C2 Horde Fall Asleep for Five Minutes, Lose to Chaos Black

2011-11-05 Richfield, MN: The C2 Northern Horde decided to take a long shift off, and Chaos turned it into a 5-2 win. The Horde came out of the gates with a ton of energy, but a hot sub goalie kept them at bay after putting up 13 shots in the first period. Six minutes into the second period, Steven Lenzen finally found the twine making a nice move to take the puck away at the left point and race down the ice ahead of the opposite D beating the Chaos goalie in the top left corner. Unfortuneately, the Horde's energy died around the nine minute mark of the period as Chaos put in three goals in a five minute span, two of which came four seconds apart. That stretch was all Chaos needed as the Horde would only score one more after Chris Warlick put in a Jeff Cleath rebound at 11:28 in the third. "This one hurt a bit," said Gary Schwartz, to the media after the game. "We could have won this one as they only outshot us 34-33, but we couldn't stop them during that stretch in the second period." Noted Pete Breener, "the team needed to keep up the intensity and we didn't have it." Schwatz commented, "Zimmerman had a greta pass to the Chaos' Misson in the slot on the fifth goal and I wasn't able to stop it filling the nets with Zach at the bluline. It was just one of those kind of nights."

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Slick Willies Summer Hockey

Slick Willies

# Player GP G Ast Pts PP SH PIM 5 Warlick, C 11 7 7 14 0 0 0 12 Foote, B 11 6 6 12 0 0 2 10 Cleath, J 13 8 4 12 0 1 6 8 Bolles, D 13 5 7 12 1 0 0 9 McDonald, D 12 8 2 10 1 0 0 17 Schwartz, G 10 1 6 7 0 0 4 7 Errigo, J 12 2 5 7 0 0 0 16 Lenzen, S 11 3 2 5 1 0 4 15 Hinderks, B 12 2 3 5 0 0 16 18 Haack, C 8 2 2 4 0 0 0 3 Tyler, R 12 3 1 4 0 0 14 14 Morrow, P 5 1 2 3 0 0 0 11 Kline, D 10 0 3 3 0 0 0 2 Small, P 10 0 2 2 0 0 0 4 Zimmerman, J * 12 0 2 2 0 0 0 6 Arora, S 13 0 2 2 0 0 2 1 Kangas, N 11 0 1 1 0 0 0 13 Brenner, P 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals: 48 57 105 3 1 48 Goalie GP GA Avg Shots Sv% W L T OTL Kangas, N 11 48 4.36 318 0.849 6 5 0 0 Sub Goalie 2 11 5.50 60 0.817 0 2 0 0

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D1 Northern Horde Beat Arctic Wolves 6-1; Win D1 East!

2011-03-26 St. Paul, MN (Highland Park, north rink). With a short bench and the D1 East title on the line, the Northern Horde stood up to the challenge from a feisty Arctic Wolves team and hung on for a 6-1 win.  Goalie Nathan Kangas forgot his stick and had to borrow one that was for the opposite hand, but that didn't stop him from posting another one goal game.  He stopped 11 of the 12 shots he faced as the four Horde defensemen stood strong to keep the defensive zone clear and trouble at bay.  The Horde offense was very sluggish with the 5 pm Saturday start, but the team rallied when needed.  Chris Brown got the Horde on the board at 13;55 of the first. In the second period, Dan Bolles, who was playing center for the first time this season due to the short bench, put in two goals with Dan Kline picking up the first of three assists on the night for him.  In the third period, Steven Lenzen and Chris Warlick each got on the board and Bolles put in one more for the hat trick.  For Warlick the goal was timely as his wife and kids had just arrived at the game so he was able to flash some skills for time.   It wasn't flashy, but the Horde got 6 of 42 shots past a very solid Wolves goalie who rose to the challenge all night.  The Horde next take on the Muskies on Wednesday night as a tune up before the playoffs.  Needless to say that the Horde will need to play better than it did on Saturday night to have any chance in the playoffs.

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D1 Horde Beat Muskies With Late Nelson Goal; Clinch Playoff Spot

2011-02-27 St, Paul, MN (Highland South):  The D1 Northern Horde played a fired up Muskies line-up and came from behind to win 3-2.  The Muskies came out with guns blazing in the first period and pressured the Horde defense.  After a break to fix the game clock, the Muskies got loose in front of the net on a bad line change and went ahead 1-0.  The Horde regrouped midway through the second when Jon Zimmerman put in a rebound off a Jeff Nelson shot to tie it up.  The McDonald-Zimmerman-Nelson line would continue to apply pressure after giving up that first Muskies goal.  After Nelson made a strong play in the corner to dislodge the puck from the Muskies D, Zimmerman took it behind the net and fed Darren McDonald in front of the net.  His shot rebounded to Nelson who put it in on his second attempt from the back post.  "The Muskies goalie was hot tonight, saving everything in sight, and their D was stifling," said Nelson.  The Muskies answered the call in the third period when the Horde D misplayed a puck in the air to tie it up.  At that point it was game on for the Horde.  Wave after wave of Northern Horde lines took it to the Muskies, whose goalie had a performance reminiscent of the Horde's last game against the Diablos.  "Chris Warlick and Steven Lenzen are still shocked at how the Muskies goalie stopped three breakaways from each of them on the night," said Rob Yurko an hour after game time.  Finally, with less than three minutes to go in the game, Nelson got loose on the right side and slid it near post for a 3-2 lead.  The mettle of the Horde D would be tested again when Zimmerman was whistled for interference with only one minute remaining - his first penalty in over 60 AHA games.  "Really?" was the reaction from Dana Cudo, which was very polite compared to the "Are you F*%KING kidding me" from Gary Schwartz.  Chris Warlick and Stevne Lenzen, still shocked at how the Muskies goalie stopped three breakaways from each of them on the night, weren't even aware the Horde pulled out the victory.  As the scorekeeper said to Zimmerman in the box, "They haven't gotten within 40 feet of your goalie in the third period, even man-down I don't think you have anything to worry about."  The Horde next take on the Icedogs in a D2 reunion late on Sunday night at New Hope.

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Northern Horde beat outmatched Stars 11-0

Sunday, February 13, 2011, New Hope Arena, New Hope, MN.  In his first of two controversial coaching moves of the night, Captain John Errigo asked Dana Cudo, Rob Yurko, and Dan Bolles to stay home to try to give the Stars a chance during Sunday’s game. It didn’t work, as the Stars were grossly overmatched despite the Horde’s short bench.

The Horde came out strong, and peppered the Stars goaltender with 30 shots in the first 2 periods, 11 of them finding the back of the net. Most Horde players ended up on the scoring sheet, with Steve Lenzen (4) and John Errigo (2) having multi-goal nights. When asked what the most important play of the game was, defenseman Brian Hinderks stated, “It had to be Gary Schwartz’s assist on the 8th goal. That assist single-handedly turned the tide and gave the Horde the confidence it needed to finish with a W.” 

Despite some chippy play by the frustrated Stars, the Horde managed to play a clean game. The most controversial call came late in the game, when Chris Warlick got called for a 2-minute penalty for “trying too hard with an 11 goal lead” – at least that’s what it looked like to the guys on the bench.  

Errigo’s second unorthodox coaching move came at the end of the second period. With the Horde ahead by 11 goals, and having outshot the Stars 30-5 to that point, Errigo appealed to his teammates to ease up and go easy on their rivals. When asked how this locomotive could possibly be slowed down without derailing, Errigo’s advice to the team was to “try play like you’re Jon Zimmerman”. To this, defenseman Tyler LaMont bemoaned, “You realize that we’re only ahead by 11.” Errigo stood firm, and with the Horde playing like an army of Zimmermans, they were outshot in the final period by a tally of 7-3. Despite this late Stars flurry, strong play by goaltender, Nathan Kangas, kept them off the scoring column, as he recorded his league-high 3rd shutout of the season.

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D2 Horde Fall Behind Early; Battle Back to Win in Overtime

2011-01-17, Eden Prairie, MN: The D2 Northern Horde came from behind twice to tie the score, ultimately prevailing in overtime at a nearly-empty Eden Prairie ice rink.  The game was tightly contested when the Knights put one past Horde goalie Pete Morrow one minute into a power play.  The Knights struck again less than 30 seconds later by taking advantage of some defensive confusion in the Horde end putting the Horde down 2-0 little more than halfway into the first period.  The Horde started their climb back into it when Shawn Espeseth knocked the puck to Suneel Arora at the point.  Arora’s shot was stopped but Dan Kline knocked the puck past the Knights’ goalie to start the scoring.  “I’m so used to having my back to my own goalie that I almost fired the puck back at Pete,” commented Dan Kline. Just over two minutes into the second period, the Horde tied it at two when Chris Haack centered a pass to Richard “Big Stick” Dargis who knocked a backhand into the net.  Later in the period, the Knights took the lead again when Dmitry Tovb got behind the Horde defense on a breakaway.  The defense did a nice job getting back, forcing a sharp-angle backhand shot which just squeaked underneath Morrow’s waiting glove.  After several extended stretches of pressure in the Knights defensive zone, Joe Lee centered a pass to Mark Paska.  Paska’s initial shot was saved but Ryan Dolan was in the perfect spot to bang home the rebound.  After a friendly chat in front of the Knights’ goalie (a request for further comment from Kline was rebuffed), the teams battled to a regulation tie.  “I skated all the way in from the point because I was hoping to knock some heads together. It figures Kline would wuss out,” said Jeff Cook.  With less ice time remaining than the 5-minute overtime clock would allow, Paska decided he’d had enough and intentionally lost the opening faceoff.  He then methodically picked the puck off the Knights’ defenseman’s stick, walked in alone on the goalie and knocked home the game winner just 14 seconds into overtime.

 
Next up for the D2 Northern Horde is a rematch with the Fighting Loons.

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Strong Third Period Key as D2 Horde Beat Maroons 2-1

2011-01-10, Hopkins, MN:  The D2 Northern Horde overcame the fatigue of the an indescribably long drive out to Hopkins to beat the Maroons in one of the best games of the seasons.  Both teams rose to the occasion and played with ferocity with sixth place in the D2 standings on the line.  The game was a defensive battle all the way, which looked scary for the Horde with Jon Zimmerman subbing for Stan Kruglikov.  However, Zimmerman shocked everyone by not giving up a goal on the night.  Said captian Kline, "We are always nervous when Zimmerman is back there, but with the speed of Joe Lee, we thought he wouldn't hurt us too badly." Through the first period, the Maroons controlled the play, but Richard "Big Stick" Dargis got his second goal of the season with a 140 foot shot from the Horde's defensive blue line as he was getting off the ice for a change.  The puck slipped past a stunned Maroons goalie to put the Horde into the lead.  The game remained scoreless as both goalies turned away shot after shot.  In the third period, the Maroons put a deflected puck past Pete Morrow to tie things up, but the Horde were not through.  Jonny "Clutch" Nygren made sure the Horde would go home winners when he stole the puck at the blue line, made a great move at the left boards to create some space and blasted (sort of) the puck past a stunned Maroons goalie to put the Horde up for good.  After the game, Ryan Dolan expressed his surprise, "I never expected to see Nygren get a goal in that situation.  Usually, he makes a play and then gives the puck back to the other team so they won't be embarassed he just stole it from them.  For some reason, he decided to do something with it tonight."  Despite being outshot 31-17, Pete Morrow was solid all night in picking up another win between the pipes.  The Horde are looking forward to the return of Will Schultz next week to make ensure that no goals get scored from the third line.

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