Outlaws split 2 games to open season

The Isanti Outlaws split their first two games of U.S. Premier Hockey League contests this past weekend.

And co-coach Brett Decheine said he saw some good things from that opening weekend.

“It went better than we expected it would — considering we’re pretty much a brand-new team,” he said. “We came out flying on Friday, and regardless of what happened Saturday, we feel we are the better team.”

The Outlaws opened the season by scoring three goals in the final period to knock off the Northwest Express 6-3 on Friday, Sept. 20 at the Isanti Ice Arena.

Both teams scored in the first period, with Carsen Thorson answering an early Northwest goal by finding the back of the net at the 11:55 mark. The game remained 1-1 until the Express scored on the power play at 11:45, but Thorson retied the game less than a minute later with a shorthanded goal at 12:43.

Hunter Brunner gave the Outlaws a lead with a goal at 15:50, but the Express made the score 3-3 with another power-play goal at 17:07.

The third period belonged to Isanti. Charlie Kritzeck gave the Outlaws the lead for good with his goal at 5:44, and Thorson notched a hat trick by scoring at the 14:47 mark before Brunner scored his second goal just 28 seconds later.

“We felt if we would stay out of the penalty box, we would win the game,” Decheine said. “They scored two power-play goals in the second period; without those, we win 6-1.”

Liam Luther earned the victory in goal for the Outlaws, notching 54 saves. That included 20 saves in the third period that gave his team a chance to win.

“Liam was phenomenal,” Decheine said. “He played lights-out — he was the reason we won that game.”

The two teams met again the next night at the Spooner Civic Center in Spooner, Wisconsin, and the outcome was completely different: Northwest scored twice in the opening period and then added five unanswered goals in the second to claim a 7-1 win.

“The only good take-away from that game was that we outshot and outscored them in the third period,” Decheine said.

The Express scored a power-play goal and an even-strength goal to lead 2-0 after the first period. Then Northwest added a pair of second-period power-play goals and notched four goals in an eight-minute span to pull away.

Kritzeck’s power-play goal at 5:32 of the final period allowed Isanti to avoid the shutout.

Casey Vinti started in goal for the Outlaws and made 26 saves while allowing five goals in the game’s first 32:08. He was replaced by Kyler Smith with 7:52 left in the second period, and Smith stopped all but two of the 25 shots he faced the rest of the way.

“Casey did well — he just can’t stop [the puck] when the other team gets second, third and fourth rebounds,” Decheine said. “I took him out not because he was playing poorly, but to keep his confidence up. … Our [skaters] let him down, and they know that.

“When we put Kyler in, he didn’t get a chance to warm up and allowed two right away. But once he warmed up, he was solid.”

The Outlaws will be off this weekend before beginning a string of six straight home games in October. Decheine said the focus of practice this week will be on special teams as well as stopping the rebounds that allowed the Express to finish with 113 shots in two games.

“We’ll work on our power play and penalty kill, but we’ll really work on positioning,” he said. “That many shots is not sustainable over the course of a season. …

“Positioning is all about picking up the guys crashing the net, or clearing the puck into the corners when a rebound happens. If we do that, both of those are different games.”

The Outlaws will host Wisconsin Rapids at the Isanti Ice Arena on Friday-Saturday, Oct. 4-5, then will take on Hudson on Sunday, Oct. 6. The Dells Ducks will invade the Isanti Ice Arena for games Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 12-13, then the Minnesota Squatch will come to town on Saturday, Oct. 19.

All of these home games will face off at 7 p.m.

“We were happy with the turnout for the first game,” Decheine said. “On Oct. 4 we’ll have a mite game at intermission, and we’ll have a bounce house for the game the next night. We’ll also have a meet and greet so fans can take pictures with the players.

“It should be a fun party.”