By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
ASHWAUBENON – Four days after winning in the final period against Bay Port, the De Pere boys’ hockey team tallied a third period goal with 6:40 remaining to defeat Ashwaubenon 1-0 in a Fox River Classic Conference game at the Cornerstone Community Ice Center Jan. 14.
“I got the puck and stayed with the play, and it went in the back of the net,” said Newton. “It’s good to win back-to-back games and gain some momentum late in the season, especially in our conference.”
Jay Wenger stopped all 25 shots in net for De Pere, while freshman Lincoln Simons made 12 saves for Ashwaubenon.
Defense dominated the opening period as both teams registered only five shots apiece on goal.
The Voyageurs’ best opportunity in the opening period came with 4:58 left after Charlie Eggers jammed a puck in on Simons.
At the last second, the puck squirted out to the front of the crease, but the lead official had blown his whistle, stopping play.
The Jaguars dominated the middle period with Teig Driessen getting an early coast-to-coast look, but his shot was turned away by Wenger, who made the glove save.
Midway through the second period, De Pere killed off a penalty and then hung on the last eight minutes despite getting peppered with shots from Ashwaubenon.
“We fought off Ashwaubenon’s top line really well,” said J.P. Coppo, De Pere head coach. “Fortunately for us, none of their shots slid through Jay.”
The Jaguars held a 15-8 shots-on-goal advantage through two periods, but the game remained scoreless.
With 10:26 left, Ashwaubenon went a man down, and the Voyageurs made them pay.
With 14 seconds remaining on the power play, Brett Pansier danced around the blue line and fed Newton, who went top shelf to give De Pere a 1-0 lead.
“We were waiting for a man opportunity much of the game,” added Coppo. “When we got it, we told the guys we have to make this count, and we did.”
Late in the game with a 5-on-4 opportunity themselves, the Jaguars got shots from Kole Altergott, and Riley Nissen but couldn’t beat Wenger as he surged to his second shutout of the year.
“This year is tough because we split the two divisions,” Coppo said. “However, with that being said, everybody is doing the same thing, and we have shown we can knock off teams we potentially could face in the playoffs.”
Box score
De Pere: 0. 0, 1—1
Ashwaubenon: 0, 0, 0—0
Shots on goal
De Pere: 5, 3, 5—13
Ashwaubenon: 5, 10, 10—25