Park boys’ hockey played Blake and suffered a disappointing defeat of 2-4 Dec. 10. Park started off strong with two goals total from the first and second periods and fought hard in the third to tie before Blake scored their fourth goal minutes before the end. Park is ranked 25th in the state with a 5-2 record so far this season.
Goalie coach Conor Klaers said the team went in with high standards and although it was not the outcome they hoped for, they still showed up prepped and ready to take on Blake.
“It was a big game, standings-wise, an important one for us. (The game) didn’t go how we wanted it to, but we came ready to play,” Klaers said.
According to sophomore Liam McCoy, the team went into the game following a solid week of practice. He said they played well but weren’t able to secure the win following difficult shifts.
“We had a good week of practice—I think it was pretty good. We just had a rough couple of shifts, and that just got us in a hole that we couldn’t dig ourselves out of,” McCoy said.
Senior Trey Janssen highlighted goalie Max Cherevatenko for working hard for their team consistently and blocking over 30 shots Blake had on Park’s goal.
“Our goalie, Max, stuck out for us. He let four goals in, but we can’t let 38, 35 shots go on our goal in each game, (so he showed strength),” Janssen said.
According to Klaers, he hopes to see improvements in both offense and defense so they can confidently control the ice against fast teams like Blake. He said overall, Park’s effort was good, especially since Blake came on strong.
“Blake played fast. They came out with a couple of really early goals, and we weren’t quite ready to play right off the bat,” Klaers said. “Our effort was good but offensively and defensively, we need to do a better job in front of the net on both ends because that’s a big part of how we can be successful as a team.”
Janssen said overall the team struggled on the ice, and while he hopes to see improvements in both offense and defense, he said he also hopes to see more support on and off the bench.
“I don’t think anyone carried the game today. We both had bad defense and not enough offense. Scoring two goals isn’t enough to win the game,” Janssen said. (I hope to see a) better D (defense) zone and picking each other up, a more positive bench.”
According to McCoy, there wasn’t enough structure in Park’s defense to bounce back after Blake’s rebound following their second goal. He said this goal could have been prevented if they had back checked.
“(A play that stuck out was) back checking on the second goal. We didn’t have enough back pressure, and then they just finished a rebound when it could have stopped,” McCoy said.
Klaers said he expects to see more focus going into some of the bigger, upcoming games. He said in practice they will focus on the smaller details in hopes of eventually leading them to finish off strong in playoffs.
“We will be a lot more focused going into our game on Saturday. We’ll do the little things with more attention to detail—play both ends of the ice,” Klaers said. “We talked as a team about, surprising some people, we do play some really good teams coming up. All of it is just a slow build towards the playoffs.”
Park boys’ hockey plays their next game against Edina at 7 p.m. Dec. 14 at the Braemar Ice Arena.
