BY AARON HAGEN
The Globe
WORTHINGTON -- Despite the outcome of Tuesday’s boys hockey game, the Worthington Trojans took a step in the right direction.
Waseca defeated Worthington 6-1, but head coach Paul Olsen said he saw some good things during the game.
“We put together three pretty solid periods,” Olsen said. “We didn’t have that lull that we’ve been having before, so hopefully we got over that a little bit. Right at the end they got a couple they shouldn’t have got, but that’s just the way that it goes. We’ll regroup and head into Thursday.”
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WHS will have a short turnaround before traveling to Willmar on Thursday.
The Trojans were able to hang with the Bluejays in the first period as Waseca’s Peter Meyer scored the period’s lone goal.
“You could tell the difference in the locker room, too, it’s finally one whole period that we played the way we were supposed to,” Olsen said. “Then we came out in the second and all of a sudden the guys started getting a little bit excited because that’s two periods in a row we put together. Overall, we’re making progress. We’re not where we want to be, but we’re making progress.”
Waseca scored the game’s next two goals. Brett Attenberger scored 16 seconds into the period with an assist to Meyer. Then, Meyer scored his second goal with Tylor Nordquist assisting.
However, the Trojan offense came alive. Loddy Thepmontry fought for a rebound in front of the Waseca net, and eventually poked it in for his first varsity score.
“It’s nice to get that and at home here,” Olsen said. “It was just a gritty play. It’s what (former assistant coach Brad) Foss said to me, he sent me a text and said, ‘Remember, gritty not pretty.’ That’s what it was. Loddy was right there and he was fighting away and wasn’t going to give up.”
Simon Sommers scored another goal for the Bluejays with an assist from Ben Priebe as the Bluejays took a 4-1 advantage into the third period.
“Traditionally when we play Waseca, usually it’s run time in the third period,” Olsen said “Their coach said we gave them a good game. We’re just trying to make progress. We know where our bench mark is and we have to start working our way up.”
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The Bluejays added two more late in the third en route to the victory. Attenberger scored his second goal of the night on a power play and Brandon Dahnert scored in the final four minutes of the game.
Waseca outshot the Trojans 47-19. Trojan goalie Preston Thavixay made 41 saves.
“We’ve been working with that,” Olsen said. “We played better defensively. But we still puck watch a little too much in our zone, so we have to get a little more aggressive there.”
Waseca 1 3 2 -- 6Worthington 0 1 0 -- 1
