Keeping its Suburban East Conference title hopes alive, the Stillwater boys hockey team also kept another trend going while falling to Rogers 4-1 in a nonconference game on Tuesday, Jan. 30 at the St. Croix Valley Rec Center.
It was the third game in a week for the Ponies (10-1-0 SEC, 10-7-1), who after recording league victories over Roseville and Park fell to 0-6-1 against nonconference opponents. Five of those seven nonconference games were against teams currently ranked among the state’s top eight.
“They’re a good team,” Ponies coach Greg Zanon said. “They’re a faster team than I think we’ve seen most of this year and their D does a good job of holding their blue line.”
Rogers (12-6-2) outshot the Ponies 16-4 in the opening period while building a 1-0 lead on the first of two goals by Nolen Geerdes.
The Royals extended their lead on a goal from Keaton Weis midway through the second, but Luca Jarvis answered for Stillwater about a minute later to climb within 2-1. But Weis scored again for Rogers on a breakaway with just 12 seconds remaining in the period to put the Royals in front 3-1 going into the third.
“That was a momentum killer for us, but guys were in good spirits,” Zanon said. “We’ve been able to score lots of goals and we always believe in our offense and we had some chances in the third period.
“A lot of their opportunities came off turnovers or mistakes that we made. They had two breakaways in the second they scored on and that can’t happen. Top teams take advantage of those opportunities. These are all learning lessons we have to make sure we take with us as we continue forward.”
Stillwater created more chances in the third but were unable to push anything past Rogers goaltender Aiden Dietrich, who finished with 25 saves. Geerdes sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with just over a minute remaining in the third.
“This has been our MO when playing against a top team,” Zanon said. “We wait and kind of watched them skate around and they kind of controlled our defensive zone. We came out of it better in the second and the third was definitely our best period.”
Goaltender Alex Reedy totaled 35 saves and helped the Ponies kill off all five penalties. Rogers put Stillwater on the power play just once in the game.
“We did take five penalties, but our PK was outstanding,” Zanon said. “(Reedy) played outstanding for us. He’s been great for us all season and keeps us in games.”
The Ponies remain tied with White Bear Lake (10-1-0, 13-4-1) atop the SEC standings, just ahead of Park (8-4, 11-7) and Cretin-Derham Hall (7-3-0, 10-7-1). Stillwater split its two games against the Bears and has five conference games remaining, along with nonconference games against Eden Prairie and Holy Family.
“As long as guys are learning and getting better and finding things about themselves,” Zanon said. “Last year we were 7-2 or 6-3 in nonconference and we played all the same teams, but we were losing games in our conference that we probably shouldn’t have lost. Other than the Minnetonka game, they have been one-goal or close games and we’ve been in every game and had leads in many of those games. You’re just looking for one or two to go in because anything can change a game. It didn’t happen (on Tuesday), but we were in the game and looking for that fight out of our guys.”
Rogers 1 2 1 — 4
Stillwater 0 1 0 — 1
First period — 1. Rog, Nolen Geerdes (Caden Olsen, Mason Wanka) 11:04.
Second period — 2. Rog, Keaton Weis (Geerdes, Olsen) 7:05; 1. St, Luca Jarvis (Trey Fredenberg, Matthew Volkman) 8:14; 3. Rog, Weis (unassisted) 16:48.
Third period — 4. Rog, Geerdes (Jake Vukich) en, 15:43.
Penalties — Ros, 1-2:00; St, 5-10:00.
Saves — Rog (Aiden Dietrich) 4-10-11—25; St (Alex Reedy) 15-7-13—35.
Stillwater 5, Roseville 1
Freshman Luca Jarvis delivered two goals to help the Ponies pull away from Roseville for a 5-1 conference victory on Saturday, Jan. 27 at the SCVRC.
It was the 10th straight league victory for the Ponies since falling to White Bear Lake in their SEC opener on Dec. 5.
Held scoreless throughout much of the opening period, Stillwater struck twice in the final two minutes on goals by Trey Fredenberg and Jarvis.
Blake Vanek stretched the lead to 3-0 with about three minutes remaining in the second. Will Kane and Jarvis tacked on a goal each in the third, sandwiched around a goal from Jovan Fowler of Roseville (1-9-1 SEC, 6-11-1).
“We were playing really good hockey,” Ponies coach Greg Zanon said. “We moved the puck around and executed. The way our guys can get up and down the ice, we’re a tough team to play against. Trying to find that every night has been our Achilles’ heel at this point, but we’ll get there.”
It was the only blemish against Ponies goaltender Landon Huber, who finished with 20 saves.
The Raiders took Stillwater to overtime before falling 5-4 in their earlier meeting this season.
“We always have tough games against Roseville,” Zanon said. “They played hard and they have a couple of skilled lines they lean on, but we were able to get out to a lead and maintain it.”
Roseville 0 0 1 — 1
Stillwater 2 1 2 — 5
First period — 1. St, Trey Fredenberg (Matthew Volkman) 15:05; 2. Luca Jarvis (Fredenberg, Volkman) 16:36.
Second period — 3. St, Blake Vanek (Will Kane, Cal Grilz) 13:43.
Third period — 4. St, Kane (Blaine Batchelor, Luke Geisbauer) 10:54; 1. Ros, Jovan Fowler (Jake Troska, Wyatt Hauer) 15:55; 5. Jarvis (unassisted) en, 16:14.
Penalties — Ros, 1-2:00; St, 3-6:00.
Saves — Ros (Dylan Keeley) 13-10-7—30; St (Landon Huber) 7-6-7—20.
Stillwater 9, Park 1
At Cottage Grove, Brody Dustin notched a hat trick while Luke Myers and Luca Jarvis contributed two goals apiece to help send the Ponies to a 9-1 SEC victory over Park on Thursday, Jan. 25 at Cottage Grove Ice Arena.
Jarvis, Dustin and Myers each found the back of the net in the opening period before Park (8-4 SEC, 11-7) answered to close within 3-1 after the first.
Stillwater then scored six unanswered goals, starting with a power play goal from Myers in the second. Dustin also scored twice in the period and Matthew Volkman also notched a goal as Stillwater built a 7-1 advantage. Jarvis and Blake Vanek added a goal each in the third.
Alex Reedy finished with 18 saves for the Ponies, who held a 34-19 advantage in shots on goal.
Stillwater 3 4 2 — 9
Park 1 0 0 — 1
First period — 1. St, Luca Jarvis (Trey Fredenberg, Matthew Volkman); 2. St. Brody Dustin (Conor McGlynn, Blake Vanek); 3. St, Luke Myers (Dustin, Jonas Kohn) pp; 1. Par, Brady Nadler (unassisted).
Second period — 4. St, Myers (Dustin) pp; 5. St, Dustin (Myers, McGlynn); 6. St, Volkman (Cal Grilz); 7. St, Dustin (Vanek, John Karkula).
Third period — 8. St, Jarvis (McGlynn, Fredenberg); 9. St, Vanek (Grilz, Myers).
Penalties — St, 0-0:00; Par, 3-6:00.
Saves — St (Alex Reedy) 6-6-6—18; Par (Aidan Miller) 8-7-10—25.
Contact Stuart Groskreutz at stuart.groskreutz@apgecm.com
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