Girls' hockey Andover romps over Saints in home opener

By Jason Olson
SportsPrepZone Editor

Andover junior Afton Wiczek scored five goals all of last season. Two games into the 2009-2010 campaign the junior has five points thanks to collecting the hat trick in Thursday's 6-0 win over St. Francis (0-3) at the Andover Ice Center.

Her performance encapsulated how much the Huskies (2-0) dominated their section counterparts, out shooting them by nearly a 4-to-1 margin (40-13). She came into the season as the leading returner with seven points last season, while they graduated two players who now skate with NCAA Division-I programs after combining for 57 points last year.

Andover coach Tom Maeckelbergh said this season's squad measures up to be deeper in talent that last year, but its that high-end talent that the Huskies will need to make up the difference with if they hope to improve on a third place finish in the Northwest Suburban Conference from one year ago.

"We'd like to think we're deeper and with a great goalie and three senior captains on the defense, I like our chances this year," he said as the Huskies out shot the Saints 21-3 in the first period. "Last year we went with two lines in overtime, but Tuesday I felt confident using three lines, so I hope this depth we have pays off."

Andover peppered St. Francis goalie Dakotah Bullen, who despite being a ninth-grader posted a 5-10-2 record last year. Two games into the new season Bullen has been very busy, making 88 saves between the two starts.

"She did another fantastic job for us tonight," St. Francis coach Joe Fredrickson said. "We're going to have to work hard to win games this season and  we were running around too much tonight. We just aren't doing the little things right in front of her, like clearing [puck from] the [defensive] zone and not clearing it deep enough to get a line change in. It's those little things that add up to make a difference in the end."

He said the effort against Duluth in the season opener was what he expected. "We played really fantastic against Duluth, taking advantage of shots on offense and hustled on defense. I was really pleased with the effort. I think we blocked 10-15 shots," he said. "We're a young team and I know they're going to get sick hearing this over and over again, but we're going to stress three things: effort, grit and mental aspects."

Andover couldn't find the back of the net through nearly all of the opening period, sending slap shots inches wide of the pipes or hitting Bullen in the middle of the chest protector time after time. Finally, senior Jackie Merriam found the back of the net, 12 minutes, 23 seconds into the period. She took a pass near mid-ice, swept past two players on defense into the Saints' end of the ice before ripping a wrister over Bullen's outstretched glove.

The hero from Tuesday's game, junior Lauren Holmes, made it 2-0 for the home team 63 seconds later with her third goal of the season, surpassing her output from the entire 2008-2009 season. She scored twice and added an assist against North St. Paul. She came back Thursday adding a goal and assist.

Huskies ninth grader Paige Dale scored her first varsity goal late in the second period when she buried the puck in the back of the goal after collecting a huge rebound from a solid shot by Mariah Czech.

Maeckelbergh said the forwards are clicking at a very early point of the season.

"Our forwards make really good decisions with the puck and even the kids we moved up from the 14U team are smart hockey players which is partly due to their coaching.

The Huskies had three players make the leap to varsity from the Andover 14U program, giving the team four ninth graders on the roster.

Meantime, a sophomore, goalie Madison Denny, turned away 12 shots to earn the shutout victory.

The road only gets tougher for St. Francis which faces Forest Lake, Nov. 20 in a contest that features section opponents. "We tried to get the game [against Forest Lake] pushed back, but the only day they could do it was [on Nov. 20]," Fredrickson said.

Look for Andover to build on its momentum it established after an overtime win, then the one-sided offensive blast Thursday night. The Huskies face No. 14 ranked Maple Grove to open the conference this weekend before next Tuesday's District 11-rivalry game against Anoka .

Jason Olson is at jason.olson@ecm-inc.com.