MONROE — The Monroe boys hockey co-op understands that turning the corner as a program is a process. A few seasons ago 6-goal losses were typical, but this year’s team has found themselves in an unusual position — competing nearly each night.
The Cheesemakers entered a Jan. 3 date with Stoughton on a two-game winning streak and one game under .500 for the regular season. No Monroe co-op team has ever sat at .500 midway through the season, won three games in a row or won two conference games in a season.
While the Vikings won 3-0, Monroe saw itself in the thick of the game deep into the third period.
“Our spirits were pretty high — we were in the game,” junior defenseman Payton Stauffacher said. “I think we’re making big strides. We were playing teams (in years past) and getting beat 8-zip, but now we’re competing.”
The two teams skated to a 0-0 tie after the first and the Cheesemakers opened the second with a man-advantage thanks to an interference call at the end of the first.
“We played much better near the end of the first, and I thought that was a good sign — plus we had that power play at the start of the second. We came in, talked about a few things and thought that we were ready to go,” Monroe coach Barry Einbeck said.
Stoughton killed off the penalty and struck gold moments later — Evan Schreier scored unassisted just 2:33 into the second to give the visiting Vikings a 1-0 lead. The score wouldn’t stay the same for long, however.
Monroe’s Cooper Dreyfus was whistled for hooking less than 50 seconds later, and Stoughton took a 2-0 lead when Jack Sanford snapped in a pass from Brody Hlavacek just 27 seconds into the power play.
“We’ve been struggling in the second periods here this year, and it came back to bite us. We were flat for almost that whole second period, and that wasn’t good for us,” Einbeck said.
Monroe thought it had trimmed the score to 2-1 as the puck went behind Stoughton netminder Carter Hellenbrand that sent the home crowd’s hands waving in the air, but the whistle never blew.
“We thought it went in. We thought it went in and around the net and came back out, but the official said it hit the post and came back out. So, it is what it is, and we just have to keep going,” Einbeck said.
Midway through the third, Stoughton made it 3-0 when Hlavacek scored off a pass from Jared Bauer. Monroe goalkeeper Heath Bear, who finished with 19 saves, was relieved by Jayden Johnson for the final 8-plus minutes of the game.
“I took Heath out because at that point the guys in front of him — our forwards and Ds — weren’t giving him much support. I thought I’d give him the pull and put Jayden in — he’s been waiting to get in and get some time,” Einbeck said. “Jayden did a nice job and stopped all eight shots. There was about three or four that were pretty good shots that he made a save on.”
The Cheesemakers were outshot just 30-26 — a margin much closer than most games this season.
“We had some good chances tonight. We had a few decent shots, and if we could get one of them to fall, this could be a different story. Ever since the start of the second to the third, we really struggled with everything,” Einbeck said.
Two days after the loss to Stoughton, Monroe fell 3-0 to Fox Cities, with the Stars scoring once in the second and twice in the third.
“The boys played very hard and I was very happy with their effort,” Einbeck said. “We just have to figure out how to score goals. We’re getting pucks to the net, now our struggle is we need to take the goaltender’s eyes away and get a little more traffic in front of him. Sometimes it’s a struggle but you have to keep working through it.”
Bear had 43 saves and Monroe was outshot 46-33.
