Beloit Memorial hockey team hits its stride as playoffs begin

BELOIT — After a 1-7 start to the season and some real soul-searching moments, Beloit Memorial’s 11th-seeded boys hockey team has peaked at the right time.

The Purple Knights knocked off host Marquette 7-4 on Tuesday in their WIAA regional opener to advance to Thursday’s game against No. 3 Kettle Moraine at Naga-Waukee Ice Arena in Delafield. Game time is at 7 p.m.

Beloit (10-15-0) won its fourth straight game and during that span has outscored opponents 25-9.

One of the biggest reasons for the surge? Cutting down on time in the penalty box.

“We’ve done a lot better job of that the past four games” Beloit head coach James Hoey said. “It’s been a problem of ours all season. I keep telling the guys, wouldn’t you like to play three periods of hockey because we were spending one period in the box typically, short-handed. I think it finally sunk in these past four games. When we play 5-on-5 we can play with almost anybody.”

That realization has Hoey confident Thursday’s rematch with Kettle Moraine won’t resemble the first meeting at Edwards Ice Arena on Jan. 29 because he doesn’t expect a crowd in the penalty box.

The Knights had a whopping 14 infractions for 44 minutes in penalties in that one while Kettle Moraine, which escaped with an 8-7 win, was whistled nine times for 29 minutes in the box.

“It got chippy,” Hoey said. “There were a lot of slashings and roughings. In playoff hockey, you have to forget and move on. You have to be smart. You can’t take a dumb penalty that might knock you out for the next game. There was kind of a scrum at the end of Tuesday night’s game and I was proud of the way my guys handled it. They didn’t retaliate and nothing bad happened to us as a result.”

The first matchup with Kettle Moraine was definitely one of momentum. The Knights allowed Kettle Moraine’s Eli Schwartz to score four first-period goals and trailed 5-1 in the second period. Then they ran off four straight goals, all on power plays, to tie the game. Kettle Moraine answered with three straight goals to end the period, two on power plays.

The Knights scored twice in the third period to draw within 8-7, but couldn’t complete the comeback despite outshooting the visitors 39-26.

“We ran out of time,” Hoey said.

Kettle Moraine, also known as KMMO (an abbreviation for the co-op Kettle Moraine, Mukwonago and Oconomowoc) finished in a tie for third in the Classic Eight Conference at 7-3-0, 14-7-1 overall.

One of the Lasers’ losses was 5-1 to Marquette.

“If you look at the Milwaukee-area schools in our sectional, they’ve all beaten up on each other,” Hoey said. “We can make a run in the playoffs. We beat Marquette (Tuesday night) and they’ve beat a number of teams in our sectional. It’s really who shows up and plays the better game that night.

“We were a little disappointed with our seeding at sectional, but in the end I think it could be a good path for us.”

The Knights have outshot opponents most games. Hoey said the difference lately is the quality of the shots.

“We have improved getting closer shots and rebounds,” Hoey said. “We live and die in front of the net. A large percentage of our goals are one-timers or rebounds. Tuesday night Nathan Fiebig had a hat trick and at least two of the goals were him parked in front of the net, taking a pass and one-timing it past the goaltender.”

Max Allen, a senior from Beloit Memorial, led the Knights during the regular season with 32 points (16 goals, 16 assists) and Cole Rowald, a senior from Turner, has 30 (17 goals, 13 assists), but the team has eight skaters in double figures in points.

Hononegah sophomore Gavin Brady has 11 goals and 18 points while Turner junior Jayden Piccione and Clinton senior Payton Whalen both have seven goals and Beloit Memorial sophomore Marcus Allen and Hononegah junior Brayden Lane have six apiece. Parkview senior Fiebig, who had the three goals on Tuesday, matched his regular-season output so there’s plenty of firepower.

“We’re spreading our scoring out,” Hoey said. “Some teams rely on just a few guys to do all their scoring. Our second and third line have stepped up and scored as much or more than our first line. That’s been big for us.”

The Knights have added a little more depth late in the season, too. While senior Sam Rowald broke his collarbone mid-season and is out, the Knights have had two players return to the rotation full-time recently: Clinton senior Nathan Anastasi, who recovered from a deep thigh bruise and Parkview soph Drake Juhl, who was medically cleared after having injured his spleen earlier in the season.

“Anastasi played a full game Tuesday night and played great and so did Juhl, who had a huge assist,” the coach said.

On defense, goalie Gentry Grant, a Hononegah junior, has had plenty of help lately, too.

“We talk about guys laying out and blocking every shot that’s going to the net,” Hoey said. “(Against Marquette) Marcus Allen had a great game. He blocked a ton of shots. After the game we give out hard hats to a couple of guys who played well and he definitely earned one. When you can limit the number of shots your goalie faces, that’s huge.”

Assessing his team, Hoey said staying disciplined and staying on the ice are just part of the reason for Beloit’s late-season surge.

“I think we’re finally figuring it out, about playing as a team, not taking as many penalties and making smarter decisions with the puck,” he said. “It took us about three-quarters of the season to figure out how we should be playing the game.”