Albert Lea boys beat Austin

Published 4:04 pm Saturday, January 18, 2014

Corde Purdie of Albert Lea celebrates a goal by Van Zelanak in the third period Friday at Albert Lea City Arena against Austin. — Micah Bader/Albert Lea Tribune

Matt Cheever of Albert Lea celebrates a goal by Van Zelanak in the third period Friday at Albert Lea City Arena against Austin. — Micah Bader/Albert Lea Tribune

Different day, same result.

The Albert Lea boys’ hockey team shut out Austin 2-0 Saturday to sweep the regular season series.

The win came after the Tigers beat the Packers 3-0 at Austin in the Albert Lea’s season opener. Austin was already 0-1 at that point with a 7-3 loss at La Crescent.

In the first meeting between the Tigers and Packers, Albert Lea scored all of its goals before the third period. But on Saturday, the Tigers entered the final period with the score tied at 0.

Kohl Kriewall of Albert Lea controls the puck Saturday against Austin at Albert Lea City Arena. — Micah Bader/Albert Lea Tribune

“We played hard — our boys always play hard — but we just need to finish more,” said Albert Lea head coach Roy Nystrom. “When we’ve got to wait around for two periods to score a goal, it gets pretty intense.”

Albert Lea goalie Garrett Matz had 10 fewer shots on goal to deal with than he had in the first game against Austin, and he continued to be an iron curtain.

“He’s solid in the goal, and he stopped everything they threw at him,” Nystrom said. “His save percentage is well above 90 percent, and his goal-against average dropped again.”

The Tigers had a slight advantage in shots on goal in each period. In the first two periods, Albert Lea had a two-shot advantage. In the third period, the Tigers had nine shots on goal, while holding the Packers to four.

Albert Lea lit the lamp 6 1/2 minutes into the third period with a power-play goal by Van Zelenak. Matt Cheever was credited with the assist. About 3 minutes later, Zelenak found the net again, and assists went to Cheever and Dalton Flatness.

Zelenak leads the Tigers with 12 goals on the season, while Cheever and Flatness are tied with a team-high six assists.

In the first meeting, each team had one infraction. The rematch was more physical as Albert Lea had six penalties and Austin had five.

Albert Lea (6-6-1, 3-4 Big Nine Conference) earned its first win since beating Simley 4-3 on Dec. 27.

Next, the Tigers host New Prague (12-2-2) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Albert Lea and New Prague could meet in the postseason as both teams are in Section 1A.

The Trojans (12-2-2 overall, 7-0-1 Missota Conference) are on an eight-game winning streak dating back to Dec. 27. However, five of those games were one-point wins. Their latest win was a 6-3 home victory against Northfield on Thursday.

Statistics are in the Scoreboard: Jan. 18, 19 post.