Orioles sink on the rink
Park takes 2-1 loss against Waconia
December 10, 2022
Parks Orioles went against the Waconia Wildcats during Parks second varsity home game Dec. 9. With less than a minute on the clock, the Waconia Wildcats scored a game-winning goal to beat Parks Orioles 2-1.
With the score 1-1 for the majority of the game, Goalie coach Noah Parker said he felt the beginning of the game was strong, even if the game ended in a loss.
“We got off to a really good start. We scored in the first (period) of the game, but we weren’t able to find the back of the net throughout the rest of the game,” Parker said. “We played a good game all three periods, but sometimes the bounces just don’t go your way.”
Junior Tony Kruse said he anticipated a win for the Orioles before injuries affected the team.
“The game didn’t go how I expected it to. It was tough once our star defenseman, Cole Taylor, went down. It definitely threw a curveball at us,” Kruse said. “The game was bad after that, we were in a tough spot.”
Parker said that the Wildcats had much more experience coming into this game than the Orioles, and that this helped them achieve victory.
“We knew they were a good team coming in, this is their seventh game but it’s only our second. They had some experience under their belts already,” Parker said.
Junior Drew Hoenie said that the beginning of the game was strong, but they couldn’t keep it going.
“The game went pretty well for the first two periods, we definitely outplayed them and during the last minute we allowed a goal,” Hoenie said.
Parker said that the team conditioned to prepare for this game and focused on preparing for the end of the game, as that had been a struggle in the past.
“In our first game, we were 1-1 going into the third period, but we lost 6-1,” Parker said. “A big element of preparing for this game was conditioning and making sure we were ready for the third period, which we were — we played a much better third period than our first game.”
Junior Tony Kruse said that going forward, the team needs to work on working together and keeping their spirits up.
“We need to improve on being together as one, we need to have good team chemistry and not beat ourselves up when (the other team) scores on us,” Kruse said.
Parker said the team needs to concentrate attention when making shots to improve for future games.
“We need to work on bearing down in front of the net and putting the puck in the back of the net. We had 34 shots but didn’t make a goal, so we obviously need to work on that,” Parker said.
Hockey’s next game is 7:00 p.m. Dec. 13 at the St. Louis Park Rec Center.
