By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
ASHWAUBENON – The De Pere Voyageurs boys’ hockey team had only one win in its first eight games of the 2021-22 season.
That changed Dec. 17 when Garrett Foth netted the game-winner with 3:24 remaining as De Pere defeated Ashwaubenon 2-1 in a Fox River Classic Conference game at the Cornerstone Community Ice Center.
“It’s a huge uplift for our squad,” De Pere Head Coach JP Coppo said. “We played a full complete game against a gifted Ashwaubenon team. They had seven straight wins coming in, and for us to pull this off was a big boost – a big feather in our cap.”
The game featured only two penalties in 51 minutes of hockey.
After a scoreless opening period where the Voyageurs (2-6-1 overall, 2-1 FRCC) outshot the Jaguars (7-2-0, 2-1) by a significant margin, De Pere’s AJ Butrymowicz led a 2-on-1 attack early in the second period, only to see Ashwaubenon goalie Lincoln Simons make an around-the-world glove save.
Halfway through the middle period, the Jaguars thought they scored, but Caden VanDuyse’s shot hit the crossbar to keep the game scoreless.
With 7:46 left in the second period, Martin Blaha got De Pere on the board when he went between two white sweaters and stuffed a rebound home for a 1-0 lead.
However, a minute later, Jack Welsing was sent to the box for slashing, and Ashwaubenon went a man up.
The Jaguars evened the score at 1-1 on the power play after Teig Driessen fed a cutting VanDuyse, who beat De Pere goalie Keegan Handrick.
“That was a reflection moment for our group,” Coppo said after Ashwaubenon scored. “Are you going to lie down and not get the momentum back? We did a great job of not letting their goal define us.”
De Pere held a 20-12 advantage with shots on goal through two periods and added to that total early in the third.
Four minutes into the final period, Evan Ott, Foth and Lucas Bartelt had a 3-on-zero flurry after an Ashwaubenon giveaway.
Again, Simons was up to the task, stacking his pads to make the save.
With 3:24 remaining, Foth got open at the blue line after an Ashwaubenon turnover.
His slapshot caught Simons off guard and went into the net to give De Pere a 2-1 lead.
“I saw the turnover happen,” Coppo said. “Garrett (Foth) was gapped up nicely. He fired the puck on net. I don’t think he was expecting it to go in. He caught Lincoln (Simons) off-balance where it caught that open, top corner. It’s what you practice, and it paid off tonight.”
With 1:13 left, Ashwaubenon Head Coach Matt Golden pulled Simons for an extra attacker.
Preston Winkler got a great look from the wing with less than a minute remaining, but his shot was deflected at the last second, and the Voyageurs held on for the victory.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here