Boys ice share of Missota title
Jack Pexa scored both goals as New Prague defeated Red Wing 2-1 in a Missota Conference boys hockey game Tuesday, Feb. 12. The win gives New Prague at least a share of its first-ever Missota Conference hockey championship.
The Trojans have an 11-1-1 conference record (overall) They will win the title outright if they can defeat Northfield at 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, at the New Prague Area Community Center.
Details of the Red Wing game will be in next week’s edition of The Times.
New Prague defeated two Missota Conference opponents last week, topping Holy Angels 5-3 and Chaska 5-0. They also lost a tough nonconference contest at Rochester Lourdes, 4-1.
The Section 1A tournament will begin Tuesday, Feb. 19, with four teams hosting first round games. The Trojans are expected to be one of the top four seeds and earn a first round bye. If that is the case, they would host a quarterfinal contest on Thursday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m.
Section seedings will be announced this weekend.
Trojans 5, Stars 3 After two periods, things didn’t look good for the Trojans. They had managed just one goal on 22 shots and trailed Holy Angels 3-1.
But the Trojans wasted little time in evening things out. Austin Kilian scored just 22 seconds into the third period and Cody Shimota tied the game less than two minutes later to ignite the Trojans.
Jack Pexa got what proved to be the game-winner on a shot from the right side at 8:23 of the third, and Austin Isaacson put the game away with an empty netter at 16:24.
Kilian had also scored the Trojans’ first goal early in the second period, which tied the game at 1-1. The Stars scored two goals late in the period to give themselves a 3-1 lead.
Evan Bisek turned back 41 shots for the Trojans to earn the win. Holy Angels outshot New Prague 44-35.
Kilian had two goals, Isaacson a goal and two assists, Alex Gregor had two assists, Shimota and Pexa had a goal each, and Cody Meyer, Seth Kriha and Ben Witt each had an assist.
Trojans 5, Hawks 0 New Prague had five goals from five different palyers as they defeated Chaska 5-0 in Chaska Thursday, Feb. 7.
New Prague scored twice in the first period, with Austin Kottke scoring, assisted by Shimota and Jordan Lien, and Meyer getting an unassisted goal.
The Trojans had trouble getting things going on offense in the second period, as the Hawks outshot them 17-3, but Bisek shut the door.
New Prague got back on track in the third, with Isaacson scoring from Kriha and Meyer, Nick Sampson scoring from Isaacson and Kriha on a power play, and Kain Wagner scoring from Lucas Binger.
Bisek got the shutout win with 31 saves, as the Hawks outshot the Trojans 31-25.
Eagles 4, Trojans 1 Rochester Lourdes scored two late goals to defeat the Trojans 4-1 at Graham Arena in Rochester Saturday, Feb. 9.
The teams traded goals in the first period, with Alex Funk scoring first for the Eagles at 10:23, but the Trojans’ Ben Witt tied things at 14:53, on an assist from Sampson.
Lourdes took a 2-1 lead midway through the second and the Trojans battled for the rest of the second and most of the third to get the equalizer. A turnover in their own zone led to another Lourdes goal with less than three minutes remaining, and the Eagles added an empty net goal to make it 4-1.
Bisek stopped 35 shots, as Lourdes outshot the Trojans 39-24.
