Hockey co-op wins two of three

It wasn’t the finish that senior forward Riley Jelinek and the rest of his fellow seniors were after when Sauk Prairie’s co-op hockey team dropped its regular-season finale last Saturday afternoon. But the Eagles still have high hopes for a long postseason run when the WIAA playoffs start this week. Jelinek and senior forward Camden Desroches each scored a goal and had an assist, but it wasn’t enough as Middleton skated to a 3-2 victory over the Eagles at the Sauk Prairie Area Recreation Center Ice Arena. “We had a couple of power plays. We just didn’t play well,” Sauk Prairie coach David Lohrei said. “Hats off to (Middleton), they played well. “I told (Middleton coach Steffon Walby) we needed a game like that, and they agreed they did, too.” Sauk Prairie (19-4-1) finished up the regular season winning two of three games last week. That included a 5-1 victory over visiting DeForest on Senior Night on Feb. 11 and an 8-1 victory over visiting Stoughton last Thursday. Heading into postseason play, Lohrei said it was important to be ready both mentally and physically, and a hard-fought contest like a match-up against Middleton should boost the Eagles’ playoff hopes. “It was a tight game,” Lohrei said. “We outshot them, we had our moments, but they won. You don’t play this sport to look good. We play to win. We didn’t get ‘er done, but it’s a new season.” It didn’t take Sauk Prairie long to get its high-powered offense going against Middleton (13-10). The Eagles, who entered the game averaging 6.8 goals per contest, needed just 18 seconds to take a 1-0 lead when Jelinek scored off assists from sophomore Nick Mast and Desroches. “It was nice to be able to play against some good competition to get us ready for the playoffs,” said Jelinek, who finished the regular season with a state-best 85 points and was ranked second in assists (49) and fourth in goals (36). But Middleton quickly countered with an unassisted goal from Jake Jordan 64 seconds later. The Cardinals grabbed a 2-1 lead in the second period when Brian Frusciante slammed home a goal from Blake Kalscheur on the power play at the 3:14 mark. Desroches tied the score off an assist from Jelinek at 7:16 of the third period to pull the Eagles even. But Garrett Ballweg tipped in the eventual game-winning goal for the Cardinals less than three minutes later. “That was pretty disappointing, but it’s been a great season,” Lohrei said. “We’re 19-4-1. Who would have ever thought?” Sauk Prairie outshot Middleton, 33-19, including 12-4 in the final period, but was 0-for-4 on the power-play. Noah Hogan had 31 saves for Middleton, while senior goaltender Jordan O’Connor stopped 16 shots for Sauk Prairie. “This was a punch in the face for the boys,” Sauk Prairie senior defenseman Willy Hanson said. “But it’s a good time to wake up. We have to play better than that.  “But it was good to have a game against a team like Middleton going into the postseason.” • Sauk Prairie co-op 5, DeForest co-op 1 — Riley Jelinek scored two goals and had two assists and Camden Desroches added two goals to pace the host Eagles in a Badger North Conference game on Senior Night Feb. 11. Sauk Prairie honored seniors Desroches, Jelinek, Dylan Andrews, Augie Begalske, Lance Bauernhuber, Willy Hanson, Jay Liedtke and Jordan O’Connor before the game.  The Eagles then went out and earned a sweep of the season series with DeForest. Sauk Prairie blanked the Norskies 5-0 on Jan. 10. “That was a big win to keep our confidence up,” Jelinek said. Added Willy Hanson: “The boys knew it was our night. We knew we had to play well. We just did what we had to do. It was fun.” Bryce Jacobsen scored an unassisted goal on a power play in the first period to give DeForest a 1-0 lead. But Sauk Prairie (18-3-1, 7-3-0 Badger North) scored four goals in the second period to take control. Jelinek tied the game with an unassisted goal at the 3 minute, 23 second mark of the second period. Desroches then gave the Eagles the lead for good with a goal at 10:35 off assists from Jelinek and Luke Mast. Just 64 seconds later, Luke Mast added a short-handed goal on an assist from his brother, Nick. Jelinek then capped the four-goal second period for Sauk Prairie on an assist from Nick Mast at 15:03. Desroches capped the scoring off assists from Jelinek and Willy Hanson at 6:39 of the third period.  The Eagles outshot DeForest, 52-13, including 36-8 over the final two periods. Jordan O’Connor had 12 saves for Sauk Prairie. Joe Brethouwer saved 47 shots for DeForest (6-16-1, 0-10-0). • Sauk Prairie co-op 8, Stoughton 1 — Brothers Luke Mast and Nick Mast scored two goals each as the host Eagles skated past the visiting Vikings in a non-conference game last Thursday. Jordan O’Connor had 11 saves for Sauk Prairie (19-3-1). Quinn Ziemann saved 36 shots for Stoughton (4-17-1). Sophomore Hakan Peterson slammed home an assist from Riley Jelinek to give Sauk Prairie a 1-0 lead at the 6:30 mark of the first period. After Dustin Woelke scored to tie the game for the Vikings, Nick Mast answered with a goal off an assist from Camden Desroches just 40 seconds later to give Sauk Prariie the lead for good at 2-1 at the 9:07 mark. Luke Mast, junior Caeben Schomber and Desroches each scored goals in the second period to push Sauk Prairie’s lead to 5-1 entering the final period. Nick Mast, sophomore Micah Hanson and Luke Mast then capped the scoring with a goal apiece in the third period. • On deck: Fourth-seeded Sauk Prairie hosted 13th-seeded Madison La Follette/Madison East co-op (3-19) in a WIAA Division 1 regional semifinal on Tuesday. The winner advanced to the regional final in the Madison Edgewood sectional to play the survivor of a semifinal matchup between fifth-seeded Madison West (16-6-2) vs. 12th-seeded Deforest (4-18) on Feb. 20 at 7 p.m.   Feb. 11 Sauk Prairie co-op 5,  DeForest co-op 1 DeForest ….......…... 1 0 0 — 1 Sauk Prairie …........ 0 4 1 — 5 First period: D — Bryce Jacobsen, 5:00 (pp). Second period: SP — Riley Jelinek, 3:23; Camden Desroches (Jelinek, Luke Mast), 10:35; L. Mast (Nick Mast), 11:39 (sh); Jelinek (N. Mast), 15:03. Third period: SP — Desroches (Jelinek, Willy Hanson), 6:39. Saves: D 47 (Joe Brethouwer); SP 12 (Jordan O’Connor). Penalties-minutes: D 2-4; SP 5-10.   Feb. 13 Sauk Prairie co-op 8,  Stoughton 1 Stoughton ……....…. 1 0 0 — 1 Sauk Prairie co-op .. 2 3 3 — 8 First period: SP — Hakan Peterson (Riley Jelinek), 6:30. St. — Dustin Woelke (Parker Milbauer, Brody Hlavacek), 8:27. Nick Mast (Camden Desroches), 9:07. Second period: SP — Luke Mast (H. Peterson), 7:12; Caeben Schomber (Dylan Andrew, H. Peterson), 14:36; Desroches (N. Mast, L. Mast), 15:17 (pp). Third period: SP — N. Mast (Desroches), 4:07; Micah Hanson (L. Mast, Willy Hanson), 12:08; L. Mast (Augie Begalske, Erik Peterson), 15:31. Saves: St. 36 (Quinn Ziemann), SP 11 (Jordan O’ Connor). Penalties-minutes: St. 6-12, SP 2-4.   Feb. 15 Middleton 3,  Sauk Prairie co-op 2 Middleton …......….. 1 1 1 — 3 Sauk Prairie …........ 1 0 1 — 2 First period: SP — Riley Jelinek (Nick Mast, Camden Desroches), 0:18; M — Jake Jordan, 1:22. Second period: M — Brian Frusciante (Blake Kalscheur), 3:14 (pp). Third period: SP — Desroches (Jelinek), 7:16; M — Garrett Ballweg (Brooke Kalscheur), 11:07. Saves: M 31 (Noah Hogan); SP 16 (Jordan O’Connor). Penalties-minutes: M 4-8; SP 3-6.