Squirts finish strong in tourney

Staff

Published Thursday, January 25, 2001

PRIOR LAKE - It was a weekend of highs and lows for the Albert Lea A Squirts hockey team.

Thursday, January 25, 2001

PRIOR LAKE - It was a weekend of highs and lows for the Albert Lea A Squirts hockey team.

It ended on a high note.

The A Squirts rebounded from an opening-round loss, winning their next two games to place third in the Prior Lake A Squirts Tournament last weekend.

According to coach Darris Porter, the locals got a wake-up call with a 5-0 opening-round loss to New Ulm, a team Albert Lea had beaten twice in regular-season play.

"The bottom line is, New Ulm came to play and we didn't," aid Porter. "The players were reminded that it takes a total team effort every shift, to give them an opportunity to win games."

Porter said that effort was evident in the next two games, a 2-0 shutout of Mound-Westonka and a dramatic 5-4 overtime victory over St. Paul Como.

Ben Waalkens turned in a strong performance in the nets against Mound-Westonka while Jared Hughes and Adam Royce scored the goals. Casey Woodside had an assist.

Albert Lea and Como Park played to a scoreless tie through one period. After Como took a 1-0 lead in the second, the locals answered with goals by Woodside and Chris Dokken. Blake Adams had an assist. It was tied 2-2 at the buzzer.

In the third period, Como Park scored two quick goals for a 4-2 lead.

With four minutes remaining, Royce cut the lead to one with a slap shot past the goalie's right shoulder to finish a nice end-to-end rush.

Albert Lea took a questionable roughing penalty with 1:10 left but, with 38 seconds on the clock, Dylan Porter managed to tip in the tying goal from a shot off Royce's stick from the blue line.

In overtime, with a four-on-four format, Albert Lea had to kill 50 seconds off the roughing penalty. With only eight seconds remaining, Tyler Prihoda - despite being heavily covered in the corner - managed to find a wide-open Dokken in front of the net. Dokken made his chance count, knocking in the game-winning goal.

"It was a real gutsy performance, especially being down two goals in the third period and coming up with a shorthanded goal to tie the game," said Coach Porter. "The team experienced highs and lows this weekend, and we're looking forward to more positive things the rest of the season."

The rest of the team includes Jordan Prescher, Garrin Bednar, Drew Passingham, Brady Flatness and Grant Stadheim. Assistant coaches are Shawn Prihoda and Jeff Woodside.

The A Squirts' record is 13-6-1. Next up for the team is a home game Saturday at 2:15 against Faribault. The A PeeWees and A Squirts tournament is Feb. 2-4 at the City arena.

---

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE THIS STORY?

---