It would be redundant to call an Albert Lea versus Austin boys’ hockey game a wild one.

Friday, February 11, 2000

It would be redundant to call an Albert Lea versus Austin boys’ hockey game a wild one.

Nothing less than wild is expected in an intense rivalry, in one of the most intense of games in high school sports.

Minnesota wild is what took place at Riverside Arena oon Thursday. Austin scored four goals in four minutes in the first period on its way to an 8-3 win over the Tigers (9-11-1, 7-7-1).

Wild emotions got the best of the Packers in the last two periods with two players getting 10-minute misconduct penalties. Austin had a total of 10 penalties for 36 minutes in the second and third periods.

"The players will be disciplined for the misconduct penalties," Austin coach Denny Laumeyer said. "We have team rules for that situation."

Austin began the night with five players missing from the varsity line up – Andy Klapperick, Brent Cummings, Jeremy Mason, Lee Nordby and Nick Bowe who is out for the year with a broken ankle. The four others are expected back by next week.

The Tigers tried to take advantage of the under-manned Packers in the first half of the first period.

They controlled the puck in the Austin zone for much of the time and got some good scoring chances. Austin goalie Kyle Olson, however, kept them in check.

"In the first period we were taking the play to them," Albert Lea coach Roy Nystrom said. "Olson did a good job of stopping us. We then had a couple of mental lapses on defense and they got some scoring opportunities. They demolished us then."

Chris Lynch got things going for Austin. Asham Bell picked off an Albert Lea outlet pass and fed Lynch, who was positioned in the slot. Lynch’s goal came at 9 minutes, 2 seconds into the period.

Albert Lea quickly tied it up with a goal at 10:18. Less than 20 seconds later it was Austin scoring. Sophomore Daniel Swank scored his first varsity goal with assists from Tony Hill and Jeremy Davis. (In the third, sophomore Jesse Morgan also scored his first varsity goal in the game. He was assisted by junior Matt Raskin, who picked up his varsity first point of the season.)

"The rookies did a good job tonight," Olson said.

At 11:59 of the first, Brandon Schaefer scored, and at 13:02 David Lorenzen put in the first of his three goals in the game. The hat trick was the first this season of Austin’s leading scorer (36 points).

In the second period, Austin went from scoring to hitting, in the process they scored a goal. Nate Hansen made a big check in the Albert Lea end to take the puck away. He then fed Lorenzen in the slot who scored.

"We were up 5-1 after two periods," Olson said. "We game out in the third looking to finish the game off.

"We need to start doing that with two big games next week and the playoffs coming up."

The big games are against John Marshall and Mayo. Austin (13-6-1, 11-3-1) faces the Rockets Tuesday at 7:30 at the Rec Center.

"It is a big game for second place in the Big Nine," Laumeyer said. "We also can solidify at least a third seed for the sections."

Albert Lea 1 0 2 – 3

Austin 4 1 3 – 8

First Period – 1, Austin, Chris Lynch (Asham Bell) 9:02. 2, Albert Lea, Levi Hendrickson (Kellen Schulte) 10:18. 3, Austin, Daniel Swank (Tony Hill, Jeremy Davis) 10:35. 4, Austin, Brandon Schaefer (Bell) 11:59. 5, David Lorenzen (Schaefer) 13:02.

Second Period – 6, Austin, Lorenzen (Nate Hansen), 11:22.

Third Period – 7, Albert Lea, Chris Stanek (Jeremy Jacobsen) 1:06 (pp). 8, Austin, Schaefer, 3:02 (pp). 9, Lorenzen (Schaefer) 3:20. 10, Albert Lea, Schulte, 12:04, 11, Austin, Jesse Morgan (Matt Raskin) 12:36.

Shots on goal – Albert Lea 12-11-16 39. Austin 11-15-12 38. Goalies – Albert Lea, Matt Tubbs (30-38). Austin, Kyle Olson (36-39).