Eagles’ hockey team wins regional title

With a trip to sectionals on the line, seniors Camden Desroches and Riley Jelinek would not be denied. Sauk Prairie’s co-op hockey team rallied from a one-goal deficit in the second period and skated to a 5-1 win over Madison West in a WIAA Division 1 regional final at the Sauk Prairie Area Recreation Center Ice Arena last Thursday night. “We just jumped on them,” said Jelinek after the Eagles outshot the Regents, 45-14, including putting 17 shots on goal in the first period. We knew we were going to get chances. “We just kept working, never got too high, never got too low. Everyone knew we had to battle back. Everyone worked together, bonded together. We just needed to score.” Jelinek and freshman wing Luke Mast scored two goals apiece, and Desroches added a goal and two assists as the No.4-seeded Eagles (21-4-1) advanced to play at top-seeded and fifth-ranked Verona (21-4) on Feb. 25. The Wildcats, who advanced to the state semifinals last year, defeated Madison Memorial, 7-0, in a regional final.  Sauk Prairie coach David Lohrei was pleased that the Eagles extended their season and was looking forward to facing Verona. “There’s no one who thinks we can win that game, but those guys in our locker room, which is fine,” Lohrei said of the Wildcats. “They’ve got a good team, “We just beat a West team that had been playing really well lately. They swept Middleton, and Middleton just beat us, 3-2. West is a team that is really well-coached.” The Eagles passed the challenge, though, with flying colors. “That was a great win,” Lohrei said. “Tonight the difference was our backchecking. It was amazing. We just worked hard. “We were opportunistic on the power play. Our penalty kill was good. Their goaltender made 17 saves in the first period, but we kept coming. We knew he couldn’t stop them all, but he’s a really good goalie.” Ian Hedican stopped 45 shots for West (12-12-2), including 17 in the first period. But it was only a matter of time that Sauk Prairie, which averaged 6.5 goals per game during the regular season, would find the back of the net. Madison West scored first when Deven Huie converted an assist from Joseph Schaak at the 5 minute, 46 second mark of the second period. But that was all the offense the Regents would muster. Senior goaltender Jordan O’Connor finished with 14 saves, including eight in the first period, for the Eagles. “It was a good goal,” O’Connor said of West’s lone score. “I just knew that after that, it wasn’t going to happen again. It was a lucky goal. I knew what I did wrong. I believed in my team, and we had a lot of power-plays to get the momentum and come back.” Sauk Prairie capitalized on a 5-3 power-play to deliver the equalizer when Jelinek slammed home an assist from Desroches at 8:56 in the second period.  “That gave them momentum,” Madison West coach Steve Libert said. “The momentum moved to their bench on that shift. That was a costly penalty for us. “They’re a team that scores a bunch of goals. So when they get that momentum going, they kind of feel it and there’s blood in the water and they turn it on.” Nearly 2 minutes later, Hakan Peterson fed Luke Mast for the eventual game-winning goal and a 2-1 lead. Desroches, off assists from sophomore Nick Mast and senior Willy Hanson, made it 3-1 with less than 2 minutes left in the period. “We just played hard and put all of our effort into it,” Luke Mast said of the comeback. “We just worked our butts off and came out with a win.”  Jelinek scored an unassisted goal at 11:30 of the third period, his fourth goal in the playoffs, to give the Eagles a 4-1 lead and some breathing room. “Their fourth goal pretty much ended it,” Libert said. “It was game, set, match. In the third period, we had the puck a ton. We just didn’t make a play.”  Luke Mast then capped the scoring with his third playoff goal on a power-play when he tipped in a shot off from Jelinek with 2:20 to play. Desroches said the Eagles’ relentless attack eventually paid dividends. “We knew if we pressured them hard, they’d turn it over and we’d get a lot of chances,” he said. “It worked out and we came away with the win. “It was nice to win the last one at home and have the crowd here. It just brought an extra level of excitement you don’t normally see.” • Sauk Prairie co-op 10, Madison La Follette/Madison East 2 — Camden Desroches and Riley Jelinek scored two goals each and the fourth-seeded eliminated the 13th-seeded Lakers (3-20) on Feb. 18.  The host Eagles scored seven goals in the first period and struck nine times in the first two periods. “It was another game we had to go through to get to where we want to be,” Jelinek said. “We needed to go out and play our game and work hard and we did.” Sauk Prairie (20-3-1) advanced to a regional final against fifth-seeded Madison West (12-11-2), which cruised to a 7-0 victory over 12th-seeded DeForest co-op (7-17-1). The Eagles used a balanced attack to put away La Follette/East with 11 players recording at least one point and eight players scoring at least one goal. Lance Bauernhuber, Augie Begalske, Micah Hanson, Luke Mast, Nick Mast and Erik Peterson each scored a goal. Hakan Peterson also finished with three assists for Sauk Prairie, which got 13 saves from Jordan O’Connor.   Feb. 18 Division 1 Regional semifinal Sauk Prairie co-op 10, Madison La Follette/East 2 La Follette/East ….. 1 1 0 —   2 Sauk Prairie ….… 7 2 1 — 10 First period: SP — Camden Desroches , 1:15; Micah Hansen (Willy Hansen, Luke Mast), 3:21; Nick Mast (Riley Jelinek), 4:12; Erik Peterson (Hakan Peterson, L. Mast), 4:55. M — Tobias Rothman, 10:35. SP — Augie Begalske (H. Peterson, Lance Bauernhuber), 13:34; Jelinek (N. Mast), 15:41; Bauernhuber (H. Peterson, Jay Andrews), 16:53. Second period: M — Owen Bieri, 2:54; SP — L. Mast, 7:33; Desroches (Jelinek, W. Hansen), 12:40. Third period: SP — Jelinek (N. Mast, Desroches), 1:07. Saves: M 37 (Easton Seifert); SP 13 (Jordan O’Connor). Penalties-minutes: M 1-2; SP 2-4.   Feb. 20 Division 1 Regional final Sauk Prairie 5, Madison West 1 Madison West ……. 0 1 0 — 1 Sauk Prairie …........ 0 3 2 — 5 Second period: MW — Deven Huie (Joseph Schaak), 5:46. SP — Riley Jelinek (Camden Desroches), 8:56 (pp); Luke Mast (Hakan Peterson), 10:45; Desroches (Nick Mast, Willy Hanson), 15:14. Third period: SP — Jelinek, 11:30; L. Mast (Jelinek, Desroches), 14:40 (pp). Saves: MW 45 (Ian Hedican); SP 14 (Jordan O’Connor). Penalties-minutes: MW 5-10; SP 3-6.   GYMNASTICS Sauk Prairie’s girls gymnastics team placed eighth at the annual Badger Conference meet hosted by Waunakee last Saturday. Mount Horeb defended its title, scoring 143.475 points and finishing nearly six points ahead of runner-up Milton/Edgerton (137.75). Junior Drea O’Connell swept all four events, including a first-place tie, and the all-around to pace the Vikings. Waunakee/DeForest (135.425), Watertown (129.0) and Baraboo (128.75) rounded out the top five. Sauk Prairie scored 118.375 points to finish less than a point behind seventh-place Monona Grove (119.45). Sauk Prairie’s best event performance came in the floor exercise with a sixth-place finish after recording a score of 33.175 points. The Eagles also finished seventh on the balance beam (28.475), tied for seventh on the vault (32.075) and eighth on the uneven bars (24.65). Individually, junior Heidi Kuhnau led the way for Sauk Prairie, placing eighth in the floor exercise with a score of 8.95. She also finished eighth on the uneven bars (8.05), 15th on the vault (8.35) and was a team-best 11th overall in the all-around (33.125).  Sophomore Ava Putnam topped Sauk Prairie on the balance beam with a score of 8.075 to finish in 17th place. She also finished 16th in the all-around (31.65). • On deck: Sauk Prairie will compete at the WIAA Division 2 sectional meet that will be held in Mount Horeb on Thursday beginning at 5 p.m.   Feb. 22 Badger Conference Meet Team scores: 1, Mount Horeb 143.475; 2, Milton/Edgerton 137.75; 3, Waunakee/DeForest 135.425; 4, Watertown 129.0; 5, Baraboo 128.75; 6, Reedsburg 122.575; 7, Monona Grove 119.45; 8, Sauk Prairie 118.375. Balance beam: 1, O’Connell, MH, 9.675; 2, O’Neil, MH, 9.35; 3, Hurtgen, Wtn, 9.25; 4, L. Weier, MH, 9.225; 5, Domask, WD, 9.05; 6, Burki, ME, 9.0. Sauk Prairie – 17, Ava Putnam, 8.075; 21, Heidi Kuhnau, 7.775; 36, Rachel Endthoff, 6.35; 37, Kylie Wilson, 6.275; 39, Addie Desroches, 5.7. Floor exercise: 1, O’Connell, MH, 9.525; 2, Burki, ME, 9.225; 3, O’Neil, MH, 9.175; 4, Domask, WD, 9.15; 5, Hurtgen, Wtn, 9.125; 6 (tie), Lutter, R, and E. Weier, MH, 9.05. Sauk Prairie – 8, Kuhnau, 8.95; 16, Putnam, 8.625; 30, Desroches, 8.05; 33, Emma Bockhop, 7.55; 36, Wilson, 7.425. Uneven bars: 1, O’Connell, MH, 9.2; 2, Olstad, ME, 8.8; 3, Powers, WD, 8.5; 4 (tie), Dunk, ME, and E. Weier, MH, 8.45; 6 (tie), Hurtgen, Wtn, and Girard, ME, 8.2. Sauk Prairie – 8, tie, Kuhnau, 8.05; 29, Putnam, 6.9; 38, Desroches, 5.1; Alexis Strunz, 4.6; Endthoff, 4.5. Vault: 1 (tie), Dunk, ME, and O’Connell, MH, 9.35; 3, Weier, MH, 9.325; 4, Lutter, R, 9.15; 5, E. Weier, MH, 8.925; 6, O’Neil, MH, 8.875. Sauk Prairie – 15, tie, Kuhnau, 8.35; 25, Wilson, 8.175; 28, Putnam, 8.05; 39, Desroches, 7.5. All-around: 1, O’Connell, MH, 37.75; 2, L. Weier, MH, 35.425; 3, Dunk, ME, 35.2; 4, O’Neil, MH, 35.0; 5, Hurtgen, Wtn, 34.925; 6, Domask, WD, 34.55; 7, E. Weier, MH, 34.45; 8, Burki, ME, 34.275; 9, Lutter, R, 33.95; 10, Girard, ME, 33.475. Sauk Prairie – 11, Kuhnau, 33.125; 16, Putnam, 31.65; 22, Desroches, 26.35.