After losing the first three games of the season, the win was very uplifting for the team’s spirit.
The Stars were led by goalie John Manthei, who played his first game since sitting out for a week with pneumonia. Manthei made many great saves over the course of the game. It seemed that Manthei almost killed the many penalties the Stars incurred all by himself.
Even though the Stars came out fired up for the game, the offense had a hard time breaking Sartell’s defense. Sartell played a very conservative game, using a mid-ice trap. The majority of Sartell’s offense resulted from turnovers they recovered at mid-ice.
Ryan Mackedanz, the team’s leading scorer so far this year, gave the Stars a one goal lead at the 4:22 mark in the first. Mackedanz was about to be checked at the top of the left circle when he fired a hard slapshot towards the goal. The Sartell goalie had little time to react as the puck shot into the upper left corner.
The second period seemed to give the Stars even more trouble with their offense. Due to the mid-ice trap, the defense was having great difficulty making break out passes. Both teams played great defense with neither team able to score a goal in the second period.
The Stars knew the third period was important for them to win. Twice already this year the Stars had taken a lead into the third period only to see it fizzle away.
Sartell scored on a power play early in the third to tie the game. The goal came after Manthei stopped four straight shots at point blank range. Many on the Stars team were worried another win would slip away.
Mackedanz put everyone’s worries to rest by scoring a big goal that gave the Stars the lead for good, minutes after the Sartell goal. Great team passing helped produce the goal.
The Stars had 10 minutes of penalties in the 15-minute third period. Sartell had many chances to tie the game, but Dustin Looman, with under a minute to play, gave the Stars the insurance goal they needed. Looman scored the goal while the Stars were short-handed.
Stars: 1 0 2 -3
Sartell: 0 0 1 -1
Marshall
The Stars lost to Marshall on Saturday 6-1.
The game was very close during the first two periods, but everything went wrong for the Stars in the third.
Marshall proved to be very quick during the first minutes of the game. The Star defense had a hard time making body contact against such fast skaters. John Thompson, a senior from Rocori, did an excellent job stopping Marshall rushes.
Manthei played great for the second straight game. Many uneven rushes by Marshall ended up with Manthei making a great save.
While both teams had many opportunities to score, the score remained 0-0 after the first period.
The intensity level rose for the Stars after Marshall scored on a powerplay.
Minutes after the Marshall goal, Looman was able to take a bad pass and charge towards the goal. He then let go of a powerful wrist shot that easily got past the Marshall goalie.
The third period started out tied at one, but ended very lopsided. Marshall was able to score two goals very quickly, putting the Stars in a hole that could easily be climbed out of.
Marshall’s next goal, however, seemed to break the Stars’ spirits. Manthei had made the save and was waiting for the official to blow the play dead. A Marshall forward then swooped in and hit Manthei, causing the puck to enter the goal. What hurt the Stars even worse was Looman had an identical situation like that, but his goal was disallowed.
Marshall’s next goal was then scored by a Star. While trying to clear the puck out from the slot, the Stars lost control of the puck and it slipped past Manthei.
Stars: 0 1 0 - 1
Marshall: 0 1 5 - 6