DECEMBER 16, 2016 - Last night, the Steele County Blades played the River Falls Renegades for the second time this year.
After being off for back to back weekends, the Blades were plagued with a slow start. River Falls created momentum by smothering the Blades on the forecheck, hemming the Blades in their own zone much of the first half of the period. The Renegades opened the scoring on a face off that resulted from an icing from the Steele County zone. Alex Wright was the beneficiary of a tired group of Blades players. The Blades struggled to create offensive opportunities until the 11:31 mark of the first. While on the penalty kill, Soren Colstrup and Griffin Waters managed to create a two on one odd man rush, ending with Waters scoring his first short handed goal of the season. The Renegades bounced back and reestablished pressure in the Blades defensive zone. After a failed attempt to clear the puck, the Renegades' Erik Engdahl found an open Jake Hartzell in the slot, beating goaltender Tim Grounds. The first period scoring did not end there; just thirty seconds after, the Renegades gave the Blades their first power play of the evening. The Blades tied the game 2-2 with under two minutes left in the period when Soren Colstrup scored his seventh power play goal of the year after a back door pass from Chase Lewis. Kyle Wadden received the secondary assist on the goal, extending his 10 game point streak and tallying 18 points over those 10 games.
The Blades were able to create more chances and establish some pressure to start the second period. One minute and twenty-three seconds into the frame, the Blades were awarded a power play. After a few quality chances, the Blades were unable to capitalize on the man advantage. The Renegades applied some pressure of their own, creating a fairly even second period. At the 13:49 mark of the second period, the Blades entered the Renegades zone on a 3-2 odd man rush. Soren Colstrup passed the puck to a streaking Oskari Valli, who left a tap in goal for Kyle Wadden. The Blades held onto the 3-2 lead for just about five minutes until a defensive zone break down left a Renegades player uncovered on the backdoor. With the Blades unable to break the puck out, it made its way to the front of the net, where Jeff Balow tied the game on a tap in goal of his own. The back and forth period ended tied 3-3 with another period of play to go.
Something clicked during the second intermission as the Blades entered the third period looking like a different team. Zach Bettmeng started the period, scoring the first goal of the third period, and the first of his junior hockey career in his first game. Bettmeng unleashed a slap shot just above the top of the circle that beat Renegades' goaltender Jack Bernhagen above his blocker. The next ten minutes of the period remained scoreless until Christian Leeb scored when he shot the puck just after crossing the blue line on a fluke play by Bernhagen. Kaleb Combs and Bettmeng were credited with assists on the play. The Blades had a 5-3 lead for another minute and seven seconds when a backhand, blind pass from behind the net from Colstrup found Wadden with just enough room to beat the Renegades netminder. With his fourth point of the evening, Colstrup picked up his 100th point in a Steele County Blades uniform. River Falls would not go down quietly as Jordan Wright unleashed a hellacious wrist shot to beat Grounds near side just under the crossbar to bring the score to 6-4 in the Blades' favor. After the Renegades pulled the netminder, Antonio Najera and Combs broke the puck out before Najera made an unselfish pass to Combs, giving him the empty net goal. The Blades won with a final score of 7-4.
“We did not start the game how we wanted to but this is one of those games that we put under the category of a win," said Assistant Coach Bobby Solari. "It was not the prettiest game by any means but there were some positives. It was a good chance to knock the rust off a little bit before we head to the showcase next week."
Soren Colstrup had a few thoughts about the teams performance as well as his own personal achievement. “It was good to get back into that game mentality and to get back into the swing of things. Hopefully, we can carry the positives into Chicago and continue to improve.” When asked about scoring his 100th point with the Blades, Colstrup was excited. “It is really awesome. There were, and currently are, a lot of guys that helped me reach this milestone. This is definitely not only a personal achievement. I am hoping to keep adding to the tally for the remainder of the year.”
The Blades will head to Chicago were they will play four games in three days from Monday to Wednesday for the USPHL Midwest showcase. These will be the last games before the brief holiday break.
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