit more firepower as they countered a Brenden Root goal with a pair of their own to steal away the win with just 9 seconds remaining in the contest.
“This was a hard fought game,” comments coach Bill Hauswirth. “They scored the winning goal with nine seconds left. We came out and played tough the whole game. This was our best outing of the year so far. We fore-checked, we improved in our defensive zone, and our goaltending was good. There are a lot of positive things that happened in this game that we can build off of.”
Goalie Bryce Broeking enjoyed a solid night overall, fielding 53 shots on goal and giving up just five in the closing minutes.
LKD: 0 0 5-5
MRL: 0 2 2-4
By the numbers: Ivan DeBroux (1G, 2a); Ben Brown (1G, 1a); Joe Ladewig (1G); Brendan Root (1 G); Christian Matson (1a):
Robbed by the Raiders
The guys found themselves in much different circumstances Tuesday night at Medford’s Simek Center.
The Raiders wasted no time in going to work, scoring 4 goals inside the first 9 minutes of the first period.
Merrill found an answer late in the first with Austin Burgener’s goal, assisted by DeBroux.
DeBroux then narrowed the margin to 4-2 with a goal late in the second, assisted by Adam Detert.
The Bluejays sticks would fall silent from there as the Raiders punched another past Broeking for the win with just 40 seconds left in the period.
Broeking finished the night with 31 shots on goal.
“They scored three times in the first 7 minutes and it was an uphill battle from there,” Hauswirth adds. “We were able to put two in, but were never able to overcome the hole we put ourselves in. We have to give Medford credit they came out hard and held us off.”
MER: 1 1 0-2
MFD: 4 1 0-5
By the numbers: Ivan DeBroux (1G, 2a); Austin Burgener (1G), Adam Detert (1a); Taylor Hipke (1a)