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Cats freeze the fire

Captain’s five-goal performance powers hockey team past Gretna
Firing the puck on a breakaway, senior captain Reece Wilson looks to add to the lead. Wilson’s five-goal performance propelled the Cats past Gretna for the second time this season. “We noticed Gretna’s defense tends to play a little off, giving you more time and space,” Wilson said. “It was also just good positioning on our end that led to more opportunities and chances to score. After a unique game like that, I think it’s super important to feed off that energy and get the other guys fired up wanting to score and find opportunities.”
Firing the puck on a breakaway, senior captain Reece Wilson looks to add to the lead. Wilson’s five-goal performance propelled the Cats past Gretna for the second time this season. “We noticed Gretna’s defense tends to play a little off, giving you more time and space,” Wilson said. “It was also just good positioning on our end that led to more opportunities and chances to score. After a unique game like that, I think it’s super important to feed off that energy and get the other guys fired up wanting to score and find opportunities.”
Sam Whittaker

On Wednesday, Jan. 15, the Millard West hockey team faced off against the Gretna Dragons at Baxter Arena in their first game back from Winter Break.

These two sides last faced in mid-November where the Wildcats dominated the entire game, putting up seven goals, en route to the 7-0 final score. With four different goal scorers, and freshman goaltender Matthew Scheer collecting his first career shutout, the Wildcats were again heavy favorites to sweep the season series.

“I felt like there was a lot of confidence knowing we could beat this team,” junior defenseman Chayce Smithhisler said. “We didn’t let ourselves get too overconfident and weren’t going to slack off or go easy on them. At our last practice, we were advised to go to anything that involved skating whether it was open skate or a stick and puck to shake off any rust.”

Out of the gate, both sides started quickly trying to use speed to gain an upper hand. Just over four minutes into the opening frame, senior forward Nate Marrinan would regroup the puck in his defensive end and skate the puck through several Gretna defenders. Marrinan’s rebound career back to the goal mouth for senior forward Reece Wilson who shoveled the puck past Dragon freshman goaltender Augustus Meyers making it 1-0 Cats.

“For the first scoring opportunity, they kind of gave me a center lane to drive up the middle, and I took it,” Marrinan said. “I knew if I got around the defense, it was going to give us a good chance to score. Getting a goal like that early in the game is always good because it sets the tone for our team and the opposing team that we’re coming out fast for the rest of the game.

Gretna would knot the score back up at one apiece only three minutes later after senior forward Nathan Milhan was able to slip past the legs of Smithhisler. Once in the corner, Milhan threw the puck to the front of the net which deflected back to an open Dragon near the right circle who beat Wildcat Freshman goaltender Matthew Scheer through the traffic.

Although tied at one after the first period, the Wildcats held an 11-2 shot advantage. This dominating barrage continued into the following period where the Wildcats were proficient on both ends of the ice. It would take almost the entire period until Wilson found the net again near the three-minute mark after a faceoff placed the puck onto Wilson’s tape, where he fired it far side to take a 2-1 advantage into the second intermission.

“I think offensively, it was super important to get off to a hot start which we did,” Wilson said. “That continued for the rest of the game and I happened to be in the right place at the right time to find those opportunities to score. I think it’s super important to have a playmaker and lineman like Nate who’s setting these opportunities up. As a center, you need to always be looking for options and the chemistry me and Nate have really shows sometimes in games like this where we can both put up points.”

Just a minute into the final period with the Dragons on the powerplay, a pass back to the top of the offensive zone would tangle up the Gretna defender. While looking for the puck, Wilson swiftly poked it ahead for a breakaway straight down the ice where Wilson picked his shot past Meyers’ glove side for his third goal of the night.

Gretna’s response only took 30 seconds as a shot from above the offensive faceoff circle took a deflection, creeping past Scheer and cutting the lead to 3-2. 

As the Wildcats transitioned out of their defensive end, Wilson received another pass from Marrinan setting up for another breakaway. As Wilson came in from the right side, Meyers would go down, leading Wilson to swifty roof the puck into the net and doubling the advantage.

With under a minute left and Meyers on the bench for an extra attacker, Wilson would escape to center ice where he fired the puck off the crossbar and in on the empty net making it a 5-2 game. 

Although Gretna would respond with a last-second goal off the ensuing faceoff, the Wildcats would seal a season series sweep of the Dragons, outscoring them 12-3. With the Wildcats entering fifth place, they face a favorable final few games before the state tournament.

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