Shattuck St. Mary's over Team Wisconsin 5-1

I got a chance to catch part of the game today between Team Wisconsin and Shattuck St. Mary's. Shattuck controlled the puck throughout the game, and racked up a 5-1 win.

Brock Montpetit played on a line with David Toews and Eli Zuck for Shattuck St. Mary's. It was hard to tell who Shattuck's top pairing was due to all the penalties that are seemingly called in every game now, but I'm guessing this is Shattuck's top line. They started the majority of power plays for Shattuck. Montpetit had a power play goal on a wrap around where a Team Wisconsin D should have put him on his seat in a big way. Montpetit is a very good skater, and has great puck control. He will be a very good player by the time he gets to UW.

Ben Youds had one of the other goals for Shattuck. He basically went coast to coast from his defensive position to score the first goal of the game. Goals three and four were by Stepan Novotny of Prague, Czech Republic. He is a big, physical forward (6' 1", 190 lb. Junior) who obviously has the scoring touch as well.

Ben Blood is a giant defenseman (6'3", 210 lb. Senior) from Plymouth, MN who threw his weight around in the second period by checking Travis Erstad (6'4", 190 lb. Senior) from Stevens Point into the boards from behind. Then, he proceeded to land on Erstad and deliver blows to his head until the linesmen dragged him off. Erstad got two minutes for the escapade, although he seemed to do nothing, while Blood got four minutes.

Team Wisconsin was either missing Jeff Burke, a defenseman from Somerset, or he was wearing a different number for some reason. Burke's listed as #7, but there was not #7 on the ice and there was a #21. This defenseman skated pretty well with the puck, but seemed to make some mistakes throughout the game, including the lack of putting a body on Montpetit when he scored his goal.

Karl Burns from USM had a rough game. With 2:01 left in the second period, he was called for either his third or fourth penalty. I'm guessing it was already his fourth, as he left the playing surface. I did not notice him back on the ice during the part of the third period I saw. Also, I noticed a player out loading up a car as I left...I'm guessing that was him.

Dustin LeClaire started the game for Team Wisconsin, and Andy Scheib took over netminder duties halfway through the game. Three of the goals were on LeClaire, and two on Scheib.

I had to leave during the third period (when the score was 4-0), but was told that Justin Johnson got the goal for Team Wisconsin late in the game.

Justin Johnson and Nate Condon seemed to be the best of Team Wisconsin's forwards, but they did not manage much scoring, even though they each had at least one breakaway. Nobody else really did anything offensively for Team Wisconsin besides those two. On defense, Tim Smith from Superior was the player that jumped out at me for Team Wisconsin. I was disappointed with Travis Erstad as he seems like he could have a big impact on every game if he put his mind to it. He also played quite a bit with Johnson and Condon on the same line, so it's not like he doesn't have anyone who can help him playing on his line.

The bottom line in this game is that Shattuck just skated too well, and did a nice job keeping a handle on the puck. I figured that Shattuck was going to be the more talented team, but was thinking possibly Team Wisconsin could give them a run since this is the first weekend of games Shattuck has played, but alas Team Wisconsin could just not put it together this weekend.

Mike Eaves was in the building through the first two periods of the game. There were also scouts in attendance from Ottawa and Washington in the NHL, among others.

Team Wisconsin lost both games on Saturday. When I asked one of the Team Wisconsin parents about the games, they said "we got smoked". This parent indicated about five power play goals were given up by Team Wisconsin in one game, and eight in the other. Here's a report on the first two games of the weekend, and a recap by Hockey Thoughts on the first two games.