Kewaskum's Bausch eager for 2018

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Feb. 12, 2014

Kewaskum’s Bausch eager for 2018

Watching Opening Ceremony was bittersweet

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

Lauri Bausch is already looking toward 2018.

The Kewaskum native came up short in her bid to make the U.S. Olympic Skeleton team for this year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi.

However, with how her season ended, she can’t wait to get started on the preparation for another four years of training in hopes of qualifying for the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. “I definitely think each year was a progression,” Bausch said. Bausch returned home Friday after five months of training and traveling overseas in hopes of getting onto this year’s Olympic squad.

The two spots for this year’s team went to Noelle Pikus-Pace of Orem, Utah, and Katie Uhlaender of McDonald, Kan.

“Obviously I prefer to be at the games, but the top two are our most veteran girls,” Bausch said. “It was pretty likely they’d be in (the Olympics).”

Bausch had mixed feelings as she watched Friday’s opening ceremonies.

She watched with excitement as she looked for sliders she knew from the United States and other countries. However, she was still disappointed she wasn’t the one holding up a camera and basking in the glory of being an Olympian.

On Monday, she returned to work for Pro Enterprises in Germantown. She admitted she was still trying to get over the jet lag. It’s been a challenge to get caught up with more than five months of unfinished work. Things were a bit more disorganized than when she when left.

She’s also spent time catching up with family and friends. She’s also gotten a massage to help relieve the stress she’s been under the last six months or so.

Her season ended last month with a strong showing in the European Cup circuit. She finished third in her final race of the season in Switzerland and finished the season ranked sixth. She was the only American in the top eight, sandwiched between some of Germany’s and Russia’s top upand- coming sliders.

“That made me realize I was able to compete (with the best),” Bausch said. “For an American to do well on the circuit, it felt pretty good being ranked that high.”

Watching the opening ceremonies of this year’s Olympics coupled with a strong showing in the Europa Cup has made Bausch eager to get started on her Olympic dream, saying she’s “re-motivated.”

“I definitely plan on getting back into it, sliding for the next four years,” Bausch said. “Try to make a few changes in my approach in training and fundraising to make it work.”

“It’s given me time to analyze things and get whatever I can out of my training,” she added.

Unlike some of the more well-known sports, skeleton is self-funded. So during the offseason, Bausch spends her time working as much as she can to save money for training trips.

This time around, she admitted she’ll likely take a different approach. Last year, she believed she worked too much, which may have cost her some energy in training.

She also noticed while working alongside sliders from around the world, some of whom made this year’s Olympics, was each slider often had a large support group.

While she said she’s been grateful for all of her support, she believes she needs to utilize her support better, saying she tries to take too much on for herself.

She said she saw those who utilized their support groups to their advantage had more motivation. She also hopes to be able to collect corporate sponsorship as a way to lighten her workload and concentrate more on her training.

“Every track is different,” Bausch said. “I really like getting on a lot of tracks. It keeps me on my toes.”

A lot of sliders will focus on one or two types of tracks during their training. That’s not her, she said.

“You have so few runs on these tracks so every time you can get on one it helps you,” Bausch said, adding going into next season, she’ll be one of the more experienced sliders in the U.S. program.

“I went into this year I felt like I was more confident in my sliding,” Bausch said. “I think it helps set me up for the next couple of years.”

Morbeck relishing fun times

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Feb. 13, 2014

Morbeck relishing fun times

Jackson native playing last year of junior hockey

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

Finally, Trevor Morbeck got the chance to play a hockey game in his home state. Yet, he wasn’t nervous.

“It was just another game,” the 20-year-old Jackson native said.

It was really wasn’t just another game.

He was in his first game with a new team — the Muskegon Lumberjacks — in a new league — the United States Hockey League. It was his first “home” game in more than four years as the Lumberjacks played at the Green Bay Gamblers on Sept. 21. However, this game came after three years of junior hockey with the Ontario Hockey League.

What happened in the game became a life-long memory for him and his family.

Morbeck scored a power-play goal at the 6:20 mark of the first period to give the Lumberjacks a 2-0 lead. He celebrated the goal, but got to do it with his family as they were sitting on the end of the ice he scored on.

“To see them all there was one moment I’ll never forget,” Morbeck said.

Afterward, he celebrated more, saying ‘hi’ to family and friends, many he hadn’t seen in years.

“I didn’t know that many people were going to be there,” Morbeck said, adding there were about 25 people in attendance to support him. “They had a big poster and a big banner.”

It was a feel-good moment for the aspiring professional hockey player.

“That was real nice,” he said, adding he was only expecting five or six people he knew to be at the game. “It was hard to talk to all of them because I had such a short amount of time.”

Morbeck moved away from home when he was 16 to pursue his dream of being a professional hockey player. Not since then had he played a game in Wisconsin.

Morbeck spent three seasons in the OHL, playing with Sault St. Marie, Kingston and Oshawa. In 165 games, he scored 24 goals and 43 assists. However, while he was in that league, the teams there thought of him to be more of a physical presence, instead of a goalscoring one. So he was asked to be the team’s enforcer in most situations.

It was a role he was OK with.

“Being the youngest of four kind of made me physical,” he joked.

That first year was an eye-opening experience for Morbeck.

“You had to be ready every game,” he said. “If you aren’t ready and somebody else was, they’ll take your spot. You have to be ready to go. You have to earn your role on the team.”

He settled into his role in the league and fared well, eventually grabbing the attention of former NHL veteran Todd Krygier, the coach of the Lumberjacks.

“I think he’s a real smart player,” Krygier said. “A hard worker and has some good skills. He brings leadership on and off the ice. He’s been fantastic with how he handles himself.”

Because of the rules, this will be Morbeck’s last year of junior hockey. In most cases, players can’t play at that level beyond age 20. Morbeck turns 21 in November.

Next year, he said he’ll likely attend a college in Canada and play hockey there, hoping the NHL will still give him a shot someday.

Strangely enough to him, Morbeck is now one of the veterans on the team. He still remembers quite well how he used to be the young guy in the locker room.

“I remember sitting talking to guys saying it goes by so fast and you’re like, ‘Oh yeah,’” he recalled. “They’re not kidding.”

Now he’s the one setting the example of how to be a top-notch player at this level.

“He’s been a huge benefit to our younger players,” Krygier said. “He’s very professional. He’s been real significant in helping our younger players understand what it means to play junior hockey.”

With that experience under his belt, Krygier knew he had to change Morbeck’s responsibilities. Morbeck plays on the Lumberjacks’ top scoring line.

“Our management team felt he’d be a good fit for us,” Krygier said. “He’d be a leader on this team. We sought him out.”

This season in the USHL, he is fourth on the team in scoring with 10 goals and 15 assists in 38 games. His best season in the OHL was his first season when he scored 10 goals and 10 assists with Sault St. Marie in 57 games.

He still hasn’t been shying away from the tough stuff, accumulating 102 penalty minutes.

“I wanted to focus on him playing hockey and not fight,” Krygier said. “We wanted him to play hockey and use his abilities.”

Morbeck took a similar path to that of another Washington County native, West Bend’s David Steckel.

Steckel made it to the NHL and has played in more than 400 games. Morbeck used Steckel’s success as his motivation.

“If you see someone from our town succeed, that was cool to see,” Morbeck said. “It really inspired me.”

While it hasn’t worked out like he had hoped, Morbeck is still happy with the way it has turned out.

“I wanted to get a chance to make the NHL,” he said. “If that didn’t happen, it wasn’t going to happen. I’m not going to lose sleep over it.

“It’s been fun.”

Coming out swinging

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Feb. 12, 2014

Coming out swinging

West the aggressor in Tuesday’s victory

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

West Bend West got a sour taste out of its mouth with a double-dosing of Andrew and Jacob Duening.

Now it’s Hartford Union with the bitter taste.

The Duenings combined for 34 points and 17 rebounds, including 25 points in the second half, to lead the Spartans to a 51-40 victory Tuesday over the Orioles.

In the last meeting between West and Hartford on Jan. 3, West coach Ryan Wietor and his players were disappointed with how they came out for the game, a game won by Hartford, 51-40.

“I thought they were the tougher team,” Wietor said of the Jan. 3 loss. “They took it at us for four quarters. We were all really disappointed with how we came out.”

On Tuesday, West (8-10, 6-6) was the aggressor and for most of the game did so on both ends of the court, led by the Duenings.

Andrew Duening scored 15 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, while twin brother Jacob Duening had 10 of his 12 points in the second half.

Andrew Duening also had nine rebounds, while Jacob Duening had eight. Most of their damage was in the second half and around the basket.

“Whenever they’re aggressive, especially offensively attacking the rim, that makes our team go,” Wietor said. “If they’re passive, not looking to score, not looking to make things happen, we struggle.”

“They played an aggressive inside defense against us and boy they took it to us,” Hartford coach Ben Hoffmann said.

In a game that was only 18-12 at halftime in favor of West, having the Duenings step up and take over the game was a boost for the entire Spartans team. Once they realized the Duenings had the hot hands, they didn’t take long to look for the twin towers in the low block.

“They’re a big part of making our offense work,” Wietor said. “When they attack, our team tends to feed off of that and it usually creates scoring opportunities for other guys on the team.”

Halfway through the third quarter, Hartford (10-8, 6-6) was within five points at 24-19. From there, however, it was all West.

The Spartans went on an 8-0 run, capped by a dunk by Andrew Duening, his second of the game, off a long transition pass by Joe Peplinski off a defensive rebound.

With 2:14 left in the quarter, West led 32-19.

During that stretch, the Duenings combined for six points. The Duenings also combined to score the first six points of the fourth quarter for West to give the Spartans a 42-27 lead.

“West was focused,” Hoffmann said. “They wanted it more than we did.”

Hartford got to within six points late in the fourth quarter, trailing 4640 with 1:33 remaining, before West put the finish touches on the victory.

“We wanted to be more physical with our screening,” Wietor said of the team’s second-half adjustments. “We wanted more player movement, better ball movement. I think you saw that in the second half.”

Hartford was led by Steve Balistreri’s 14 points, 11 in the second half.

The Orioles had hoped to build off a 20-point victory Saturday over rival Slinger.

“Champions get that feeling, get that taste and they just want more,” Hoffmann said. “Perhaps we’re just not used to winning enough to understand what that means.”

West, on the other hand, has some steam heading into Friday’s game against West Bend East.

“To finish the conference season off, hopefully we can make a run for playoff time,” Wietor said as the Spartans have two conference games remaining (East on Friday; Slinger on Feb. 20).

“I get it; we’re in the same building; it’s unique,” he added about Friday’s game. “But it’s still the same approach. We look at tendencies of them and we try our best to take advantage of what we’ve got against what they have. It’s still the same process.”

KML ends Laconia's long streak

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Feb. 8, 2014

KML ends Laconia’s long streak

Spartans had won 29 in a row in Flyway

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

TOWN OF JACKSON — Kettle Moraine Lutheran boys basketball coach Todd Jahns told his team before Friday’s game he didn’t want to see the Chargers’ chance at a conference championship end on the home floor.

It didn’t.

What did end, however, was a 29-game Flyway Conference winning streak by Laconia and KML’s 8-game losing streak to Laconia as the Chargers won 56-48.

The victory, more importantly, also kept the Chargers alive in the conference championship race. If KML had lost Friday, Laconia would’ve clinched the championship. “The conference does not end tonight,” Jahns said. “We’re one down with two to play. It’s not ending tonight and it’s not ending on our floor.

“You just saw a bunch of boys commit to it.”

Steve Seider and Jared Henning each scored 13 points to lead KML, while Noah Greve scored a game-high 17 points to lead Laconia.

The Spartans, the sixth-ranked team in this week’s Associated Press Division 3 poll, have been the class of the Flyway for the last three years.
Last year, they went 25-1, losing to eventual Division 4 state champion Dominican in a sectional final. In the last three years, Laconia is 67-7 overall, including 43-3 in the Flyway.

The Spartans’ last conference loss was to St. Mary’s Springs on Feb. 2, 2012.

“Tonight it was let’s play hard, let’s have fun together and go get them and see what happens,” Jahns said.

“This was one of our goals,” he added. “We were going to get Laconia.” In the last eight meetings between KML and Laconia, the Chargers (15-4, 10-2) have lost by an average of 6.8 points, including two in overtime and two others that ended in regulation where the total deficit was three points. Earlier this season, the Spartans (182, 11-1) beat the Chargers, 56-43. So, in a way, a close game was to be expected.

However, the only thing that was disappointing after Friday night’s game was the thought of what could’ve been. On Tuesday night, the Chargers lost to Springs, which left KML two games behind Laconia heading into Friday’s game.

“You could tell; the boys were down,” Jahns said about the Springs loss. “They were disappointed in themselves and we didn’t practice well (Thursday). We actually quit practice early because we weren’t in and weren’t focused.

“My focus was could we recover mentally.”

However, King believed the Chargers were going to be ready for the game regardless if had they won or lost Tuesday’s game against Springs. Unfortunately for him and his team, he was right.

The Chargers jumped on the Spartans quickly, taking an 8-0 lead with 5:03 left in the first quarter. KML led 17-8 at the end of the first quarter with the help of five 3-pointers.

“They played a great game,” King said.

In typical KML fashion, the Chargers also played tough defense, especially on the Spartans’ leading scorer, Nick Vollmer.

Vollmer scored a game-high 23 points in the last meeting against KML. On Friday, he was held to eight points and managed just five field-goal attempts.

Seider spent most of the game guarding Vollmer. It was the same matchup in the last meeting. When the team watched the game tape afterward, Jahns challenged Seider to play better defense.

“I knew I had to prove myself,” Seider said. “I’ve been playing well as of late.”

Jahns said, “We probably get on Steve more than anybody for his defense. ... Steve’s a competitor, he’s a winner and he took the challenge.”

G'town signs off with historic day

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Feb. 6, 2014

G’town signs off with historic day

Warhawks’ soccer teams sending 6 to college

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News Staff

GERMANTOWN — A special group of soccer players celebrated a special and potentially rare moment Wednesday night at Germantown High School.

Four girls from the Warhawks girls soccer team — Paige Blankenheim, Kayla Schlosser, Maddie Tetzke and Amy Flaasch — and one from the boys soccer team — Paul Ciszewski — signed National Letters of Intent to play college soccer next fall.

In addition, Nicholas Sucher, a member of Germantown’s boys soccer team, announced he will attend Wartburg College, a NCAA Division III school in Iowa, to play soccer.

“It’s great for these six kids to meet their individual goals of playing at the college level,” Germantown Athletic Director Jack Klebesadel said.

Ciszewski, the 2013 Daily News Boys Soccer Player of the Year, signed with Drake University.

“I’m very proud of Paul Ciszewski,” Germantown’s boys coach Omar Sethi said. “He’s a very cerebral player. He’s got clinical skills. Those are two things that are often times overlooked.”

Blankenheim signed with Southeastern Missouri State, Schlosser signed with Indiana State, Tetzke signed with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee — all NCAA Division I programs — and Flaasch signed with Winona State — an NCAA Division II school in Minnesota.

“I was talking to my assistant and it’s like you never get this when we first came in five years ago,” Germantown girls coach Paul Sikinger said. “If you get one girl who’s going to play at the next level, that’s tremendous.”

“This senior class, you knew when they were coming in they were going to be something special,” Sikinger added. “With the work they’ve put in the last three years, they’ve earned it.

“It’s very special. I’m proud of them. They worked their tails off to get where they are today. ... To be a part of this is amazing.”

In a way, it was almost fitting for these players to sign a college soccer scholarship offer.

Last spring, Blankenheim, Schlosser, Tetzke and Flaasch were key pieces in leading the Warhawks to the program’s first sectional championship game since 2008, a game they lost to eventual state champion Cedarburg.

“I think it’s really cool,” Tetzke said about signing her NLI with three of her teammates. “Finally all of our hard work has paid off. We all worked hard and accomplished our dreams.”

And last fall, Ciszewski and Sucher were key in leading the Warhawks to their first sectional championship game in school history. Ciszewski and Sucher were each four-year varsity members, with Ciszewski twice being recognized as All-State.

“It couldn’t have been done without guys like these two,” Sethi said about the team’s advancement last season to the sectional final. “Nick had a great season, developed a lot and really matured. Super proud of both them.”

As for the girls, they can’t wait to get onto the field once the snow eventually clears. They have high hopes for this season after a second-place finish in the North Shore Conference and an appearance in the sectional final.

The Warhawks went 13-3-2 last season.

“We were so excited to make it that far,” Tetzke said. “We’re hoping to do well again this year, hopefully make it even further.”

“I think it’s cool we get to go onto the next level and keeping playing, doing what we love,” she added.

And for the boys, Sethi got a small dose of reality as he watched two of his best players commit to college soccer, knowing they’re not going to be back next season.

“That has definitely crossed my mind,” he said with a smile. “You just take it all in stride.”