Boys hockey: Stillwater reels off 12th consecutive SEC win

FOREST LAKE — The Stillwater boys hockey team ran its Suburban East Conference winning streak to 12 after taking down Forest Lake 4-2 on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at Forest Lake Sports Center.

The victory moves the Ponies (12-1-0 SEC, 12-8-1) ahead of White Bear Lake (11-1-0, 14-6-1) by two points in the conference standings, though Stillwater has played one more game. Cretin-Derham Hall (9-3-0, 12-7-1) remains in third place but has games remaining against both the Ponies and Bears.

Stillwater has not lost a conference game since falling to White Bear Lake in the league opener on Dec. 5.

The Ponies jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening period against the Rangers (3-10-1, 8-13-1) on goals by John Karkula, Brody Dustin and Matthew Volkman. Forest Lake scored with about four minutes remaining in the second to climb within 3-1, but Carson Kingbay found the net at 15:22 to remain a three-goal margin for Stillwater.

With his latest goal, Dustin moved into a tie with Blake Vanek as team scoring leaders. Both players have 14 goals and 20 assists for 34 points.

Stillwater’s fast start also continued a trend this season as the Ponies have outscored their opponents by a combined 27-13 in the first period.

Alex Reedy turned away 29 shots in goal for the Ponies.

Stillwater 3 1 0 — 4

Forest Lake 0 1 1 — 2

First period — 1. St, John Karkula (Luke Geisbauer, Blaine Batchelor) 3:18; 2. St, Brody Dustin (Luke Myers) 6:22; 3. St, Matthew Volkman (unassisted) sh, 15:37.

Second period — 1. FL, Gunnar Bright (Riley Middendorf) 12:57; 4. St, Carson Kingbay (Cal Grilz, Geisbauer) 15:22.

Third period — 2. FL, Caden Speidel (Middendorf, Bright) pp, 4:57.

Penalties — St, 7-25:00; FL, 3-6:00.

Saves — St (Alex Reedy) 6-13-10—29; FL (Andrew Saxe) 9-12-4—25.

E. Prairie 4, Stillwater 3 (OT)

At Eden Prairie, after tying the game with just 26 seconds remaining in regulation, the Eagles completed the comeback 39 seconds into overtime as Mason Moe scored his second goal of the game to lift Eden Prairie to a 4-3 nonconference victory over the Ponies on Saturday, Feb. 3 at Eden Prairie Community Center.

Stillwater, which fell to 1-1-1 in three overtime games this season, built a 3-1 lead in the second period after goals by Rylan Lord and Trey Fredenberg. Matthew Volkman opened the scoring for Stillwater five minutes into the first period.

Facing a two-goal deficit in the third, Eden Prairie (14-6-1) climbed back with goals from Moe and Rio Treharne while outshooting the Ponies 16-8 in the period.

The loss extended a puzzling streak for Stillwater, which 12-1-0 in conference play but dropped to 0-7-1 in nonconference games.

Stillwater 1 2 0 0 — 3

Eden Prairie 1 0 2 1 — 4

First period — 1. St, Matthew Volkman (Blaine Batchelor, Luca Jarvis) 5:11; 1. EP, Alex Hall (Billie Jacobson-Couch, Mason Moe) 15:17.

Second period — 2. St, Rylan Lord (Blake Vanek, Luke Myers) 1:36; 3. St, Trey Fredenberg (Volkman, Jarvis) 13:15.

Third period — 2. EP, Moe (Jacobson-Couch, Dylan Vornwald) 1:13; 3. EP, Rio Treharne (Alex Hall, Cole Saterdalen) 16:34.

Overtime — 4. EP, Moe (Jacobson-Couch) :39.

Penalties — St, 3-6:00; EP, 4-8:00.

Saves — St (Alex Reedy) 11-8-14-0—33; EP (Isaiah Paulnock) 10-14-8-0—32.

Stillwater 7, Woodbury 1

At Woodbury, Trey Fredenberg and Luke Myers each delivered two goals to help send the Ponies to a 7-1 SEC victory over Woodbury on Thursday, Feb. 1 at Fairview Sports Center.

The Royals (6-7 SEC, 10-11) opened the scoring with just 37 seconds remaining in the first period, but Stillwater stormed back with seven unanswered goals.

Fredenberg and Myers each scored in the second to put the Ponies in front 2-1 and they stretched the lead with a five-goal third period.

John Karkula, Rylan Lord and Blake Vanek added a goal each for Stillwater, which also received 30 saves from Alex Reedy.

Stillwater 0 2 5 — 7

Woodbury 1 0 0 — 1

First period — 1. Wo, Brock Alberts (Caden Schlattman, Aiden Grossklaus) 16:23.

Second period — 1. Trey Fredenberg (Luca Jarvis, Wyatt Carroll) 10:19; 2. St, Luke Myers (Blake Vanek, Rylan Lord) 11:01.

Third period — 3. St, Fredenberg (Matthew Volkman, John Karkula) 2:48; 4. St, Karkula (Volkman, Myers) 6:06; 5. St, Lord (Vanek, Conor McGlynn) 8:02; 6. St, Myers (Cal Grilz, Vanek) 10:30; 7. St, Vanek (Myers, Jarvis) 15:03.

Penalties — St, 6-14:00; Wo, 4-8:00.

Saves — St (Alex Reedy) 16-8-6—30; Wo (Jett Strub) 7-13-6—26.