It was home sweet home for the Hutchinson boys hockey team Friday night when it blasted Marshall 7-0 to earn its third win against a Section 3A rival.
“Not seeing a lot of those teams … we really have to capitalize on those,” head coach Matt Telecky said about the section win. “If we can get four wins and a tie, that puts us in a really nice spot in the playoffs.”
The win was also nice because it was the start of a six-game home stand for the Tigers, who played seven of their first 11 games of the season on the road.
“It’s a good thing,” junior forward KK Starrett said about the upcoming home games. “We played a lot of road games, we’re getting tired. We’re just trying to feel at home now.”
The Tigers certainly looked at home on the ice at Burich Arena Friday, outshooting Marshall 40-12. They jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, then continued to lay it on with four goals in the second period and one in the third. The complete-game performance was a welcome sight with just two weeks left in the regular season.
“I think we’re a pretty good hockey team once we move our feet, play three periods and focus on one shift at a time,” senior Cam Longie said.
“At the beginning of the year we weren’t playing very good first periods. Our third periods were our best,” Telecky said. “That was one of our goals tonight, to really get out in that first period. We have to play three periods together and get scoring on all three lines, and tonight that happened.”
While the Tigers may have had room for improvement in the first half of the season, they’re proud of their 8-3-1 record, but in the Wright County Conference is where they’ve really shined. The Tigers were 6-3-1 in the WCC following a 4-1 win over Mound Westonka last week, and they were sitting third in the conference standings.
“We haven’t finished in the top half of the conference for awhile,” Longie noted.
A good record in the WCC usually means you’re playing good hockey, as “there’s no easy nights in the Wright County,” according to Telecky. But it should also help the Tigers with their section seeding come playoff time.
Hutchinson has a few more games left in the regular season, however, including big ones against Delano and Orono in the conference, and their season finale against New Ulm, another section foe. If they can finish strong, they could very well be looking at the No. 1 seed through the playoffs.
“We’re just trying to focus on beating the teams we know we can beat … and keep a good mindset on who we should go after,” Starrett said.
Hutchinson 7, Marshall 0 (Feb. 26)
Marshall ……. 0 0 0
Hutchinson … 2 4 1
First period: H—Mitchell Piehl (Alex Staples) 7:27; H—Cam Longie 9:40
Second period: H—Logan Winn (KK Starrett) 1:49; H—Ty Glaser (A.J. Ladwig, Piehl) 2:06; H—Riley Anderson (T.J. Tydlacka, Tristan Hoppe) 5:31; H—Ladwig (Winn, Glaser) 13:18
Third period: H—Piehl (Winn, Ladwig) 5:34
PP: Hutch 0/0; Mar 0/0
Shots: Hutch 40 (13-17-10); Mar 12 (5-3-4)
Saves: H—Griffin Telecky 12/12; Mar—Ezra Maurice 24/30, Gavin Welsh 9/10
Hutchinson 4, Mound Westonka 1 (Feb. 23)
Hutchinson … 1 2 1
Mound W ….. 0 0 1
First period: H—Cam Longie (Tristan Hoppe, Alex Staples) 4:15
Second period: H—Longie (Riley Anderson, Joey Croatt) 9:49; H—KK Starrett (Croatt, Longie) 11:31
Third period: H—A.J. Ladwig 0:09; MW—Ivan Sunder (Michael Doshan) 13:06, PP
PP: Hutch 0/5; MW 1/4
Shots: Hutch 22 (7-8-7); MW 28 (9-10-9)
Saves: H—Austin Hagen 27/28; MW—Harry Moen 18/22
