Lumberjacks get a blowout, tie

The Cloquet-Esko-Carlton boys hockey team delivered a 6-0 home win over Proctor in the opening game of the season Thursday and followed that up with a 3-3 overtime tie on the road at Chaska on Saturday.

Thursday night the 'Jacks coredc just 35 seconds into the first period on a power play when Aaron Moore took a feed from Christian Galatz and Cade Anderson.

"It was really nice to score early," said CEC coach Shea Walters. "I was nice especially because we had already missed scoring on a two-on-one and a breakaway."

At 12:02 the 'Jacks bumped the lead to 2-0 when Brayden Tyman scored a short handed goal on a pass from Logan Dushkin and CEC came out of the first period up by a pair of goals.

The second period saw goals from Galatz at 7:15 and Tyman picking up his second at 14:25. Galatz' goal was assisted by Cole Ketola and Moore assisted on Tyman's goal giving the Lumberjacks a 4-0 cusion after two periods.

"We will definitely need to rely on our depth and balance to have success this season," Walters said. "We will not be able to rely on just one guy to produce. It will have to be from all three lines and the back end."

At 8:43 of the third period Darian Durand scored on assists from Jake Huhta and Karson Patten. CEC's final goal was scored by Moore, his second of the game, with assists going to Sam Baker and Kaden Crane.

CEC goaltender Owen Carlson finished with a shutout facing just 12 Rail shots.

The Lumberjacks' offensive attack featured 61 shots on Proctor goalie Cody Urie, who made 55 saves.

"It was great to get a shutout and create some instant confidence to start the season," Walters said. "I liked the fact that we shot the puck, but we were still trying to be too cute and trying to make the pretty play. We also missed the net for an additional 10 to 15 shots, so there is a lot of improvement to be made."

On Saturday the 'Jacks trailed by a 1-0 score at the end of the first period and 2-1 after two periods but rallied in both instances to tie Chaska 3-3 and force overtime on the road in their first road game of the season.

"We finally hit a point in the game where we wanted to engage," Walters said. "Early on we were not doing the little things to slow down a great skating team. Top to bottom, Chaska could skate. We were not playing the body, taking care of pucks down low, and moving the puck quickly on the break out. Once we started doing those things we really created some opportunities."

Trailing 1-0 in the second period CEC finally got on the board at 3:49 when Travis Berg converted a feed from Cade Anderson tying the game at 1-1 in a shorthanded situation. Chaska answered with a power play goal a couple of minutes later and led it 2-1 after the second period.

"Berg's goal was a great hard-working goal," said Walters. "It's like the old cliché', get the puck to the net and anything can happen. He tried shooting and it was blocked by a defender. Like we do in all of our practices, we followed up the puck and rebound and put it home. It was awesome to see him get his first at the varsity level and it gave our team a spark."

Chaska added to their lead 1:21 into the third period and it appeared as if the 'Jacks were on their way to their first defeat of the season. Instead, CEC got a power play goal from Anderson at 3:41 with an assist from Aaron Moore and then they tied the game on a goal by Galatz from Ketola at 11:18.

"I like our balance and we now have a baseline of what we need to work on," recalled Walters. "I was very proud of the way the guys responded in the third period against Chaska. They could have easily packed it in, but they outworked them and it was great to see. That is now the level we have to play at every game for the rest of the season."

Walters has an eye on making sure his players stay out of the penalty box. "We are taking too many that are unnecessary," Walters said. "We can not continue to take six to seven penalties a game and expect to have good results. It also hinders the flow of the entire team when we are constantly killing penalties."

CEC was outshot in the game 38-23 with Carlson being called on to make 35 saves. "Owen played well," Walters said. "He saw a lot of shots."