It’s obviously extremely early, just three games in, but Park High hockey is looking good.
The Wolfpack ran their season record to 3-0 Thursday with a dominating 4-0 win against archrival …
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It’s obviously extremely early, just three games in, but Park High hockey is looking good.
The Wolfpack ran their season record to 3-0 Thursday with a dominating 4-0 win against archrival East Ridge before a capacity, standing room only crowd at Cottage Grove Ice Arena.
The final score was a little deceptive. After a hard-fought scoreless first period, Park scored twice in the second to take a 2-0 lead. That score held up until the final minutes of the game when the Wolfpack scored twice on empty net tallies in the final two minutes. Still, it was a physical game where the Wolfpack skated in control from puck drop to the final buzzer.
Senior forward Cole Talledge got the Wolfpack on the scoreboard with an even strength goal at 5:32 in the second period. Junior forward Owen Corkish followed five minutes later with another score that made it a 2-0 game and that really was all the offense the Wolfpack needed.
Adam Freimann of the Wolfpack fired in a long shot into an empty net with about two minutes remaining and Jackson Rudh added insult to injury with an empty net goal with 20 seconds to play.
Wyatt Beaurline, Rudh and Freimann scored assists.
“He (Park coach Jeff Corkish) just talked about all the positive things and how we improved and not to focus on the negatives and we’ll improve on that as we go here,” said Rudh when asked what coach Corkish told the team after the game.
Positives mentioned by Corkish included: “We weren’t chirping back at the other team, staying composed, nothing toward the ref, and some of the sophomores really improved, just learning the game.”
Park junior goalie Aidan Miller earned the shutout victory, stopping all 18 East Ridge attempts.
“I think we did good keeping our control, not getting too out of hand and staying posed,” said sophomore defender Luke Dahlstrom. “This is a good win for us. Good win going into Stillwater on Thursday.”
Park came into the contest 2-0, with strong wins over Forest Lake and Eagan to open the season. East Ridge, on the other hand, has struggled, opening 0-3 with losses to Duluth Marshall, Eagan and Rosemount.
Park has now won five straight against the Raptors, sweeping the series in 21-22 and 22-23 in addition to Thursday’s victory.
“That progress is being made,” said Park head coach Corkish when asked what he told his team after the game. “The things we’re working on in practice and the things that we’re talking to them about in terms of improving to win a game are working. We have a long ways to go, we’re not even close to where we want to be but the things we’re working on are working.
“There are a lot of areas if you’re watching the game you can pick apart, all the mistakes that we make and where we’re not supposed to be and all that type of stuff but we’re not worrying about those because we have time to fix those things and in a couple months we’ll be where we want to be,” Corkish added.
Corkish said he’s seen 100 percent improvement in the team just from game one to game three. “Just the little things,” Corkish said. “It’s habits, its tactical stuff, whether it’s a stick on the ice, it’s about reading a play versus watching the puck, it’s about a certain individual that has the confidence to move his feet with the puck versus looking to throw it. So as a team we’re getting better but as individuals we’re seeing a lot of little things being developed out of each individual and together, we’re getting better five percent a player, every day. Which makes us overall a lot stronger team.”
Next up for the Wolfpack (3-0, 2-0) is a game at Stillwater (0-1, 0-4) on Thursday, Dec. 14, starting at 7 p.m. in the St. Croix Valley Recreation Center. The Wolfpack follows that with a home date against Mounds View (0-1, 1-2) on Saturday, Dec. 16, at Cottage Grove Ice Arena, starting at 7:30 p.m.
HOCKEY NOTES: SEC members White Bear Lake (3-0, 4-1) is No. 7 and Cretin-Derham Hall (1-1, 1-2) is No. 10 in the first Class 2A rankings of the season by Let’s Play Hockey.
After three games, Corkish leads Park with 4 goals and 4 assists. Rudh has 3 goals and 6 assists, Moss has 3 goals and 2 assists and Talledge has 3 goals and no assists. Miller has allowed six goals in three goals for a .897 success rate.
