CEC Boys Fall To White Bear 8-2

Dec 12

Kerry Rodd-NSO

CLOQUET – After falling 4-1 to the Duluth East Greyhounds on Friday night, the White Bear Lake Bears wanted to get a stronger effort on Saturday afternoon against the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton Lumberjacks and that is exactly what they got. When the dust cleared the Bears had taken an 8-2 victory over CEC.

The Jacks struggled in the first period and found themselves down a goal just 1:50 into the game when Brandon Wahlin scored unassisted. It went to 2-0 when star defenseman Zach Loesch hammered in a goal at 6:38 and before the period ended, the Jacks fell behind 3-0 when Justin Hauswirth took a feed on the right edge and fired in a power play goal at 10:21.

The first period was marred by 8 penalties. Things didn’t get any better in the second period as the teams combined for 8 more penalties. The fractured style of play seemed to hinder the Jacks as the Bears scored 4 goals on their way to a 7-0 lead after two periods. Ryan Wolter scored shorthanded at 6:59, Max Birkinbine scored on a power play at 9:34, Birkinbine scored again at 15:21 and, with just 18 seconds left, it was Matt Pasma with a snap shot from the left circle to finish off the scoring.

The Lumberjacks replaced starting goalie Boyd Smith with Ryan Kedrowski for the final period, but the Jacks were still out shot 10-4 in the period. For the game, the Bears put 36 shots on CEC goalies, while the Jacks put 26 on Bears goalie Michael Jordan.

Adam Hanson pulled CEC to within 7-1 on a strong effort at 6:25 of the third period, but Jack Nasvik picked up a shorthanded goal at 11:45 for the Bears. It was their second man short goal of the game. CEC finished off the scoring on a Jack McFarlane goal as he took a feed in the right circle and made a quick spin move to slip the puck past Jordan to the far side.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com