2017 ACHA All-Star Challenge: Day 1 Recap
The WCCHA All-Stars battled hard in three games on the first day of the 2017 ACHA D2 All-Star Challenge, emerging with a 2-1 record and 13 standings points. While the team is coming together on the ice, there were off-ice developments as well that impacted the team's preparation and first day of action.
Before the event officially kicked off, the majority of the WCCHA All-Stars were scheduled to travel to Philadelphia on Thursday. Unfortunately, major storms up and down the east coast caused numerous flight cancelations, including multiple ones from Minneapolis-St. Paul. Carrying an official roster of 21 players, the unexpected travel issues adversely affected 7 players, leaving the team with only 14 players (including 2 goalies) available to play on Friday morning. Local reinforcements were found as "guest" players for the evening back-to-back games, with 3 of the missing players arriving late evening.
Game #1 vs. Atlantic Coast Conference
The WCCHA opened up the 2017 version of the All-Star Challenge against a strong - and large - ACC team. The early going was tight, with the teams trading goals in an opening period that ended 1-1. After the ACC opened the scoring, Brien Martin of Wisconsin tucked in a backhander for the first WCCHA goal at 17:13 of the first. With the first period ending in a tie, the teams split the 2 available points - 1 each.
In the second period (note: games are played as 2-25 minute periods), the ACC scored twice to take a 3-1 lead before the WCCHA came back to tie it up at 3. Having just come back from the locker room, Brien Martin scored his second on his first shift back, with an assist from Connor Wilcox of Winona State. Under two minutes later, Brandon Thompson of Minnesota found the twine with a helper from Tyler Palacek of UW-Eau Claire. Unfortunately, the disparity in roster size caught up to the WCCHA late in the game as the ACC took control with the next two goals. Connor Wilcox was able to briefly bring it back to a 1 goal game at 5-4 with an assist from Justin Anderson of Wisconsin, but the ACC were able to find the net two more times to earn the 7-4 victory. Trevor Macey of Wisconsin stopped 17 of 24 shots, taking the loss.
With the victory, the ACC earned 6 standings points, while the WCCHA took the remaining single point.
Game #2 vs. Pac-8
After a few calls were made, 5 guest players were added to the roster for the evening session, which featured back-to-back games. In the first matchup, the WCCHA opened up the scoring almost immediately as Brien Martin put home the first goal of the game just six seconds in. The Pac-8 responded to tie the game a little over two minutes later, but Brandon Thompson restored the lead 40 seconds later with an assist from Marcus Stoulil of Winona State. The WCCHA would add another to their lead when Ryan Herbert of UW-La Crosse finished off a nice 2-on-1 sequence with his brother Cole Herbert of UW-La Crosse. The Pac-8 struck again to bring it back to a 1-goal game with just under 6 left in the first, which is how the initial period would end, 3-2 in favor of the WCCHA.
After giving up the opening goal of the second period, the WCCHA regained the lead at 4-3 when Anthony Benda of Winona State buried a slapshot from the point. Under a minute later, the lead grew to two when Cole Herbert crashed the net and buried a shorthanded goal off of a feed from Brandon Thompson. At 16:36, Connor Wilcox added another, finishing off a nice sequence that involving Tyler Palacek of UW-Eau Claire and Grigory Terlov of Wisconsin. The Pac-8 scored another halfway through the period, but after a goal from one of the guest players, the scoring was complete and the WCCHA cruised to a 7-4 win. Billy Winselman of Winona State earned the victory, stopping 24 of 28 shots.
Having won both periods and the final, the WCCHA took all 7 standings points available in the early game of the evening session.
Game #3 vs. Central States Collegiate Hockey Conference
In the final game of the first day, the WCCHA All-Stars took on the CSCHC. After a scoreless opening 10 minutes, Brandon Thompson struck twice in quick succession to give the WCCHA what would turn out to be an insurmountable lead. Ryan Herbert assisted on both tallies, while Cole Herbert had an assist on the second. The remainder of the first period played out scoreless, with the WCCHA taking the first period points and a 2-0 lead to the locker room.
The second period was an even lower scoring affair, but the CSCHC managed to score the solitary goal that earned them the period points. However, behind a strong performance in goal by Trevor Macey, who stopped 29 of 30 shots faced, the WCCHA All-Stars got the 2-1 win.
By winning the game and the first period, the WCCHA earned 5 points, while the CSCHC added 2 points to their total with their period win.
With a 2-1 record in the first three games, the WCCHA earned 13 out of a possible 21 points, good for a standings percentage of .619. The MACH and NECHA both earned 12 of 14 available points from their games on day one, sharing the overall standings lead with a standings percentage of .857.
With Day #1 in the books, Brandon Thompson leads all WCCHA players with 5 points (4 G, 1 A) with Brien Martin (3 G) and Tyler Palacek (1 G, 2 A) each chipping in with 3 points. Both goalies, Trevor Macey and Billy Winselman, earned a victory on the first day.
On Day #2, the WCCHA will lineup against the Mountain West Collegiate Hockey League at 11 AM (ET) and the Independent team at 5:45 PM (ET).
