Published: Jan. 16, 2014
Comeback Bears
Germantown rallies from 3-goal deficit in 3rd period
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News Sports Editor
All they needed was one. One goal to sneak past the big and
talented Tommy Laken, goaltender for the Kenosha Thunder.
When the one goal came for the Germantown Ice Bears, the
rally was on.
The Ice Bears pulled off a stunning comeback Wednesday night
at the Kettle Moraine Ice Center, beating the visiting Thunder, 4-3, in
overtime.
The Ice Bears (9-9) trailed 3-0 with 7:49 left in the third
period.
“Truthfully? No,” Ice Bears coach Russ Wanta said when asked
if he believed his team could make a comeback.
“The reason why is (Kenosha’s) goaltender is one of the best
in southeastern Wisconsin,” he added. “He’s a big kid and covers a lot of the
net.”
The Ice Bears miraculously found a way, a sign of the
hopefully changing times with the Ice Bears, who are now one victory away from
reaching double figures in the wins column for the first time since the 2009-10
season.
This one will be hard to forget.
Peter Schmidt scored the gamewinning goal with 1:19 left in
the overtime, but not before Alec Fieldhack tied the game with one second left
in regulation.
“We knew we could score on him,” Schmidt said. “We just had
to get one and we did.”
Asked if he and his teammates were trying to figure out how
they won the game, Schmidt said yes.
“It’s kind of a shock,” he added.
Going into the game, Laken had just a 4-8 record, but had a
2.72 goalsagainst- average, a 93.8 save percentage and three shutouts.
It looked like he was going to get a fourth shutout. Then it
went bad for the Thunder (3-12), who were averaging just 2.6 goals per game, in
a hurry.
Nate Breckenridge scored at the 9:11 mark of the third
period to make it 3-1. Breckenridge scored on a rebound from the initial shot
by Mitch Kinnunen.
The Ice Bears finally had the confidence they could score on
Laken. From there, the Ice Bears picked up the pressure and continued to apply
it relentlessly.
In the third period, the Ice Bears outshot the Thunder,
23-2.
“We got outworked; bottom line,” Kenosha coach JR Litkey
said.
The Thunder got on the board with a pair of goals in 4:56
during the first period. Both goals came off turnovers by the Ice Bears in
their own zone.
Kenosha got the third goal when the Ice Bears couldn’t clear
the puck during a power play. That goal came with one second left on the power
play.
“I was frustrated,” Wanta said. “I was frustrated by the
little things we were doing. We had double-digit number of icings, which just
means our guys are not moving correctly through the neutral zone.”
Down 3-0, Wanta had to make a decision.
“‘Do I readjust and play this one out?’” Wanta recalled
thinking after the Thunder’s third goal. “I don’t know how we come to those
decisions, but for whatever reason I said no. I’m going to try to let these
seniors try to fight back into this thing.
“They rose to the occasion.”
Jake Tweten drew the deficit to one goal with a power-play
goal with 27 seconds left in regulation.
Still, the odds were against the Ice Bears. But Wanta said
he has a group of players that don’t like to quit.
Joe Kandel shot the puck on goal with the seconds winding
down. Laken turned aside the shot. The puck bounced onto Schmidt’s stick who
quickly shot the puck at point-blank range to just beat the buzzer. In the
overtime, the Ice Bears outshot the Thunder, 6-0. The Ice Bears outshot the
Thunder, 49-12, for the game. “I feel terrible,” Litkey said about Laken. “He
had a shutout going. With under eight minutes left, we just couldn’t do it. We
got outworked.”
The Ice Bears have won five of their last seven games. They
are also 4-0 in overtime games this season.
“All year long, win or lose, our kids refuse to quit,” Wanta
said. “That is one characteristic of this team that I’m so proud of.”
“All I’ve got to say is, ‘Don’t take the Ice Bears to
overtime,’” he added with a smile.
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