MONROE — The opportunities were there for the Cheesemakers, but bad luck, poor decisions and a loss of focus led to a 3-3 tie against Milton in the regular season home finale Feb. 4.

“I thought our kids were working hard, they just weren’t working with a purpose,” Monroe coach Barry Einbeck said. “I’ll give credit to Milton, because they came out and played well.”

Monroe’s season started with such promise as the boys co-op team jumped out to a 12-1 record. Since then the Cheesemakers are mired in a 1-5-2 slump over the past eight games, with just two contests remaining before the postseason.

“We’re in a funk right now where we need to pay attention to detail. … We need guys doing their job and not filling in for everybody that’s not doing their job,” Einbeck said. “The only way we can get out of what we are in right now is to coming into practice and practice with a purpose. We have to be better than we have been. It starts there — working better in practice.”

Earlier this season Monroe defeated Milton 5-2 during an 11-game winning streak. In the most recent tilt, the Cheesemakers went ahead 2-0 in the first period after goals by Payton Stauffacher and Cade Janecke. 

Monroe (13-6-2, 4-4-2 Badger South) nearly had a third goal on a disaster of a Milton defensive play. Stauffacher flipped a puck from center ice toward goal before a change, and a Red Hawk defender tried to bat down the puck with his glove, instead tipping it away from Milton goalie Luke Grote and into the net. However, a Monroe forward was one stride from the neutral zone while trying to return onside when the shot was made, nullifying the goal.

In the second period, that lead disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Stauffacher was called for a hooking penalty on a breakaway late in the eighth minute of action. Just five seconds after the puck dropped, Milton’s Mason Pusateri lit the lamp, stunning the home crowd.

“After that goal from the redline, it just kind of killed our momentum,” Stauffacher said. “We knew we had them, it’s just some simple little things we didn’t do right, like covering the guy in front of the net. That’s how they scored a couple of their goals. A lot of bounces didn’t go our way, but we just didn’t work — we were kind of dead tonight.”

Seven minutes later on another power play, the Red Hawks (5-13-1, 1-7-1) tied it with another goal.

“We jumped out to a 2-0 lead because Milton wasn’t quite ready to play,” Einbeck said. “We talked about in second intermission that it was a 2-0 game when it was 5-on-5. We took a couple of bad penalties there and gave up a couple of bad penalty play goals.”

Monroe out-shot Milton 15-12 in the first period, but the Red Hawks own the second with a 14-9 mark. In the third period, it was the Cheesemakers on the seemingly constant attack.

“Their goalie kind of stood on his head a little bit there in the third period. Hats off to him because he made the stops when it counted. If a couple of those shots go our way, it’s a whole different game,” Stauffacher said. 

Janecke notched his second goal at the 6:50 mark of the third period to make it 3-2. Cooper Dreyfus sent a pass across the ice to Jared Dillon, who sent a slap shot toward the net, only to be redirected in the front of the net by Hayden Roth. Milton goalie Luke Grote blocked the tip, but Janecke snagged the rebound and snapped it into the open net on the back side.

“We just couldn’t finish,” said Janecke, because Milton didn’t curl up and hide after falling behind yet again.

The Red Hawks scored on a breakaway one-timer with 4:10 remaining in regulation, with Pusateri netting his second goal of the night.

In the final minute, both teams had opportunities to score one last time to collect the two Badger South points. First, as the scoreboard dropped to under 60 seconds to play, Luke Kuberski stole the puck and went in one-on-one with Grote, who made the save. Thirty seconds later, Kyle Denhert of Milton sent a slap shot toward net, only for Monroe goalie Heath Bear to make a glove save, effectively sending the game into overtime. Monroe out-shot Milton 22-6 in the period.

Neither team could muster up much offense throughout most of the extra frame, but the Cheesemakers seemingly caught a break with just over two minutes to play as Milton’s Luke Hessenauer was called for hooking with 2:08 remaining.

The power play didn’t last long. After Milton stole the puck and charged for a short-handed opportunity, Dillon shoved a player to the ice away from the puck and was called for a 2-minute roughing penalty with 1:56 to play, effectively making it a 4-on-4 contest to the end.

But wait, there’s more. With 31 seconds left, Dreyfus was called for elbowing after an awkward collision caused a Red Hawk to fall on his fanny in the Monroe offensive zone. That gave the Red Hawks a 4-on-3 advantage for 23 seconds, and then a 5-on-3 for the final eight ticks of the clock.

“That was really disappointing. We would have had a power play until about eight seconds left. (Those penalties) killed us. They really did,” Janecke said.

Luckily for the Cheesemakers, the Red Hawks were unable to get the puck past Bear and the game ended in a tie.

“My legs are jelly right now; I’ve got nothing left. When you run two lines the whole game, it’s very tiring. Some people don’t think it is, but it really is. It’s taxing on the body,” Stauffacher said after the game.

Monroe has just two regular season games remaining — a Feb. 8 tilt at Monona Grove (4-13-2, 2-8) and a Feb. 11 contest at McFarland (15-4-2, 7-3). The best Monroe can finish is fourth place in the Badger South.

Stauffacher, a senior, knows that his time on the ice is nearing its end, but he’s trying to keep his attention elsewhere.

“Right now I’m trying to block it out as much as possible — I’m trying to figure out what I can do better. When that last game comes, it’s going to be a sad one, but it’s inevitable,” Stauffacher said.

A positive for Monroe was that Dillon, Roth and forward Ryan Molitor all returned from lower-body injuries. Roth had missed multiple games.

“We’ve been able to move the puck well because we’ve been working together all year, so it was good to have the chemistry back,” Janecke said of Roth.

Einbeck said getting Roth back on the ice was a positive development. “I don’t think it’s where he wants to be, so he’s a little frustrated with that. When we can get all of our guys back, it’s nice.”

After the McFarland game, the postseason begins. Monroe will compete in the WIAA Division 1 tournament, while the rest of the conference will battle in Division 2. 

By itself, Monroe is the second smallest school in the Badger South Conference, but when adding the co-op numbers from other schools that are a part of the program, the enrollments increase. New Glarus, Argyle, Warren, Dakota, Lena and Orangeville all have students on this year’s roster. Enrollments for Darlington, Freeport and Freeport Aquin are also added to the co-op’s figures, however none of those schools have a player on the roster this year. Monroe athletic director Jeff Newcomer said that even without Darlington and the two Freeport schools enrollments added, the Monroe co-op would still be over the Division 2 enrollment threshold.

Monroe’s sectional will include Baraboo/Portage, plus the DeForest co-op, Madison La Follette/East, Madison Memorial, Madison West, Reedsburg’s co-op, Sauk Prairie’s co-op, Sun Prairie, Tomah/Sparta, Verona and Edgewood.