West Bend, WI – The West Bend Power secured four points this weekend in their first matchups against the St. Louis Jr. Blues. After capturing a decisive 4-1 victory Friday night, Saturday’s game went all the way to a shootout ending a 2-1 win.
The Power dictated the pace of play for almost the entirety of the game Friday. Cole Fenske started the scoring at 15:38 in the first period with assists from Tegan Scheurer and Andrew Butler. The goal came when Fenske’s shot bounced over the shoulder of the Jr. Blues’ goaltender after making the initial save. West Bend exploded in the second period outshooting St. Louis 14-3 and potting two tallies. Zach Wolverton scored at 1:50 after blasting a bouncing puck off the post and into the net. Wolverton collected helpers from Jace Fitzgerald and Bryce Garber. After touches from Nate Cohen and Lucca Weinkuaf, Owen Drake used a Jr. Blues’ turnover to score on a breakaway from the offensive blue line at 8:09. St. Louis received a fortuitous bounce off the stick of Miles Watson at 19:28, when his shot bounced off a Power player and past Gavin Wohlmacher. The third period ramped up the physicality, boiling over in a fight between Liam Fraser and St. Louis’ Connor Westbrock at 16:22. Owen Drake scored the only goal of the frame into an empty net, his second of the game, at 19:47.
The Palermo’s Screamin Sicilian three stars of the game were Cole Fesnke (3), Zach Wolverton (2) and Owen Drake (1). The Versi-foam Hard Hat Player of the Game was awarded to Liam Fraser.
Saturday’s clash kept all the regulation scoring to the first period, despite West Bend outshooting St. Louis by a 52-30 margin. Max Mudge struck first for the Power at 11:20, going top corner after a pass from Nate Cohen. Matthew Mahoney answered for the Jr. Blues at 19:03, evening the game 1-1 to end the first period. St. Louis took a whopping 16 penalty minutes in the second period, but incredible goaltending repeatedly bailed the Jr. Blues out, preventing a West Bend goal on the man advantage. In the third period, West Bend overcame their own penalty adversity. The Power killed off 1:31 of the Jr. Blues’ 5 on 3 time, while still applying their own offensive pressure throughout the final segment of regulation time. In overtime, Brooks Barofksy stood firm during a four on three power play for St. Louis, while Tommy Kundinger dove into the shooting lane to prevent a potential game winner for the Jr. Blues. Experience won the day during the shootout for West Bend, having won from this position before on September 29, against Granite City. Barofksy stopped all but one of the five shots he faced, while Bryce Garber scored the first Power shoot out goal and Andrew Butler closed things out, winning the game for the Power in the fifth round.
The Palermo’s Screami Sicilian three stars of the game were Max Mudge (3), Brooks Barofksy (2) and Andrew Butler (1). The Versi-foam Hard Hat Player of the Game was awarded to Tommy Kundinger.
The Kundinger Fluid Power Player of the weekend goes to Owen Drake.
The West Bend Power play these same St. Louis Jr. Blues on the road Friday, Nov 11 at 3:30pm CST and Saturday Nov. 12 at 11:40am CST. All games this season are streaming on www.nahltv.com. https://nahltv.com/
