JUNIOR HOCKEY: Wolverines barrage cools Icemen
<p>Whitefish Wolverine Johnathan Ball takes a shot during the Wolverines' blowout of the Lake Tahoe Icemen at the Stumptown Ice Den on Friday. Ball had four assists and a goal in the game. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
WHITEFISH — The Whitefish Wolverines pounded Lake Tahoe 13-1 on Friday night, so when they roared out to a 5-1 lead against that same Icemen team on Saturday, it looked like another rout was on.
But Lake Tahoe goalie Jackson Brown had other ideas.
Whitefish put an absurd 81 shots on goal but was shut out after the opening period and held on for a 5-3 win over Lake Tahoe in Western States Hockey League action at the Stumptown Ice Den.
“It was a slow game,” Wolverines coach Joakim Falt said. “We went up 5-1 quick and then we shut down, we didn’t really want to play.”
The second period started with a skirmish in front of the Icemen goalie, and from that point on Brown was unbeatable. He finished the game with 76 saves, including nearly 50 in a row over the final two periods.
“He’s pretty good,” Falt said of Brown. “We made him good, too.”
Brown was busy all night as the Wolverines dominated play and possession. He made 25 saves in the first period, 23 in the second and 28 in the third.
The Wolverines (19-31-0-1) opened the scoring just over three minutes into the game when Riley Ingalls found the back of the net. After the Icemen answered with a score a little more than a minute later, the Wolverines put the game out of reach with a flurry of goals.
Silas Johnson got the binge started with a power play goal at 8:39 of the period. Raimo Eskelinen, Tyler Latimer and Jan Tesarek followed with three goals over a 4:23 stretch later in the first to make it 5-1.
Defenseman Brett Fernandez led the Wolverines with four points, picking up the primary assist on all but one of Whitefish’s goals. Ingalls, Tesarek and Johnson all had a goal and an assist.
Lake Tahoe (2-49-0-0) regained some footing in the second period and found the back of the net twice in the last three minutes of the frame to pull within two.
Whitefish’s final game of the regular season is today at 1:35 p.m. against the Icemen.
The Wolverines have qualified for the WSHL playoffs as the fifth seed in the Northwest Division and will play a best-of-three playoff series on the road against the Vancouver Rangers.
Lake Tahoe 1 2 0 — 3
Whitefish 5 0 0 — 5
First Period
WF — Riley Ingalls (Brett Fernandez, Silas Johnson), 3:07
LT — Taylor Garner (Colton Langowski, Artsiom Surmach), 4:21
WF — Johnson (Fernandez, Ingalls), 8:39 - PP
WF — Raimo Eskelinen (Jan Tesarek), 14:23
WF — Tyler Latimer (Fernandez, Coutts), 15:44
WF — Tesarek (Fernandez), 18:46
Second Period
LT — Garrett Boehm (Austin Lykins, Edgar Gonzalez), 16:59
LT — Langowski (Surmach, Garner), 17:59