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Damien Winterbottom takes a shot during the M&M Thunder's win over Manitowoc at the 14U Bantam 4A State Tournament in Ashland on Saturday.

Thunder Bantams and Squirts compete at State

03/08/2021, 9:30am CST
By Josh Lacy

MARINETTE – The M&M Thunder Hockey Bantam and Squirt teams competed in the WAHA 4A State Tournament this weekend. Meanwhile the High School and PeeWee teams will vie for State titles next weekend.

 

HIGH SCHOOL

The Thunder High School team is preparing to travel to Ozaukee March 12-14. They are scheduled to start with the number two seed, Hudson at 8:15 p.m. on Friday.

BANTAM

The Bantam team reached the final of the consolation bracket at the 4A State Tournament in Ashland over the weekend. The Thunder defeated Manitowoc in the second round before dropping a back-and-forth battle with Viroqua and finishing sixth in the State.

The Thunder opened against second seeded, and eventual State Champion, Tomahawk on Friday. Addison Lacy gave the team an exciting start when she collected the rebound of a Blue Haley shot and put the Thunder on top just 58 seconds into the contest. Avery Waloway made several spectacular saves and kept the Thunder close in the opening minutes. The score was just 3-1 seven minutes into the game, but a barrage of 42 Tomahawk shots could not be overcome as the Hatchets cruised to a 14-1 victory. Waloway finished with 24 saves.

The top seeds all cruised through the first round of the tournament, each winning their opening round games by at least seven goals. Tomahawk went on to defeat top-seeded Sparta 4-1 in the State Championship game.

In the second round, the Thunder faced-off with a familiar Manitowoc team. The Thunder and Breakers had met three times previously with the Thunder taking two of those contests.

Brayden Rounds left his mark on the tournament during the game earning both a hat-trick and playmaker patch with three goals and three assists.

Addy Johnson scored on a power play in the second minute of the game with assists from Rounds and Haley. Mason Kodric followed with a goal off an assist from Bri Torko and Rounds made it 3-0 less than five minutes into the game with a power-play goal assisted by Johnson.

Haley started the second period with a quick goal assisted by Rounds and Damien Winterbottom. In the third period, Rounds and Haley both scored in the opening minute of the action. Rounds notched his third assist on Haley’s goal while Winterbottom picked up his second helper of the game.

Haley scored his third goal of the game, this time shorthanded, to make it 7-0 before Manitowoc finally got on the board.

Rounds capped the scoring at 8-2 with his third goal of the game. Waloway made six saves to preserve the victory.

That win put the team into Sunday’s consolation bracket final against Viroqua.

The Thunder found themselves down 3-0 midway through the first period and 4-0 at the start of the fourth, but Rounds sparked a rally when he went through several defenders and scored on a power-play. Rounds scored again late in the period and Haley got the Thunder within a goal in the final minute of the second-period.

Five minutes into the third-period, Rounds completed his second hat-trick of the tournament, with an assist from Haley, to tie the game at 4-4. Unfortunately, Viroqua ripped off four unanswered goals and came away with an 8-4 win.

Waloway made 31 saves to keep the Thunder close despite being outshot 39-19.

The team, led by coaches Tyler Olsen, Kirby Olsen, Aaron Johnson and Joe Maas, gained invaluable experience this season while blending the areas male and female 14U players on their way to a sixth-place finish in the State.

PEEWEE

The Thunder PeeWees had a final tune-up for State on Friday, dropping an 8-1 decision to Green Bay. The Thunder will be the fifth seed in this weekend’s 4A State Tournament in Price and will take on fourth-seeded Barron-Chetek at 6 p.m. on Friday. The team has had an outstanding season at 24-14 overall while they have won 15 of their last 18 contests.

SQUIRT

The Thunder Squirts hosted a hotly contested State Tournament at the Community REC Center this weekend. Of the 12 games, five were decided in overtime or a shootout while only four were decided by more than two goals.

The Thunder opened the tournament action as the fifth seed against fourth seeded Burnett and led the majority of the contest before falling 4-2. That proved to be Burnett’s closest game of the tournament as the Blizzard went on to top Tomahawk 12-6 in the State Championship game.

Parker Perket got the scoring started with an assist from Jesse McClarren, and Connor Eastman closed the first-period with a goal to make it 2-0.

Meanwhile Jack Aftanas was outstanding in goal, frustrating the Blizzard despite a lopsided shot count.

Aftanas kept the Blizzard off the board until the opening of the third period, when Talon Imme scored his first of three goals. Imme assisted a Gavyn Hill goal with nine minutes to play that tied the game at 2-2. The Blizzard took the lead with an Imme goal with 5:42 on the clock and Imme added an insurance goal 37 seconds later to secure the win.

Aftanas finished with 26 saves.

In their second game, the Thunder faced the Dodgeville Ice Wolves. Eastman gave the Thunder a 1-0 lead with an unassisted goal in the second period. Again, Aftanas tossed a shutout for two periods before the Ice Wolves got on the board in the third.

Aftanas finished with 18 saves, as the game remained tied at 1-1 after regulation and rolled through two scoreless overtime periods before moving to a shootout. In the shootout, the Ice Wolves scored on two of their first four attempts while Dodgeville goalie Nikoli Fuller blanked the Thunder to take the win.

In their final contest, the Thunder took on the Milwaukee Blaze. The teams traded goals in the first period, with Perket scoring for the Thunder.

The Blaze added a goal in the second period, and goalie Max Haile kept the Thunder at bay until the final seconds of regulation.

With 1:47 to play in the contest the Blaze were whistled for a hooking penalty. With nothing to lose, the Thunder pulled their goalie for a six-on-four advantage, and the move paid off when Eastman dropped the puck in the net with 35 seconds to play.

Midway through the first overtime period, Milwaukee’s Gavin Goralski netted his third goal of the game to end the contest at 3-2.

Aftanas added 14 saves to an outstanding effort in the tournament.

The Thunder Squirts, led by coaches Paul Aftanas, Mike McClarren, Tim Chamberlain and Chuck Bird, proved they could compete with the best teams in the State, finishing eighth overall. The team finished with an overall record of 17-21-5.

Tag(s): 10U Squirt A  12U PeeWee A  14U Bantam  18U High School