It was a tie and a loss for the Mound Westonka boys high school hockey team in conference play with two home games against Holy Family and St. Cloud Cathedral Thurs. Feb 3 and Sat Feb. 5.

The White Hawks were looking to avenge an early season defeat to Holy Family at Victoria field house. The Fire scored early at the .58 mark of the 1^st after winning the opening faceoff and keeping the puck in the MW  zone for the first minute of play. Just two minutes later they would tally again on a short-handed breakaway at 3.01 putting MW behind two goals early in the contest. The White Hawks answered at 5.39 when Alex Bakke (Bingham) skated around the Fire goalie putting in his own rebound.  MWs Charlie Hales knotted the score up at 2 after Jack Brandstetter created a turnover behind the HF net at 10.03 of the period.  Late in the frame HF took the lead 3-2 on  4 on 4 even strength goal when the White Hawks left the Fires leading scorer Brady Riesgraf all alone in the front of the MW goal for several seconds. With just 10 sec. left before the break MW failed to connect on a three on one break that would have tied the score.

Holy Family extended the lead at 6.47 of the 2^nd on a power play goal. The MW skaters dug in and scored twice on goals by Hales (Horgan) and J. Brandstetter (Curti,Horgan) in the middle of the 2^nd. Late in the 2^nd, the Fire’s Riesgraf would score a power play goal with just 10 sec. before the break giving the visitors a 5-4 lead.

Most of the first two periods was played at a slow pace with many whistles and face offs for the first 34 minutes of the game.  That changed in the 3^rd, with a brisk pace and hard skating by both teams.  At 4.16 HF extended the lead to two again on a goal by the Fire’s Sam Stenson. The White Hawks pulled to within one as a Fire two man double minor expired  on J Brandstetter’s (Curti,Horgan) second goal on the night. The  Hales, Horgan, J. Brandstetter line scored 5 of the 6 MW goals on the evening with defenseman Curtis 3 assists.  MW pulled the netminder, and at 15.46 Horgan (Pearson)  put the puck in the net forcing overtime.

The game went to an 8 min. overtime and at 4.58 MWs Alex Bakke was hauled down from behind on a breakaway and the referee awarded a penalty shot.   Bakke could not deke the Fire goaltender and the game remained tied.  At 5.56 there was a wild scrum in front of the HF net and once again the White Hawks couldn’t beat the goalie.    OT expired for a 6-6 tie for both teams.

Two days later, the White Hawks hosted St. Cloud Cathedral for a late afternoon tilt. The game was intense and hard hitting from the start. The Crusaders scored the 1^st period’s only goal late at 15.39. White Hawk goaltender Andy Seats kept MW in the game with 16 saves, many of them difficult.

MW’s Charlie Hales(Horgan)  tied the score early in the 2^nd at 1.57 after a faceoff created  a loose puck in front of the St. Cloud net.  The Crusaders regained the lead after a MW turnover created a wide open net for an easy goal. Hales narrowly missed and goal at the buzzer on a breakaway and at the end of 2 Cathedral held  2-1 lead.

The hard checking and crisp passing continued in the 3^rd period with both teams looking for the next goal. The Crusaders  scored the game’s next two points  for a 4-1 three goal lead. MW scored late in the period and found themselves on the short end of a 2-4 loss.

With White Hawk junior defenseman Blake Brandstetter out with a concussion, the Defensive quartet of Joe Graphenteen, Charlie Curti, Matt Pearson, Will Griffith have done a standout job skating shorthanded on the blue line for several games.   Next up for MW, Waconia Tues. Feb. 15 for the season’s final home game (senior night) and the last regular season game at Orono on Sat. Feb. 19.