I think the consistency starts in practice.,”

Owen Corkish

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Park hosts Eastview (8-10) Thursday evening in a non-conference contest, then returns to SEC play with a game Saturday at Roseville (12-8. 6-6), starting at 3 p.m.

After a tough loss at Stillwater Thursday, the Park Wolfpack needed a fat hockey win Saturday over a struggling Mounds View team and got it.

Park jumped out to a 3-1 lead after one period and bumped it up to 6-1 after two to effectively end it.

Mounds View came in with the worst record in the SEC at 0-11 in the conference and 3-15 on the season.

Park, meanwhile, got a solid bounce back win to improve to 6-4-1 in the Suburban East Conference and 11-6-1 on the season. The Wolfpack now stand fourth in the SEC standings, trailing fifth-ranked Cretin-Derham Hall (16-2-1. 10-0-0), No. 7 White Bear Lake (13-3-3, 10-1-1) and No. 8 Stillwater (14-4, 9-2).

Senior forward Owen Corkish put in two goals and a whopping four assists to lead Park. For the season Corkish has a team-leading 20 goals and 28 assists for 48 total points.

Max Kaplan, Drew Schumacher and Caden Schwartz scored in the first period to get the Wolfpack off to a fast start. Corkish put to pucks in the back of the net in the second and Gavin Moss cored one. Jack Kennedy then powered in his first goal of the season late in the third as the Wolfpack offense capped a big night with a whopping 51 shots on goal.

“I think we were super unselfish, we moved the puck well and all of our systems kind of came together,” said senior defender Schwartz. “Our O-zone was really good today and we found the back of the net.”

“Consistency definitely could improve with us,” Schwartz added. “But like this when we’re rolling we play really good and I think that’s a step we can take.”

Owen Corkish agreed with Schwartz. “Oh yea, for sure, more consistent is what we’re working for every day and try to be the best team we can be every day. That’s what we want.

Corkish was asked what the team needs to do to be more consistent. “Just bringing it every single day, even in practice,” he said. “I think the consistency starts in practice. Once we do it in practice we can bring it to the games and just having that overall effort every single time we step on the ice.”

Park head coach Jeff Corkish was also asked about the team’s consistency. The Wolfpack had a four-game stretch of dominating wins against East Ridge (6-2), Forest Lake (8-3) and Mounds View (7-1) surrounding a 6-2 loss to Stillwater. Park also hung tough this season with a talented White Bear Lake team in a 2-2 tie but hasn’t been able to stick with SEC leaders Cretin-Derham Hall and Stillwater.

“A team like ours, we’ve got to make sure we understand who we are,” said Corkish. “We’re not world beaters. We can do everything we can and be in big games with good teams such as we were with Holy Family and White Bear and whatnot but then we can also end up on the other side of the scoresheet as well with Stillwater and those games.

“So we aren’t incredible every day either but at the same time, lot of times when you see something happen like today, it wasn’t because we were so good it was just because of the matchup and it was a bad matchup for them, and we have enough scoring we can take advantage of some of the turnovers they made,” Corkish continued. “A lot of times you win the games you are supposed to because of the talent you have and you lose the games you’re supposed to because of the talent you have. And I think that’s what’s happening. We haven’t upset anybody really that we were supposed to upset and we haven’t really lost to too many that we were supposed to. So we’re kind of right where we’re supposed to be.”

Park’s defense was also equal to the task, allowing Mounds View just 26 shots on goal. Aidan Miller stopped 25 of the 26 shots for a .962 night.

Park hosts Eastview (8-10) Thursday evening in a non-conference contest, then returns to SEC play with a game Saturday at Roseville (12-8. 6-6), starting at 3 p.m.

Stillwater 6, Park 2

The Wolfpack made it closer in the second meeting this season between the two teams but still fell to host Stillwater in Suburban East Conference boys' hockey Thursday, losing 6-2.

The first meeting between the two teams was a 10-2 Stillwater win.

Stillwater took a 2-1 lead after one period and increased it to 4-1 after two. The Ponies then won the third period 2-1.

Gavin Moss scored on an even strength goal in the first period and Owen Corkish put one in on a power play in the third for the Wolfpack. Max Kaplan, Corkish, Moss and Caden Schwartz had assists for Park.

Stillwater outshot Park 39-25. Park goalie Henry Voss stopped 33 of 39 shots for an .846 success rate.

The Ponies improved to 9-2 in the SEC and 14-3 overall.