Park went to 5-1 on the young season with an impressive 5-3 win over visiting rival Woodbury Saturday afternoon at Cottage Grove Ice Arena.

Park improved to 1-1 in the Suburban East Conference and 5-1 on the season. Woodbury slipped to 0-2 in the SEC and 3-3 overall.

The fifth win in six games, and a near-victory against always strong Stillwater, is Park’s best start in at least a dozen years. Park head coach Jay Moser thinks the Wolfpack still have considerable room for improvement, particularly in consistency.

“We have young guys and we really on our young guys for scoring and you never know what you’re going to get,” said Moser. “We’ve had some really good periods and some really, really bad periods. That’s expected. “When they move their feet and take time and space away, they’re effective. When they start to get stagnant and start watching pucks and watching plays then other teams turn it on us.”

Jackson Rudh and Gavin Moss each pout on a pair of goals to pace the Pace offense. Moss and Rudh each scored in the first period as Park led 2-1 after one period and 3-2 after two.

“We got the pucks in deep and went to battle and just outworked them,” said Rudh.

Moss gave Park a 3-2 lead with a score at the 15:27 mark of the second period.

Rudh scored his second goal of the night to open the third, and that was a big swing in the game’s momentum.

Mac Wohnoutka made it a 5-2 game with a score in the middle of the third.

Rudh, Owen Corkish and Caden Schwartz has two assists each, while Gavin Moss and Wyatt Beaurline added one each.

“I like to glorify the guys that do some of the unseen stuff,” said Moser. “Blocking shots in a big thing in this game and Gavin Moss blocked a shot in that third period and was still able to make a play on the puck to give us that two-on-one for the fourth goal and that was a big goal. We have a bunch of guys; the Schwartz brothers block a lot of shots and Harden played well in net. He did what he’s supposed to do. I don’t think anyone stood out and had an exceptional game but we had a lot of guys just working hard just doing a lot of little things that helped us win.”

Park goalie Alex Harden stopped 26 of 29 shots in the game, a save percentage of .897.

The Wolfpack powered in a pair of goals to start the third period and took a decisive 5-2 advantage.

“We battled adversity, we blocked a lot of shots, we scored goals in the third that we needed to score and we got the job done,” said Aiden Miller. “We need to make sure put together a full game every game and stay consistent.”

Park squares off in another rivalry game Thursday, meeting East Ridge (0-1, 1-2) Thursday, Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Cottage Grove Ice Arena The Wolfpack follow that game with a road contest at Cretin-Derham Hall (2-0, 3-2) on Saturday, Dec. 17.

Stillwater 3, Park 1 (OT)

Visiting Stillwater rallied from a 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 overtime win over the host Park Wolfpack Thursday in a thrilling Suburban East Conference boys hockey contest.

It was the first loss of the season for the Wolfpack.

Park grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period with goals from Caden Schwartz and Colton Porter.

Still water cut the lead to 2-1 at the end of the first period then tied the game at 2-all in the second period.

That’s where the game stood until 6:33 in overtime when the Ponies won it on an even strength goal.

Stillwater outshot Park 40-26.

Park goalie Aiden Miller went the distance and stopped 37 of 40 attempts.

Park’s Gavin Moss watches as his shot goes in to give the Wolfpack a 3-2 lead in the final minutes of the second period over Woodbury. Photo by John Molene

Park sophomore Owen Corkish leads a breakaway in the second period against Woodbury. Corkish leads Park with six goals and 13 points so far this season. Photo by John Molene

Park’s bench watches intently as the action unfolds in front of them. Photo by John Molene