WHS BOYS' HOCKEY: WHS falls to MHS 9-3

WORTHINGTON — Pat Christopherson and Chris Huls, the Worthington boys’ hockey coaches, held a closed-door meeting Monday night with their team.

After a devastating 11-3 loss to Morris/Benson Area on Saturday that the coaches argued was one of the Trojans’ worst performances of the season, the coaches new some changes needed to be made.

And although WHS lost to Marshall 9-3 on Tuesday night, Christopherson said the performance was a complete turnaround from the one he saw just three days earlier.

“They did much better tonight,” Christopherson said. “They played smart, played fast and played hard. It was night and day from what we did Saturday. Especially the first two periods were exceptional. We’re pleased, we just ran out of gas.”

The Trojans were down 2-0 with five minutes left in the first period after goals by Marshall’s Quinn Horvath and Adam McVey.

But Alex Kremer (assist Levi Leach) responded with 3 minutes, 5 seconds left in the period to bring the score to 2-1.

The second period was similar to the first. The Tigers scored two goals midway through the period before Kremer (assist Jonah Oberloh and Leach) responded with 5:18 left before the break to make the score 4-2.

Marshall’s Beau Mikel added a goal one minute later to give the Tigers a three-goal advantage, but Seth Meier (assist Ethan Stofferan) sent a puck to the back of the net with 11 seconds left in the period to make the score 5-3 entering the break.

Marshall added four goals in the third period to give the Tigers a 9-3 victory and drop WHS to 2-9-1 on the season.

Trojan goalie Rylan Scholtes finished the game with 48 saves, while his teammates put 15 shots on goal.

“It’s just fatigue that killed us at the end,” Christopherson said. “No matter how much you try to get them into shape and work them out, that’s just pure fatigue. When we ran out of gas you could see that, but they didn’t stop working and fighting.

“Marshall’s deep and moved the puck really well. We just couldn’t keep up.”

Skating short-handed didn’t help the Trojans’ fatigue either.

Jacob Molden wasn’t able to play Tuesday, and won’t be available Thursday either, as he recovers from a concussion.

With only 12 skaters on the roster, the Trojans can use all the bodies they can get to allow more resting periods for the players.

But Oberloh ran into some penalty trouble and sat in the box for roughly the equivalent of an entire period. In addition to two minor penalties, the defender had a 10 minute misconduct call and a five minute penalty for head contact.

“Losing Jonah for so long really killed us,” Christopherson said. “That just tired everyone out. We were basically playing three defensemen. And when you’re only skating 12 kids and you lose two kids, you’re really in trouble.”

The Trojans, who have now lost five-straight, travel to play Fairmont Thursday.

In the two team’s contest earlier this season, WHS got down 4-0 before scoring seven-straight goals to win their first game of the season.

While Christopherson doubts the same thing will happen in the upcoming matchup, he hopes his team has a performance comparable to the one they put up then and the one they put up Tuesday night.

“It’s going to be a tough game,” he said. “We started out horribly against them last time, so a quick start is crucial. Fairmont always plays very physical so we’re going to have to keep our heads in the game.”

Marshall 2 3 4 — 9

WHS 1 2 0 — 3

Tags: sports, prep, hockey, trojans