Waukesha falls to Eau Claire Memorial

MADISON - The onslaught eventually proved too much.

Eau Claire Memorial sent shot after shot at the Waukesha defense, and for most of the night the Wings responded. They turned away 44 attempts in their state semifinal hockey game Friday night.

But Waukesha needed a 45th stop, and when the Wings didn’t get it, that was the difference in a 2-1 double overtime victory for the Old Abes at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Waukesha (21-4-3) had made a living winning overtime games at the state tournament the past two seasons. This was their fourth overall and the first of them in which they weren’t victorious.

“I figured we played 10 periods, so that means we played three games while we were here in Madison,” said Waukesha coach Raja Aylsworth, said tongue-in-cheek fashion to look at the bright side. “We played three games, what are you talking about?”

Memorial (24-2-2) advance to the title game at 2:15 p.m. Saturday against Hudson.

Senior forward Grant Thielbar scored the game-winner off assists from senior defenseman Josh Berg and junior forward Andrew Roberts at the 12-minute 21-second mark of the second overtime.

The play capped tight affair on the scoreboard that Memorial controlled in a couple of key statistics. It out-shot Waukesha, 46-23, and had a 4-2 edge in power plays.

Waukesha got outstanding play from junior goaltender Garrett Larsen, who had 44 saves, the team’s penalty kill and, in general, the defense, which often shut down scoring opportunities from point-blank range by clogging the area around the goal.

“We know that if we can keep a lot of the shots on the perimeter generally Garrett is going to be able to make those saves,” Aylsworth said. “We tried to clean up the slot area as much as possible, let him be able to see pucks and our defensemen did a good job of that tonight.”

The stats leaned heavily Memorial’s way in regulation. It outshot Waukesha, 28-16, owned a 3-2 advantage in power plays. As the numbers indicate, the Old Abes spent a good portion of the game in the Wings’ zone.

Despite that success controlling the puck, it was a breakaway play that resulted in the game’s first goal. Berg pushed the puck ahead to junior Brenden Olson, who crossed the goal from the right side and shot past Larsen at the 4:33 mark of the third period.

Senior Kevin Broda tied the game on his second goal in as many nights with an unassisted goal on a wrap-around goal shot from behind the net at 9:45 of the third.

The play set the stage for overtime, but this time there were no extra period heroics for Waukesha.

“We had one right on the door step (in overtime) that I wish we could have popped in, but you know what, Eau Claire is a great team. We competed. Our boys had heart. We certainly didn’t give them an easy one.”

Hudson 4, Verona 1: The defending champion Raiders (27-1-1) took control during the second period when Bennett Schrank’s goal broke a 1-1 tie at 1:14 into the period and Aaron Squires’ goal at 5:06 added to the lead.

GIRLS

Eau Claire 5, D.C. Everest 2: The Stars (25-3) defeated Everest (19-9) for the third time this season and advanced to the title game for the first time. Two first period goals from Abigail Stow set the tone for the victory. She finished the day with four goals, the second-most for a game in tournament history, and one assists.

Sun Prairie Co-op 3, Fond du Lac Co-op 2 (OT): Sophomore forward Zephryn Jager scored the game winner at 3:07 of overtime to life the Cougars (216-1) to their first title game. Senior Colleen Milligan scored twice for Sun Prairie.