KMMO rise to power with win over Arrowhead

16 Dec 2014 by Warren Macey

By Jim Hoehn of the Journal Sentinel

Senior defenseman Connor Freeman went on the offensive, and Kettle Moraine/Mukwonago/Oconomowoc took advantage of its advantages to rally for a 6-3 victory over Arrowhead in a Classic 8 Conference boys hockey showdown at the Naga-Waukeee Ice Center on Tuesday night.

Freeman scored a pair of goals and added two assists, and senior forward Allan Moutvic added two goals and an assist as the Lasers overcame an early 2-0 deficit on the strength of four power-play goals.

“At the end of the day, we took advantage of the opportunities that we had,” Lasers coach John Brymer said. “Arrowhead took a lot of penalties, probably some uncalled penalties for them that they probably didn’t need to take and they put us up a man or two.”

The co-op improved to 2-2-1 overall and 1-0 in the conference. Arrowhead, which was whistled for 11 penalties, fell to 1-1 in the conference and 2-2 overall.

Arrowhead leads early

Sophomore forward Ben Beversdorf staked the Warhawks to a 1-0 lead at 5:29 with a backhanded shot from the slot after the Lasers failed to clear the puck. Arrowhead extended the lead to 2-0 when Zach Hopkins punched it to the right side past sophomore goalie Paul McLean at 13:07.

Twenty seconds later, Freeman took a pass from Justin Persch and countered with a shot from the blue line that went in just under the crossbar past Warhawks goalie J.J. Gerlach, who registered 34 saves.

“It was actually a really nice play by Justin,” said Freeman. “He kind of cut around the net. He didn’t really know what he had and just decided he saw it open in front and just threw it there. Luckily, I was out of the zone, I just cut in, saw it and shot it. Luckily it went right over J.J.’s shoulder.”

The Lasers opened the second period on the power play and Moutvic tied it 2-2 with a rebound goal just 47 seconds into the period.

“I felt like we were probably a better skating team than them, but you’re down 2-0, there’s a lot of game left,” said Brymer. “That’s what we kept telling them. And then we got that quick goal, it’s like, ‘All right, it’s time to go to work. We can turn this around.’ Eventually, we got that second one and kept going on the power play, which was nice.”

Lasers take command

KMMO continued the momentum swing with a goal by Alex Manske on a two-man advantage and Freeman unassisted to extend the margin to 4-2 entering the final period.

Sophomore defenseman Elijah Tomala brought the Warhawks within 4-3 when he blasted a power-play shot from just inside the blue line on the right side 3:56 into the period. But, the Lasers took advantage of two more Arrowhead penalties, turning the advantages into goals by Moutvic —his team-high seventh of the season —and Nick Bateson, both assisted by Freeman.

“We started off OK and the penalties I think took over for us,” said Arrowhead coach Josh Engel. "It was tough playing four-on-five the majority of the game.

“We want to be physical, but we also want to be under control at the same time,” Engel added. “I think we just got a little out of hand. I feel like we were half a step late, kind of half a step late to the party, shift by shift, and started taking some dumb penalties.”

Freeman entered the game with just one goal and three assists but said Brymer has given him freedom on offense, but not at the expense of his defense.

“He’s always been really good about kind of letting me be creative and be free with what I want to do,” said Freeman. “I do kind of put myself at risk sometimes and get a little out of position, but I do my best to watch that, and he’s always good about that.”

Brymer obviously was pleased with the way his team capitalized on the Arrowhead penalties.

“I think we scored four power play goals on the night, so it’s nice to see that finally working, because it’s a completely new power play from last year with players and schemes. So, it’s been a work in progress and things kind of came together there, so it was nice to see.”