It’s a rematch of last year’s state championship in the quarterfinals of the Blackhawk Cup as Waubonsie Valley looks for revenge against BGHW. The Stampede have ended the Warriors season in 2 of the past 3 seasons. A win for the Warriors will punch their ticket to the Semi Finals for the 4th time in 5 seasons.
6 minutes to go in the 1st period and the Warriors are working with a man advantage. Dylan Blessing scored 3 times in the sweet 16 and he still has the hot stick. He takes the puck behind the net and fires it past Evan Wurzbacher for his 4th goal of the Blackhawk Cup and WV leads 1-0.
A few minutes later Andrew McCoy kicks the puck out to John Schmitt. His shot is saved, but McCoy gets ahold of the rebound and roofs the backhand over Wurzbacher. The Warriors are up 2-0 heading to the 2nd.
The Warriors don’t let up in the 2nd. John Schmitt gets the puck deep and Ethan Wipff hits Trent Kenyon in the slot for his 1st goal of the state tournament to put Waubonsie up 3-0.
The Stampede are looking for any sort of momentum at this point. The puck finds Ryan Offman at the point. The shot gets tipped, but Justin Howard fights off the redirect.
The Stampede get a power play shortly after. Howard fights off a quick shot. Ty Nagy keeps the puck in and then fires it past Howard to get BGHW on the board.
The Stampede win the ensuing faceoff and they move quickly. Eric Kurpiewski’s shot is saved, but Dominic Wachal puts home the rebound and at the snap of a finger it’s a 3-2 game
BGHW with the momentum now and they are looking for the equalizer. Brendan Buckley to Tyler Malz. He blasts a shot, but Justin Howard is there to preserve the lead. Howard makes 27 saves in the game.
The Warriors are looking for some breathing room with 5 minutes left in the 2nd. Zach Pearce gets denied twice and then Michael Alberts finds Andrew McCoy and he slams it home to give the Warriors a 2 goal lead heading to the 3rd.
Waubonsie gets a power play a few minutes into the 3rd. The man advantage allows them to spread the puck out. Nolan Cummings tips the shot from Michael Alberts past Wurzbacher to put WV up 5-2.
The Warriors came ready to play in this game. Dylan Blessing puts the icing on the cake with a slick move to the forehand. Waubonsie Valley has slayed the dragon and taken down BGHW in the quarterfinals. They advance to the Semi Finals against Leyden.
