MILTON — A day after a 9-4 pummeling defeat at the hands of the Whitefish Bay WNS Storm co-op, the Monroe boys co-op hockey team picked up their third-ever Badger South conference win Dec. 22 at Milton, 2-1.
“It feels great,” Monroe coach Barry Einbeck said. “The kids have been working very hard and it is nice to see their hard work pay off.”
Dating back to Monroe’s first varsity WIAA season (2012-13), the Cheesemakers have only ever beaten Milton in Badger South play, picking up victories Feb. 13, 2015 and Dec. 21, 2017. The two schools also tied in their second matchup last season on Feb. 2. In program history, Monroe is just 3-62-1 all-time in conference action.
In the Cheesemakers’ most recent win, Ryan Molitor flipped a pass from Brady Smith past Red Hawks goalie Luke Grote at the 5:32 mark in the first period.
Milton (2-6, 0-4) tied the game in the second when Nick Robinson lit the lamp against Monroe’s Heath Bear.
Then, with just 11 seconds left in the third, Hayden Roth scored a power play goal off of passes from Jared Dillon and Payton Stauffacher.
Monroe (4-6, 1-5) outshot Milton 26-25, with Bear and Grote each making 24 saves. The Cheesemakers also spent 11 minutes in the penalty box, while the Red Hawks had 10 minutes worth of penalties.
“It was a good win for the kids,” Einbeck said.
In the Dec. 21 loss to WNS (8-2), the Cheesemakers trailed just 1-0 after the first period. In the second, the Storm outscored Monroe 3-1. Cooper Dreyfus scored Monroe’s power play goal at the 11:17 mark in the second, with assists coming from Colton O’Connor and Stauffacher.
Monroe brought the score to as close as 5-3 earlier in the third when Roth and Stauffacher scored back-to-back unassisted goals just 30 seconds apart. However, the Storm wrecked the comeback attempt by notching four goals in a five-minute span to take a commanding 9-3 lead.
Dreyfus scored an unassisted goal with just three minutes left for Monroe’s final score of the contest.
WNS outshot Monroe 58-20 in the game. Bear finished with 49 saves and an 84.5 save percentage.
The Cheesemakers’ next game is Dec. 29 at Chequamegon/Phillips/Butternut (1-6).
