Marinette Youth Hockey Association

 

HIGH SCHOOL

The Thunder welcomed Green Bay United to the Community REC Center on Friday. The team honored seniors Simon Bowers and Theron Thayer prior to the game.

United got the better of the Thunder on Friday, posting an 8-2 victory. The Thunder hosted Marquette on Saturday and suffered a narrow 7-5 loss before the team traveled to Green Bay for a Sunday rematch with United. This time, the Thunder had a better showing in a 4-2 loss.

Bowers, a team captain and senior at Menominee High School, and Thayer, a senior at St. Thomas Aquinas Academy have a combined 25 years of hockey experience.

Bowers began his Thunder career at the age of six. This season, the team’s captain has scored two goals and dished out four assists while anchoring the Thunder defense.

Thayer began playing as a five-year olde Mite with the Thunder. This season, he ranks fourth on the squad with 11 goals and 20 points.

The Weekend’s games marked the final tune-up for the Thunder before they host the WAHA 18U State Tournament this weekend. The fourth-seeded Thunder will kick off the action against fifth-seeded SHAW at 6 p.m. on Friday.

GBU, who will be the second seed in the State Tournament. Breezed to an easy win on Friday.

United scored two goals in the first period and four more in the second before Willow Burke got the Thunder on the board with assists from Chase Nerat and Addy Johnson. Nerat later scored with an assist from Thayer, but it was not enough in an 8-2 loss.

“The first game against Green Bay United was a rough one, but I feel like the last two games against Marquette and GBU again we played pretty well,” Thunder coach Fred Hailey said. “We let down a little in the second period on Saturday and the first period (on Sunday) was a little rough, but other than that we held our own and played pretty well. I was happy with what we saw and now we need to bring it all together next weekend at State and play a whole game.”

In Sunday’s rematch, United ran out to a 3-0 lead, before Logan Sakovitz converted on a power play near the end of the first period.

United scored again in the second period. Blue Haley got that goal back early in the third period, but United goalie Brady Boldt came up with 24 saves to preserve the win.

In Saturday’s game against Marquette, the Thunder opened a 4-2 lead with goals from Haley and Nerat and a pair from Brayden Rounds. However, Marquette ripped off three unanswered tallies in the second period to take a 5-4 edge into the final frame.

Marquette pushed ahead 7-4 before Damien Winterbottom capped the scoring with just over six minutes to play.

The Thunder closed the regular season with a record of 12-20-2.

This weekend’s State Tournament will feature an eight-team bracket including Dodgeville, Green Bay, Kenosha, the Thunder, SHAW, Madison, Hudson and La Crosse.

BANTAM

The Thunder Bantams traveled to Spooner last weekend for the WAHA 14U 4A State Tournament.

The team dropped games to eventual State Champion Burnett as well as Spooner and Manitowoc, and finished the season with a record of 11-21-1.

PEEWEE A

The Peewee A team closed its season by winning three of four games on a U.P. road trip with stops in Houghton and Calumet.

The Thunder dropped an 11-10 barnburner against Houghton M&M Powersports on Saturday. Then defeated Houghton AutoPro 8-2, Calumet Lake Linden Lions 4-2 and Calumet Royale 11-3.

The team finished the season with a record of 18-18-3 after winning nine of its last 12 games.

PEEWEE B

The Peewee B team traveled to Rhinelander over the weekend for the WAHA 12U 3B State Tournament.

The team dropped a 5-4 heartbreaker to Rhinelander in the opening round before being defeated 8-0 by Black River Falls and 6-4 by Waupaca.

The team closed the year with a record of 11-18-3. Their season highlight came in January with a dramatic 4-3 win over Ozaukee in the Battle at the REC Championship Game.

SQUIRT A

The Squirt A team advanced all the way to the WAHA 10U 4A State Championship game before falling 7-3 against Viroqua.

The Squirt A team is made up primarily of players from last year’s Squirt B State Championship squad, who continued their winning ways this season.

The team cruised into the State Championship game with an 8-3 win over Barron/Chetek and a 7-1 win over Dodgeville.

Viroqua came out hot in the Championship game and used a five-goal first period to secure a 7-3 victory.

In the tournament, Carter Campbell posted hattricks against both Barron/Chetek and Dodgeville and finished with a team-high nine goals in three games. Owen Campbell contributed four goals while Braylen Puser scored twice and Ashton Behrens, Finn Eastman and Liam Hofer found the net as well.

The team finished the season with a record of 19-17-2 while playing an extremely challenging schedule.

 SQUIRT B

The Squirt B team reached the Consolation Bracket final with a second-round win over Amery at the WAHA 10U 3B State Tournament in Oshkosh last weekend.

The Thunder dropped a 6-4 decision to Sauk Prairie in the opening round, and then topped Amery 6-5. In the fifth-place match, Waupun clipped the Thunder 4-2.

Everett Skowlund recorded hattricks against both Sauk Prairie and Amery. Dean Gerondale also scored three goals in the tournament, while Hannah Frederiksen, Maverick Tardiff and Nova Zeske contributed goals as well.

The Squirt B team, which is comprised of five Mites and three first-year Squirts, finished the season with a record of 15-18-3 after winning nine of its last 13 contests.