The Mound-Westonka Boy’s Hockey team ended their regular season with a pair of home games. On Tuesday, February 17, the White Hawks hosted St. Cloud Cathedral, a team that was undefeated in conference play and ranked # 4 in state. Cathedral had beaten the White Hawks 6-0 up in St. Cloud, and they repeated that performance at the White Hawk rink. Cathedral had 4 shots on net in the first minute of play, but the White Hawks kept it knotted at 0-0 for most of the first period. Cathedral broke open the scoring on a strange play with just under 4 minutes left in the first period, During a flurry in front of the White Hawk net, a Cathedral forward was checked into the net, and with this player in the net behind the goalie, another player put a backhand shot over goalie Aaron Davis’ reach. A Cathedral defenseman, connected with a forward floating at the White Hawk blue line 2 minutes later, and his breakaway shot beat Davis for a quick 2-0 Cathedral lead after one.
In the second period, Cathedral added two more on two point-blank, one-touch shots. The first came with 7 minutes left in the period, on a pass from behind the White Hawk net to a man wide open 6 feet in front, who one-timed a quick slap shot into the net. The second came on a pass from the near circle to a man breaking to the net, who reached out and deflected the pass into the net for a 4-0 Cathedral lead after two. In the third period, Cathedral added the final 2, one on a blistering wrist shot from the center slot, and the final goal on a face-off pass to a forward on the corner of the net, who one-touched the pass into the upper corner for a final 6-0 Cathedral win. The White Hawks could only put together 3 shots in each of the first two periods, and ended the game with 11 shots on net, while Davis saw 42 shots in net for the White Hawks.
On Saturday, February 21, the White Hawks ended their regular season with a strong performance against Owatonna. Colin Mayer was back from his broken arm injury, and the White Hawks were fired up. They came out attacking, and just over 5 minutes into the game, Broc Couser took a slap shot from the point that was partially blocked. Dan Hoy picked up the loose puck in front, and when his shot was saved, Riley Horgan grabbed the rebound, pulled it out away from the net, and pushed it past the Owatonna goalie for an early 1-0 lead. With 3 minutes left in the period, Couser made a pinpoint pass from the defensive end to Colin Mayer breaking over the Owatonna blue line. Mayer took the puck into the circle and snapped a hard shot on the ice and under the goalie’s pads for a 2-0 White Hawk lead after one.
In the first minutes of the second period, Couser flipped the puck off the boards out of the defensive end, and Mayer outraced the Owatonna defense along the boards to the puck. Mayer took it into the offensive zone and toward the net, sliding a slick pass to Dan Hoy at the last second, and Hoy tucked the puck into the net for a 3-0 lead. Nick Kuehl made it 4-0 halfway through the second period when he picked up a loose puck along the boards at the Owatonna blue line, circled out to center ice and back into the offensive zone on the other side, and took a wrist shot from the top of the circle that caught the net just under the crossbar. Owatonna came out tough in the third period, outshooting the White Hawks over the last 17 minutes, but they could not get the puck past senior goalie Dan Swanson. The White Hawk’s Kirby Horgan added an empty net goal late in the game, to finish off a solid 5-0 White Hawk win. In net, Swanson stopped 20 Owatonna shots and recorded his first varsity shut-out. The White Hawks finished the season with a 15-10 record, and have received a # 3 seed in section play.
