Hockey co-op gets some revenge

Senior forward Riley Jelinek and Sauk Prairie’s co-op hockey team were looking for some revenge when Beaver Dam’s co-op team arrived for a Badger North Conference rematch at the Sauk Prairie Area Recreation Center Ice Arena. With the added incentive of a shot at the conference title still within reach, the Eagles delivered in prime time. Jelinek and sophomore Nick Mast each scored two goals, and senior goaltender Jordan O’Connor stopped 16 of 17 shots as Sauk Prairie skated to an impressive 5-1 victory over the Beaver Dam co-op last Friday night. That capped a perfect week for the Eagles, who began a span of three games in four days with a 6-1 non-conference victory at Monroe on Jan. 28 and then routed visiting Tomah/Sparta 9-1 in a non-conference game last Thursday. “We have a chance to win conference now,” said Jelinek, who also had an assist and leads the state with 67 points, including 27 goals and 40 assists. “We have a lot of seniors that want that to happen. We’re going out there and playing our hardest. We’re ready to go all the time,”  Sauk Prairie, which is riding an eight-game winning streak, improved to 15-2, including 6-2 in the Badger North. The victory over Beaver Dam provided the Eagles with some payback for one their two losses this season. “We were waiting for them,” Nick Mast said of Beaver Dam (10-6-2, 4-3-1). “We circled the date. We were all pumped so this was good. “In the first game, we took a lot of penalties and played short-handed a lot and that gave them a lot of momentum.” Sauk Prairie dropped a 4-2 decision at Beaver Dam on Dec. 19, which snapped the Eagles’ season-opening six-game winning streak. But there wasn’t going to be a repeat performance of that frustrating loss if the Eagles had a say in it. “The playoffs start for the sectional in two weeks,” Sauk Prairie coach David Lohrei said. “But with Baraboo beating Waunakee (Thursday) night, we’re in a three-game league playoff. This was game one. “Obviously the big one is at Waunakee. We’ve got to play a really good Waunakee team next.”  Sauk Prairie trails league-leading Waunakee (14-6, 7-1 Badger North) by one game in the loss column with two league games left to play. The Warriors dealt the Eagles their only other loss, a 2-0 decision on Jan. 7 at home. “This is a good group of guys. They know what it is to win some games,” Lohrei said of the Sauk Prairie co-op, which includes players from Sauk Prairie, Mount Horeb and Wisconsin Heights high schools. “If we beat Waunakee, then we have to beat DeForest to get at least a tie. Waunakee has to play Reedsburg, too. If Waunakee beats us, it’s a done deal and they win conference.” Nick Mast’s goal off an assist from Jelinek at the 10 minute, 57 second mark of the opening period gave Sauk Prairie the lead for good.  “That was a good goal,” said Mast, who is one of three brother combinations on the Eagles’ roster – from three different schools.  The Masts, including Luke, a freshman, are from Sauk Prairie. Sophomore twins Erik and Hakan Peterson are from Mount Horeb, while senior Willy and sophomore Micah Hanson are from Wisconsin Heights. “It got us some momentum and we were able to build on it and keep scoring more goals,” added Luke Mast. “That was huge for us.” Sauk Prairie then scored three power-play goals in the second period to take control. “We outshot them 49-17 (overall),” said Lohrei, which included a 23-4 edge in the second period. “We had 11 minutes of power-play in the second period.” Jelinek made it 2-0 off assists from Nick Mast and senior Camden Desroches at the 7:03 mark. Nick Mast added his second goal of the game and 24th of the season at 12:22 on assists from Desroches and Jelinek. Sauk Prairie then extended its lead to 4-0 when Jelinek rebounded his own missed shot and slammed it home in the 14th minute. Ben Cremers ruined O’Connor’s bid for her fifth shutout of the season with a goal with just under 6 minutes to play. But Hakan Peterson quickly countered with a goal off an assist from Nick Mast 25 seconds later for the Eagles to cap the scoring. “We needed this game to stay in contention for (the conference title),” Desroches said. “That put a lot of pressure on us early in the game, and I think that helped because we focused more. It really brought us more together as a team, and we were prepared.” O’Connor did her part in notching her 15th victory of the season between the pipes, including making several big saves in the final period. “Today was a good day for Jordan,” Lohrei said. “She made some really good saves. She made some glove saves. She made some pad saves. She made a couple flurry saves.”  Added Desroches: “She played really well tonight. She stopped a lot of back door shots and really helped us. It could have been closer if she didn’t make the saves we needed. We gave her (a round) applause at the end of the game. We thought she played fantastic.” • Sauk Prairie co-op 6, Monroe co-op 1 — Seniors Augie Begalske and Willy Hanson each scored two goals to lead the Eagles’ season sweep of the host Cheesemakers. Sauk Prairie (13-2) defeated Monroe, 5-2, in their first meeting of the season on Nov. 26. In the rematch, the Eagles outshot the Cheesemakers, 65-12, including 17-2 in the opening period. That also led to a 5-of-6 performance on the power-play for the Eagles. “That doesn’t happen very often,” coach Lohrei said of the flurry of power-play goals. “We scored well. They do a good job. They’re going to make mistakes but I’m happy for them.” Begalske converted a power-play goal off an assist from Riley Jelinek at 16:11 of the first period to open the scoring for Sauk Prairie. Camden Desroches made it 2-0 3 minutes into the second period off assists from Hakan Peterson and Jelinek. Begalske notched his second goal of the game on the power-play off assists from Desroches and Jelinek at the 12:25 mark. Hanson then scored back-to-back power-play goals within a span of 24 seconds in the 16th minute to push Sauk Prairie’s lead to 4-0. Luke Mast and Desroches assisted on Hanson’s first goal at 16:06, and Erik Peterson and Jay Liedtke set up Hanson’s follow-up goal at 16:30. Monroe (13-6) ended goaltender Jordan O’Connor’s bid for a shutout with a goal from Cooper Dreyfus at 10:13 of the final period. Nick Mast capped the scoring for the Eagles at 15:13 on the power-play off assists from Begalske and Jelinek. O’Connor finished with 11 saves for Sauk Prairie, while Heath Bear had 32 saves and Jayden Johnson made 27 stops for the Cheesemakers. • Sauk Prairie co-op 9, Tomah/Sparta 1 — The host Eagles scored six goals in the first period to handle the visiting Timberwolves. Camden Desroches scored a hat trick and had two saves for Sauk Prairie. Jay Liedtke scored two goals, Nick Mast had two goals and three assists, and Riley Jelinek recorded a goal and five assists for the Eagles. Gavin Hammer saved 40 shots for the Timberwolves (8-9-1), while Jordan O’Connor stopped 16 shots for Sauk Prairie. • On deck: Following a non-conference game at McFarland on Tuesday, Sauk Prairie takes on host and Badger North Conference-leading Waunakee on Thursday at 7:15 p.m. The Eagles then complete a span of four games in five days with a non-conference game at Beloit Memorial on Friday at 7 p.m. and a non-conference game against visiting Black River Falls on Saturday at 1 p.m.   Jan. 28 Sauk Prairie co-op 6, Monroe co-op 1 Sauk Prairie …......... 1 4 1 — 6 Monroe ….......…….. 0 0 1 — 1 First period: SP — Augie Begalske (Riley Jelinek), 16:11 (pp). Second period: SP — Camden Desroches (Hakan Peterson, Jelinek), 3:00; Begalske (Desroches, Jelinek), 12:25 (pp); Willy Hanson (Luke Mast, Desroches), 16:06 (pp); W. Hanson (Erik Peterson, Jay Liedtke), 16:30 (pp). Third period: M — Cooper Dreyfus (Roman Bauer), 10:13; SP — Nick Mast (Begalske, Jelinek), 15:13 (pp). Saves: SP 11 (Jordan O’Connor); M 59 (Heath Bear 32, Jayden Johnson 27). Penalties-minutes: SP 1-2; Mon 7-25.   Jan. 30 Sauk Prairie co-op 9, Tomah/Sparta 1 Tomah/Sparta ...….. 0 0 1 — 1 Sauk Prairie ……..... 6 1 2 — 9 First period: SP — Nick Mast (Camden Desroches, Jay Liedtke), 2:34; Hakan Peterson (Riley Jelinek), 4:28; N. Mast (Desroches), 10:32; Desroches (Augie Begalske, Jelinek), 11:15; Liedtke (Lance Bauernhuber), 12:10; Liedtke (Jelinek), 15:04. Second period: SP — Jelinek (Begalske, N. Mast), 13:07. Third period: SP — Desroches (Jelinek, N. Mast), 11:29. T/S — Evan Long, 12:36. SP — Desroches (N. Mast, Jelinek); 14:30. Saves: T/S 40 (Gavin Hammer); SP 16 (Jordan O’Connor). Penalties-minutes: T/S 1-2; SP 2-15.   Jan. 31 Sauk Prairie co-op 5,  Beaver Dam co-op 1 Beaver Dam ..…….. 0 0 1 — 1 Sauk Prairie …...…. 1 3 1 — 5 First period: SP — Nick Mast (Camden Desroches), 10:57. Second period: SP — Riley Jelinek (N. Mast, Desroches), pp, 7:03; N. Mast (Desroches, Jelinek), pp, 12:22; Jelinek, pp, 14:36. Third period: BD — Ben Cremers (Eli Utech), 11:22. SP — Hakan Peterson (N. Mast), 11:47. Saves: BD 44 (Kirk Davis); SP 16 (Jordan O’Connor). Penalties-minutes: BD 5-18; SP 4-8.