The Monroe Pee Wee B team travelled to Amery, WI this past weekend and represented one of the top eight Pee Wee 3B Hockey teams around Wisconsin for their State Tournament. Rhinelander, River Falls, Waupun, Blackhawk, Oshkosh, Beaver Dam, Amery, and our very own Monroe Avalanche.

 

The first game for Monroe was Saturday morning at 8am against Rhinelander. Rhinelander came ready to play and dominated the first and second period launching 24 shots on net but it was Avalanche Goaltender Heath Bear's stellar performance that kept Monroe in the game and only allowed one goal and saving at least five breakaways to keep Rhinelander at bay. In the third period, Rhinelander finally found the back of the net at the nine minute mark which gave them a solid 2-0 lead. But the Avalanche fought back hard and were able to connect on a goal from some smooth passing in front of the net. Bryce Montgomery found Rebekah Rath, who centered it to Ryan Molitor who one timed it by the Rhinelander Goalie to bring the Avalanche within one with six minutes to go in the game. Energy filled the bench and Monroe was back in it. Unfortunately, Rhinelander was able to control the puck the last four minutes of the game to run out the clock and won the game 2-1. Goaltender Bear recorded 33 saves on the game. (Rhinelander eventually took 3rd at State)

 

With that loss, the Avalanche dropped into the Consolation bracket and their next opponent was River Falls Saturday afternoon in hopes to move on to the Consolation Championship game on Sunday. This was another close game for the Avalanche that ended in a heartbreaking loss 3-1. It was the slow start in the first period that hurt the Avalanche as they gave up two goals in the first, with one of them being a power play goal for River Falls. In the second period, the Avalanche team we all know showed up and took control of the game from that point forward. The Avalanche cut the lead to one goal with two minutes to go in the second period with an unassisted, breakaway goal by Colton O'Connor. With the score 2-1 heading into the third period Monroe's momentum had River Falls back on their heels. However, Monroe was running out of time quickly and pulled their goalie with 1 minute to go to try and tie the game. With the puck being shot around the River Falls net, nothing wanted to drop in for the Avalanche and when River Falls gained control of the puck they launched it down the ice and it slowly trickled into the empty net to give River Falls the win 3-1. "We had the puck in their zone the last two minutes of the game. Shots were being launched at the goalie, the puck was in front of the net just sitting there at times and we just weren't able to connect and put it in. We needed one more minute to pull it off." commented Monroe Assistant Coach Greta Rath. Avalanche Goaltender Bear had 18 saves on the game. (River Falls went on to win the State Consolation Championship)

 

The final game of the State Tournament was between Oshkosh and Monroe Sunday morning at 8am for 7th & 8th place. Monroe was down a player as one of their defenseman became ill and was not able to play. So....the lineups were changed a few minutes before the start of the game for the Avalanche. From the drop of the puck, the game was pretty evenly matched throughout. Oshkosh scored first but the Avalanche responded with a goal from Riley Jones, assisted by Ryan Molitor ending the first period 1-1. The second period, Oshkosh put three unlikely goals by Avalanche Goaltender Heath Bear to take a 4-1 lead heading into the third period. Being behind by three goals in the third was not unusual for the Avalanche and their fans knew their team would not give up and they didn't. In the third, Avalanche Colton O'Connor started the firestorm by picking up a loose puck and took it in and launched it past the Oshkosh Goalie to make it 4-2 with seven minutes to go. Then less than two minutes later, Jones and Molitor found each other again in front of the net with Jones slapping in a rebound from Molitor to bring the Avalanche within one goal with more than 5 minutes to go in the game.  The Defensemen for the Avalanche (Kendall Wild, Alex Henry, Kaiden Klitzke, Rebekah Rath & Bryce Montgomery) kept the puck in the zone and allowed no shots on net in the third period for Oshkosh. But the Avalanche, with time running out and pulling their goalie to give them a man advantage and coming up against a hot goalie to shoot on, they were not able to find the back of the net to bring the game into overtime. An empty netter was scored by Oshkosh with 18 seconds to go in the game and the game ended 5-3. Avalanche Goaltender Bear recorded 10 saves on the game.

 

"While it always hurts to lose on the road, at least we did so at the State Tournament with the best in the division. Unfortunately, even though we played some of our best games ever, between bad luck and good competition, we just weren't able to pull through. Our team came farther than I think even they thought they could this year and I am very proud of what they have accomplished." commented Head Coach Josh Smith about the weekend.

 

The Monroe Avalanche Pee Wee B team ended their season 9-22-3. Thanks for a great season Avalanche!