Maulers Dethrone Knights 6-1

Welcome to 2014 Maulers fans! This Sophia Rauvola (Etier) reporting you for the first time in the new year! I hope everyone of you had a great holiday season as I know I did and now I know that your Maulers boys are too that they have rung in the New Year with a 6-1 win against one of the highest ranked teams in the league. Your Missoula Maulers have beaten the team that swept them about 5 months earlier. Now only if they can accomplish this feat for the next 2 days as well. The newly acquainted players that we all saw in 2013, John Andersson and Joey Sundgren, are fitting in quite nicely to this very young roster. This is possibly the youngest average age roster the organization has seen in half a decade. I was very impressed by the many shots on goal the boys had last night! They were constantly attacking the net and odds are if you shot 40 at least one of them is bound to go in. It appears as if the guys are growing into their big boy, junior hockey player britches and finally playing at a level they should be. I knew they had it in them, they just had to find that out themselves. For now, I think we should predominantly focus our sights on the up and coming Erich Jaeger. Erich is the Mary Poppins' bag of tricks out there on the ice considering he always seems to pull a goal out of nonexistence. He is one of the young players you automatically know is bound for the NAHL lifestyle and I bet the college/NAHL scouts just ate him up at the tourney in Las Vegas among many of the other guys as well of course considering their 4 game sweep. This game was quite possibly one of the best they have played this season so far. I am apologize in advance if these recaps will be shorter or more informal than normal, I am doing my annual IIHF World Junior Championships recap for my main blog Biscuits and Breezers and it is in the hectic finals right now and I have a day-day blog to put out and that is taking up a majority of my time!

Just thought I would throw this in for good measure!

As I said before, Erich Jaeger has been on fire as he drew first blood in this game at 15:45 into the first period. This power play goal was assisted by Tyler Zandhuisen and Josh Chamberlain.

In the second period, we saw 3 more goals come onto the score board.The first one was from the always incredible Corey Schafer 52 seconds into the period with an apple for Mankato native Billy Bigham. At 8:06, Matt "Big Red" Chamberlain got a power play geno of his own when he beat Phoenix tendy Alex Taylor. Apples were credited to Edward Pollon and Tanner Todd. 14:36 was the time that Phoenix scored their only goal. To close out the period, #17 Shane Fitzpatrick shorthanded the biscuit past Stockholm goaltender Sebastian Gronborg with the help of #14 Brynton Macnab and #44 Nick Kujawa.  

The third saw three goals as well and Joey Sundgren was the first to get bitten by the scoring bug as he was "infected" at 58 seconds after the initial whistle. This power play beauty was assisted by Corey Schafer and Anders Nord. The younger but equally as talented Chamberlain brother, Josh, was the next bitten when his biscuit lit the lamp at 15:10 originally helped out by Max Rebholz and Mr. Erich Jaeger (I'm sorry but this kid's nickname has to be Jaegermeister I mean it's just destiny. And if it isn't you all should make it happen! Let's get this trending in Missoula! Erich Jaeger's new nickname is Jaegermeister for sure! Seriously though it just rolls off the tongue smoothly #Erich"Jaegermeister"Jaeger.) Typically, Erich ended the scoring by just tipping the puck in for the hometown boys at 17:47 on a power play. John Andersson and Craig Buford had the assists.

I was able to catch up with both Chamberlain brothers after the game on Facebook and I asked them a couple of questions for you all! Older brother and 3 year veteran Matt was up first I asked 3 simple questions 1. How did it feel when you scored your goal in the second period? 2. How do you and the boys feel about the win? and 3. What do you predict your game will look like for the rest of the week? and graciously he responded, "It was a weight off of my shoulders. I hadn't scored for awhile and I was happy I could contribute! We feel like we were due, we had a few close close games and it was a real confidence booster for us! The rest of the games will be an all out battle just some tough hockey and a great show for the fans! With us coming out on top of course!" Thank you very much Matt, it is always great to get a quote here and there from you! Now we have Josh who I asked the same question except with an exchange of a first period goal for 2 points. He replied, "It felt great, it was my first goal in the GRR. That was a huge win for us tonight. We owed that one to the great fans in Missoula, we love them all, we're going to keep playing the way we can and try to take care of them [Knights] just like we did tonight." Thanks Josh and it is always great to talk to you as well! As you can see Maulers fans, you are loved by everyone on the team so keep coming out to the GIRRRRRRR and representing your Missoula hockey!

Don't miss out!

Statistics:

PENALTIES:

Period 1:

Missoula Maulers - Henrik Ekestahl (Holding) 2 Minutes, 12:41

Phoenix Knights - Max Mahood (Elbowing) 2 Minutes, 13:55

Phoenix Knights - Brayden Cullum (Too Many Men) 2 Minutes, 17:40

Period 2:

Missoula Maulers - Tanner Todd (Interference) 2 Minutes, 2:06

Phoenix Knights - Max Mahood (Roughing) (Major) 5 Minutes, 4:42

Phoenix Knights - Nick Kujawa (Hooking) 2 Minutes, 10:17

Phoenix Knights - Tanner Branch (Hooking) 2 Minutes, 12:40

Phoenix Knights - Max Mahood (Unsportsmanlike Conduct) (Misconduct), 10 Minutes, 12:40

Missoula Maulers - Tanner Todd (Unsportsmanlike Conduct) 2 Minutes, 19:38

Phoenix Knights - Brennan Johnsson (Unsportsmanlike Conduct) 2 Minutes, 19:38

Period 3:

Phoenix Knights - Brayden Cullum (High Sticking) 2 Minutes, 0:06

Missoula Maulers - Derek Griffin (Checking from Behind) 2 Minutes, 4:44

Missoula Maulers - Billy Bigham (Checking from Behind) 2 Minutes, 12:05

Phoenix Knights - Tanner Branch (Tripping) 2 Minutes, 16:12

Phoenix Knights - Jordan Cullum (Cross Checking) 2 Minutes, 18:42

Phoenix Knights - David Hornak (Unsportsmanlike Conduct) 2 Minutes, 18:42

SHOTS ON GOAL:

Missoula Maulers - 40 total

Phoenix Knights - 22 total

POWER PLAYS:

Missoula Maulers - 4 for 9

Phoenix Knights - 0 for 5

GOALTENDERS:

#1 Sebastian Gronborg for Missoula Maulers: 60 Minutes played, 22 shots on goal 21 saves

#30 Alex Taylor for Phoenix Knights: 60 Minutes played, 40 shots on goal 34 saves