Jensen nets hat trick as Trojans stop Sleepy Eye

WORTHINGTON -- On a day when the Worthington Trojans boys' hockey program celebrated its seniors, it was a freshman who stole the spotlight.

Mitch Jensen registered a hat trick, and Tyler Obermoller scored twice, as the Trojans defeated Sleepy Eye Saturday, 9-3, in the team's final regular-season home game.

"I'm happy for him, as a freshman, to get that," WHS head coach Matt Smith said. "It's a big deal for him."

Both teams set a blistering pace in the first period as offenses ruled the ice. Worthington needed only 39 seconds to get on the scoreboard as Antony Bui took a crisp feed from teammate Andrew Dierks, putting a shot past Sleepy Eye goaltender Jared Gilliland's left side for a 1-0 lead.

The lead would last until Sleepy Eye scored its first power-play goal of the game just more than four minutes later. Sam Heiderscheidt broke through off a pass from Shawn Bohnen, and his goal knotted the game at 1-all.

Worthington came back with its second goal six minutes, 50 seconds into the period as Dierks followed up a blue-line blast from Luke Huls, picking up the rebound and scoring the power-play goal to put the Trojans back up 2-1.

Sleepy Eye came back just 21 seconds later when Jesse Fisher fired the puck toward the net from inside the zone -- at the blue line -- to Swenson's left. The puck took a tricky hop and got past Swenson for the goal, and the game was tied again at 2-all.

"He just shot it on net," Sleepy Eye assistant coach Matt Dockter said. "If you get a shot on net, it always has a chance to go in."

Jensen scored his first goal with nine minutes left in the period following a scrum for the puck near the boards, giving the Trojans the lead for good, 3-2. From there, the Trojans added two more goals in the period -- one from Tim Roos and another from Jensen -- and Worthington held a 5-2 lead after one period.

"The first line -- Dierks, Bui and Luke Hulls -- had a really good first period, moving the puck well, skated fast and hard, and got behind the defense to make some nice goals," Smith said.

The second period saw a much more physical game as the defenses started to cut down on the free-flowing offense. In the second period, the good breaks Sleepy Eye started with faded away as Kevin Swenson gained some control in net.

"He was a little shaky in the first period," Smith said. "After that, I thought he played stellar."

Swenson finished the game with 23 saves, while counterpart Gilliland had 37 saves.

Worthington finally broke through the scoring lull at the end of the period, scoring twice in 16 seconds. The first came from Obermoller, who used his speed and agility to skate past three defenders, before going to the backhand to beat Gilliland, making the score 6-2. Then, Jensen recorded his third goal off a feed from Roos -- his second assist of the period -- and the Trojans were up 7-2.

After Bohnen scored his second goal of the game for Sleepy Eye with 3:12 gone in the third period, Worthington added two more goals to finish the scoring as Obermoller and Huls tallied scores.

Saturday's game was a chance to celebrate the seniors for the Trojans, a group that helped the team capture the 2005 Southwest Conference title. For Bui, Dierks, Brett Pospisil, Justin Anderson and Matt Tims, this year marked a time when they were looked upon more than in previous years to be the leaders for the Trojans. According to Smith, the players did exactly what was asked of them.

"Being a first-year head coach, those were the guys I went to for leadership, and when things were getting stagnant, to get things started, help develop younger players," Smith said. "They've done a nice job of coming out this year and working with the younger players."

Worthington (8-10) has one more game in the regular season, a contest Tuesday against LeSueuer-Henderson in St. Peter. Sleepy Eye (1-15) hosts Marshall Tuesday.

SE 2 0 1 -- 3

WHS 5 2 2 -- 9

Windom Area 4, Minneapolis Edison 3

WINDOM -- Kirby Johnson scored a power-play goal with 10:44 gone in the third period to give the Eagles the one-goal victory.

Johnson took a pass from Brandon Fast, went around a defender and beat the Edison goalie above his shoulder after the goalie went low to take away the lower part of the net.

Ryan Presthus, Nick Johns, and Fast all added goals, while Fast ended with two assists, and Johnson, Marcus Schultz and Jason Cook each had one.

Brett Oltmanns stopped 29 shots for the Eagles (9-13), who end the regular season today at Fairmont.

Minneapolis Edison 1 2 0 -- 3

Windom Area 0 3 1 -- 4