MONROE — The Monroe boys co-op hockey team suffered back-to-back home defeats to close out their season. In games that were almost mirror-images of one another, the Cheesemakers lost to Milton 2-1 in the regular season finale Feb. 11, and then succumbed to Greendale 2-1 in the first round of the WIAA playoffs Feb. 13.

In both games the visiting team scored first — Milton with 3:34 left in the first and Greendale with 3:38 left in the first — with Monroe evening the score only to give up third period goals. Also in both games, the Cheesemakers saw a late third-period power play go for naught, crushing the hopes of moving on by a team that won the most games (8) in a season in program history.

“It’s a tough loss. I thought we came ready to play and then we started off a little slow. We picked it up in the last two periods and got a lot of opportunities, but sometimes the puck just doesn’t bounce your way,” Monroe senior forward Jared Cline said.

Goalie Heath Bear did his best to keep Monroe in each game, stopping 72 shots combined in both games.

“I thought Heath was by far our star player,” Coach Barry Einbeck said. “He had some energy and he did what he needed to do to keep us in the game. Unfortunately, he can’t stop everything, but he did his best. We just have to be better in front of him.”

While Monroe’s defense struggled backchecking Milton, Bear was ready in the net and didn’t give up a single breakaway goal despite numerous opportunities.

“You just have to watch what they are doing and try to focus on if they are going to go left or right and hope that whatever way you choose is the right way,” Bear said.

Against Greendale (6-17), it was much of the same, but the Ice Force’s first strike came on a turnover-turned-breakaway. Bryce Dykstra stole the puck from Monroe and flipped to Brady Dardis, who snuck a shot past Bear while getting slashed by Monroe junior Payton Stauffacher. Falling behind 1-0 in a win-or-you’re-out game sparked some fight into the Cheesemakers.

“We started a little slow, but I think once they got that goal on us the kids dug in a little deeper. I thought once we got our goal, we were back to playing some pretty decent hockey,” Einbeck said.

With 1:37 left in the first, Kaiden Klitzke found Luke Kuberski, who went five-hole on Greendale goalie Jason Cooke to tie the game.

“It was huge. It put us back in the game and gave us a confidence boost. We really needed it,” Kuberski said.

In the second period against Greendale, neither team could put the puck into the back of the net — in regulation. After an icing call with three seconds left, Monroe won a faceoff in front of Cooke. After two passes, Stauffacher settled the puck and rocketed a shot that deflected into the net — but the horn sounded as Stauffacher made contact and the goal was disallowed.

“It was a bummer we didn’t get that goal — but it wasn’t a goal. We won a nice, clean faceoff, got the puck over to Payton and he let it go. In went in, but it was a little late. It happens sometimes, and you can’t pick that as the one thing for why we lost,” Einbeck said.

The locker room was quiet during the second intermission.

“(It was) silent. Nobody said anything — we were all so mad. Coach came in, gave us a little spiel, and we were ready to go,” Kuberski said.

The Cheesemakers came out slow in the third and Greendale scored with 11:23 left on yet another one-on-one breakaway.

Monroe put plenty of pucks on net in the final 10 minutes of the third, but most were not hard shots from superb angles. Then, the Cheesemakers received a gift. With 4:25 left in the third, Greendale’s Bryce Ney was called for slashing after breaking a Monroe stick on a one-timer opportunity. 

“We’ve got great puck movement on our power play. I think the guys do a great job of moving the puck, but we just have to get hungry. We have to have that killer/sniper-type mentality to get that puck in. We just couldn’t get that one,” Einbeck said.

Perhaps the best chance came when a rebound cleared the left side and senior forward Jared Cline had an open look past Cooke, who was sprawled out on the far side of the net. But Cline couldn’t get a clean shot off.

“Their winger was on me, and he got a stick on my stick and I couldn’t really get to it as quick. I tried to get a shot off, but he got to me before I could (shoot),” Cline said.

Monroe tried to pull the goalie for an extra skater in the final minute, but Greendale took control of the puck and began to whittle the time away. The Cheesemakers put two hard shots on net in the final 20 seconds, but the Ice Storm celebrated at the final horn.

In the Milton game, Kuberski scored late in the second to tie the score. In the third, Monroe (8-15) had a power play opportunity with 7:08 left but failed to score. The Red Hawks (7-16) would then go five-hole off of a rebound with 2:26 left to pick up their first conference win of the season.

“Once we got that power play, I thought, ‘here we go.’ They are very passive on their penalty kill. I thought we could get some movement, but their goalie came up with some stops and we couldn’t punch it through there,” Einbeck said.

The Milton game was highlighted as senior night, where all five Monroe co-op seniors were honored — Orangeville’s Charlie Harris and Colton O’Connor, Monroe’s Connor Nafzger and Jared Cline, and Darlington’s Riley Jones. The Cheesemakers also honored the late Joe Wyss, who died in a car accident two years to the day before what would have been his senior night. Wyss’s family stood on the ice in his place.

“It was a special night. Joe Wyss wasn’t here to be with us tonight, so it was a little bit harder on everyone. I guess it kind of throws everyone’s emotions off, and if you’re not focused it’s kind of hard to win,” said Stauffacher, Wyss’s cousin. “Honestly, I think our emotions got the best of us.”

Stauffacher led the team in points with 21 total, including nine goals. Cooper Dreyfus had 10 goals and 18 points. Bear finished with a .906 save percentage and backup Jayden Johnson had an .899 save mark.

Cline said he will look back on his time on the ice fondly, and knows that the future is bright for the program.

“I just had a lot of fun. We’ve got a great group of guys in there (locker room), and I’m going to remember this for a long time,” Cline said. “I told them to remember this feeling and to work really hard in the offseason and big things will come. We’ve got a lot of talent in that locker room and they can do big things next year.”