MyParkTeam

Saturday, 2/2/08 @ SLP Rec. Center
Boys Varsity vs. Benilde

The bads news: Park got beat, 6-1, by a fantastic Benilde team. Park’s only goal came on an unassisted third period goal by Mitchell Wynia. Benilde out-shot Park 48-8, with Park goalie Nick Smith playing a fine game, stopping 42 shots.

The game, however, was a huge success. For those of you who aren’t aware, Dale and Kim Petit, parents of forward Colin Petit, have been fighting cancer for several months, and this game was played in conjunction with a fund-raiser for the Petit family called “The Petit Powerplay.”

An incredible group of adults and children worked very hard to put on a silent auction, with all the proceeds going to help the Petit family.

I’ve lived in Park for more than 30 years, and have never been prouder to live in this great city. In case you don’t know the Petits, all you had to do is attend Saturday’s game and watch how generous people were with their time, money and talents, and you get an idea of what type of people the Petits are. What goes around comes around, and the Petits were merely being compensated for the way they’ve treated people throughout their lives.

Keep the Petits in your thoughts and prayers.

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Thursday, Jan. 10, 2008 @ SLP Rec. Ctr.
St. Louis Park Varsity vs. Totino Grace

For 2-1/2 periods, Park and Totino played as even as could be, but the visitors scored with three minutes left in the game, beating Park, 2-1.With 1:13 left in the first period, Mitchell Wynia scored, assisted by Jake Albersheim-Carter.

Totino tied the score in painful fashion, scoring two seconds before the horn sounded in the period!After a scoreless second period, both teams cranked up the defense, and it seemed like the game might be heading for overtime.

Park goalie, Nick Smith, was excellent, and he was tested several times over the last seven minutes of the game, making several nice stick saves, and a kick save off a slapshot from the point.

Park’s Jake Schlegel missed just wide with about six minutes left, but Park’s best chance to score occurred with 4:36 left when they had a power play, and Totino seemed worn out. Unfortunately, a Park pass in Totino’s end was picked off, and one of Totino’s wings ripped a shot on a breakaway. Smith made a great save, but another Totino player took the rebound and scored on a nice wrap-around move with 3:02 remaining.

Totino killed the rest of their penalty, and Park pulled Smith with about a minute left. Totino knocked the puck toward the goal with 48 seconds left, but Kevin Bell hustled back, dove, and knocked the puck away before it landed in the empty net.

With 33 seconds left, Totino drew a penalty, but Park couldn’t capitalize, and the game ended 2-1.

Smith stopped 27 of 29 (.931 save%), while Totino Grace’s goalie stopped 19 of 20 (.950).

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Thursday, January 3, 2008 @ SLP Rec. Center
Boys Varsity vs. Blake

”We need to work harder, we need to finish our checks, and we need to get some chemistry going,” said Park coach Tim Donahue before Thursday night’s game.

Well, Park did play hard, and they did have some solid checks, but Blake was on their game, and beat the Orioles, 3-1.

Park came out with a lot of energy in the first period, and probably should have gone into the first intermission in a scoreless tie, but with 21 seconds left, Blake scored on a breakaway on a nice backhanded shot into the right corner of the goal.

Park struggled offensively in the second, with only six shots. Jake Albersheim-Carter had two breakaways, but missed just wide on the first, and was stopped by a nice save on the second.

With 2:29 left in the period, Blake scored to make it 2-0, and Park went into the second intermission in a deep hole.

5:08 into the third period, Albersheim-Carter scored a beauty, assisted by Kevin Bell, and Park trailed by one, 2-1.

At the 6:25 mark, Blake scored on as beautiful a goal as you’ll ever see. Blake’s center was hit with a pass as he crossed the blue line, he skated in, faked left, went right, stopped on a dime, waited for Smith to dive to the his left, and lifted the puck above the sprawling Park goalie.

Midway through the period, Park had two power plays, but couldn’t capitalize either time. With under a minute left, Park pulled their goalie, and had a flurry of shots in the last few seconds, but couldn’t connect.

Park’s goalie, Nick Smith, had a solid game in goal, stopping 32 of 35 shots (.914 save%). Blake’s goalie stopped 19 of 20 (.950).
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Saturday, December 15, 2007 @ SLP Rec. Center
St. Louis Park Boys Varsity vs. Hopkins Royals

Everyone in the Rec. Center knew that it would take a perfect game by Park to defeat the unbeaten Hopkins Royals. It didn’t happen, and Park lost 8-3 in a non-conference tilt.

Hopkins out-shot Park 17-3 in the first period, but if you were at the game you wouldn’t have been surprised if Hopkins had 50 shots! The Royals came in waves like the Marines at Omaha Beach.

Hopkins scored at the 2:17 mark in the first, then made Park pay for a penalty by scoring exactly five seconds into a power play a few minutes later. At the 7:34 mark, Hopkins put on an incredible display of passing and shooting (almost Magic Johnson fast-break style!), scoring an incredible goal, then celebrated a minute later by flattening Park’s Alec Rose with a viscous check.

Down 3-0, Park turned up their physical play, but Hopkins responded in kind—in fact, on one sequence, a Hopkins monster checked a Park player and a linesman into the corner, knocking the official to the ice and loosening his tooth.

The Royals scored with under 3:00 left in the period, and the score was 4-0 going into the second intermission.Hopkins did not call off the dogs in the third, scoring 17 seconds into the period, making it 5-0.

Park saved face at the 1:57 mark when Benji Shandley stole one of Hopkins’ few errant passes, raced down, and blasted a goal in the corner.

Both teams sent a procession of players into the penalty box, but both teams also did a fine job of killing those penalties…until….Hopkins connected for a power play goal midway through the period to go up 6-1.

Park kept plugging away despite the deficit, and Kyle Johnson scored a beauty on a breakaway to pull the Orioles within four, 6-2. Hopkins responded again, scoring less than a minute later, and again a minute after that! Park ended the game’s scoring on a nice goal by Jeff Howes, and the game, mercifully, came to an end.

Although Park goalie Nick Smith didn’t have one of his best games, he stopped a ton of shots (26 of 34). Park could only muster 15 shots themselves, less than half that of Hopkins.

There’s no denying that at this point in the season, Hopkins is simply a better team than Park, and it will take a great effort for anyone to beat the Royals in conference play. One interesting note: one of Hopkins better players, Travis Boyd, is an 8th grader! That’s an extremely rare occurrence in Minnesota High School Hockey!
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