St. Paul (SPA-Drake Ice Rink) – Saturday, January 16, 2010. On a warm, Minnesota January night, the Northern Horde returned to St. Paul Academy/Drake Arena to face the top-ranked Icedogs, a week after defeating the top-ranked Nighthawks. Once again, the stout Horde defense led the team to victory. The Horde played very well in the first period and, with some intense pressure on the Icedogs goalie, opened the scoring at 12:02 of the first when Jeff Nelson followed a Tyler LaMont shot. Dana Cudo picked up the other assist on the goal. Just two minutes later, Mark Paska crashed the net to give the Horde a two goal lead – assists to Dana Cudo and Jeff Nelson. The second period was all Icedogs for the first 12 minutes as they scored one and kept up the pressure against goalie Pete Morrow; however, all that would change when Dan Bolles got a long pass from Brian Hinderks and but a nice move on the Icedogs goalie to put the Horde up 3-1. After an Icedogs goal, Liam Monahan liked what he saw from Bolles and did the same thing with a Jon Nygren pass two minutes later. The Horde opened the third period with a power play and Dan Bolles scored again off a pass from Liam Monahan and Jeff Nelson. Yes, you read that right, Jeff Nelson actually had two passes in this game (leading to two assists for him and three points on the night).
After giving up another goal to the Icedogs, the Horde D was strong the rest of the period. With 2:24 to go in the game, the Horde committed two silly penalties. When the Icedogs pulled their goalie to give them a 6-on-3 advantage, the Horde’s chances to hold on to victory looked bleak. However, Cudo, Hinderks, LaMont, Zimmerman and Bolles stepped up defensively and Pete Morrow stood on his head to preserve the win before a pro-Horde crowd in that numbered in the 30s, perhaps exceeding 40. Ryan Chester looked good in his return to the lineup following a shoulder injury that has sidelined him all season – the Horde will need his intensity at wing in the second half of the season. Unfortunately, the Horde will lose Bill Messinger to a shoulder injury for a few weeks, but look forward to his return to the lineup. Next Sunday, the Horde take on the Fighting Loons, which are one of the highest scoring teams in D2 and have one of the best goalies in the league. This one should be high scoring if the Horde can muster some offense.
