Hill-Murray Pioneer Hockey: Game 2018-12-20

First Period
HM, Brett Oberle (Nick Pierre, Lucas Wahlin), 5:33 (pp).
STA, Riley O'Brien (Jarod Wright, Will Soderling), 6:58.
HM, Brett Oberle, 15:05.
HM, Nick Pierre, 16:29.

Second Period
HM, Lucas Wahlin (Joe Quast), 8:49 (sh).
STA, Carter Henry (Luke Herzog), 10:08.
HM, Brett Oberle (Lucas Wahlin), 12:31.
HM, Sam Karr (Lucas Wahlin, Brett Oberle), 15:20.

Third Period
No Scoring

Shots by period
Hill-Murray	12	11	8	-	31
St. Thomas Academy	8	10	5	-	23

Goalies Minutes GA Saves Result
HM - Remington Keopple 51 2 21 W
STA - Muzzy Donohue 34 6 17 L
STA - Wes Gervais 17 0 8 Entered start of 3rd period

Power Plays Goals Attempts Time
Hill-Murray 1 1 1:39
St. Thomas Academy 0 3 6:00

Hill-Murray won the first of two showdowns between the hockey powers of the Metro East Conference. Defenseman Brett Oberle led the offensive outburst with three goals.

The opening minutes produced plenty of action on both ends. When Cadet Thomas Winges was sent to the box for high-sticking Lucas Wahlin, Hill-Murray looked dangerous on the power play until St. Thomas Academy cleared to center with 30 seconds left on the penalty. As the other players skated to the bench, Nick Pierre's pass found Oberle in open ice and Oberle scored from the left circle with a wrist shot into the far upper corner.

St. Thomas Academy quickly evened the score with a tic-tac-toe play. Jarod Wright made a short no-look backhand pass from the top of the crease that Riley O'Brien banged in at the side of the net.

Hill-Murray found another gear after that and St. Thomas Academy never recovered. With two minutes remaining in the period, Oberle scored on a near carbon copy of his first shot after stickhandling all the way from his defensive zone. Then Nick Pierre scored also from the same magic spot in the left circle, after outracing everyone to a loose puck that had been drawn back into the neutral zone following a faceoff in Hill-Murray's defensive end.

Frantic action continued at the start of the second period as both teams missed odd-man rushes that were broken up by defenseman. Then Nick Mountain hit the post on another odd-man rush. A minute later, Wahlin hit the other post.

Midway through the period, the Cadets got a power play and a chance to climb back into it, but Joseph Quast got a breakaway which was only stopped by the tip of goalie Muzzy Donohue's right toe. Before anyone else could get to it, Wahlin chipped the puck over the goalie's pad, completing an excellent shorthanded shift in which he knocked the puck out of the defensive zone, eventually leading to Quast's breakaway.

St. Thomas Academy got one back seconds after the power play expired. An unintentional deflection of Carter Henry's long wrist shot sent the puck into the half of the net not covered by the goalie.

With the score now 4-2, Hill-Murray broke the game open as Oberle completed his hat trick, this time from the right circle on a cross-ice one-timer from Wahlin. Sam Karr finished the scoring with yet another shot into the upper corner. Wahlin and Oberle both assisted on the play, bringing each of their point totals to four for the night.