Tuesday night the boys’ hockey team hosted the Moorhead Spuds, a perennial class AA juggernaut. The Spuds were ranked No. 15 in the large school category. As the game was winding down . . .
The Cards were ranked No. 12 in class A when the game started.
The game ended . . . the Spuds pulled their goalie with a little over two minutes left, creating quite a bit of excitement. Then the new rankings came out this week:
| 1. | Hermantown | 12-2-0 | 1 | ||
| 2. | Duluth Marshall | 11-1-1 | 2 | ||
| 3. | East Grand Forks | 10-3-0 | 3 | ||
| 4. | Mahtomedi | 11-1-1 | 4 | ||
| 5. | Breck | 8-5-0 | 5 | ||
| 6. | St. Paul Academy | 11-2-0 | 8 | ||
| 7. | Alexandria | 11-0-1 | 12 | ||
| 8. | Thief River Falls | 6-6-0 | 6 | ||
| 9. | St. Cloud Cathedral | 10-4-0 | 14 | ||
| 10. | Warroad | 9-5-1 | 7 |
***
The video start of the game:
***
[The Cards appeared to be featuring Alec Wosepka (8) a lot in this game. We figured it out later.]
[Jack Steffl (2), I think, chases a Spud.]
[Steffl wins the draw, with Chase Nielson (10).]
[Chris Canavati (11), co-captain senior defense]
[The first game for the new KXRA broadcast crew. AD Hartmann drops by to welcome them to Cardinal Nation. 🙂 ]
[Appears we found Mr. Wosepka again, pertinent because . . .]
[After a 1st period pretty much controlled by the Spuds, the 2nd period began with another burst by the Spuds that led to the first score of the game. Not long after that, however, Alec broke loose on a breakaway and scored the tying goal. And it was about then, those of us who haven’t seen a lot of games yet, finally realized we had been playing without Ryan Marciniak, our leading scorer, and Mack Strong, both usually first line forwards! They had been injured but I believe are expected back for the next game. And thus the emphasis on Alec as our leading goal scorer, who we kept trying to hit with long breakaway passes to keep the Spud defense honest.]
[Nah, that couldn’t have been an eagle??]
[Canavati appears ready to launch a one-timer. . .]
[And again.]
[Cards win the draw.]
[After 2, about as even as could be.]
[Assistant Coach Jon Crouse and Head Coach Ian Resch find a shortcut to the lockerroom between periods.]
[Wospeka swoops in again, with Zach Johnson (17) providing support.]
[Oooohhhh, the puck makes a getaway, stage left.]
[Seriously, I shoot randomly, but this game turned into the Wosepka/Canavati show?]
[Chris Leary (18) and Cammeran Brown (21) forecheck to keep it in the zone . . .]
[It worked! Chris tipped in a shot by Cammeran to give the Cards the lead! Group hugging then is not only permitted, but encouraged!]
[And then Cammeran fed Zach for the final goal of the game. Kinda like the Zach led parade here. 🙂 Terrific showing for the Cards playing shorthanded . . . expectations are starting to grow!]
[As the Cards prepare for the final minutes, anticipating the Spuds pulling their goalie, the discussion went something like this, or so I was told . . . I want pepperoni and mushrooms . . . are you kidding? gotta be sausage, olives, and green peppers . . . now way! just extra cheese! . . . hey, who’s buying?]
A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me, I’m afraid of widths. ~ Steven Wright
[Last Sunday, over beautiful Lake Darling.]
Up next: Depends on the weather.
alexandriacardinals 