MONROE — With its 6-4 win over Beloit Memorial on Tuesday, Feb. 7, Monroe took the season series 2-1 over the Purple Knights.
The first time the two teams met was Saturday, Nov. 26 in the championship game of Beloit’s holiday tournament. The Cheesemakers defeated the Knights 5-4 with a four-goal game from Wyatt Janecke. Monroe returned to Beloit on Saturday, Dec. 31, where the Knights shutout the Cheesemakers 5-0.
From the start, Monroe had revenge on its mind.
“It feels good. Last time we were missing a couple guys, so we were looking to bounce back,” sophomore forward Patrick Alt said. “We knew we were the better team and went out and showed that today.”
Beloit Memorial got on the board first, though, as Max Allen put a shot on goal. Kyle Theorin made the initial save but couldn’t stop Payton Whalen’s rebound shot. The Knights looked to extend their lead on the power play, as Nathan Ratke went to the box for interference.
The puck appeared to get past Theorin to give Beloit a 2-0 lead, but it was whistled dead and Monroe was able to kill the rest of the penalty.
Janecke then tied the game up with a one-on-nothing. He received a pass from Alt at center ice and put it over the left shoulder of Jameson Flanagan.
“Wyatt’s always open, and I like to find him a lot,” Alt said. “I just looked up the ice and he had gotten past the defense. I made a pass to him and he buried it.”
The second period began in Beloit’s favor, too, as Seth Brandt went to the box for hooking. Nathan Fiebig took advantage of the extra skater and scored on Theorin with an assist from the top pipe.
Twenty seconds later, though, Brandt made up for the penalty by scoring a back-handed goal with an assist from Janecke.
“Tonight, they did a really nice job of not hanging heads,” Monroe head coach Barry Einbeck said of his team’s resiliency. “We just went to work. The kids didn’t let that [scoring] bother them. With that happening, they just kept going after them. They felt confident — even though they scored that goal — that we were doing some good things throughout the first and second periods.”
Brandt pulled moves again, as he evaded the defense and passed to a wide-open Easton Dreyfus for a 3-2 lead. In a span of three minutes, Monroe extended its lead to 5-2 with goals from Alt and Brandt.
Dreyfus opened the third period with a goal to make it 6-2, but Beloit didn’t go quietly. After playing 4-on-4 for a minute, Fiebig scored on a power play with a wrister that got past Xander Obert.
Monroe couldn’t stay out of the box, as Cash Anderson was called for a hit from behind and served a two-and-ten. The Knights scored on the man-advantage again, this time on a rebound shot from Allen.
Down by two with under a minute to go, Beloit pulled Flanagan from net. The Cheesemakers held strong, though, and didn’t allow another goal en route to a win.
Dreyfus and Brandt had two goals each to lead Monroe. Theorin started in net and recorded 15 saves with two goals. Obert came in during the second period after Theorin lost a blade, stopping 25 shots with two goals.
Allen scored twice for Beloit, while Flanagan tallied 24 saves with six goals.
