MONROE — The Cheesemakers nearly had arguably the biggest upset in program history Dec. 6. Instead, Oregon (4-2, 2-0 Badger South) broke a 1-1 with 4:14 left on a power play goal to hand Monroe its third loss of the season.
“This is one of the best games we’ve ever played, and I hope we can do more like it,” Monroe junior goalie Heath Bear said after Monroe’s 2-1 loss.
Oregon entered the season with high hopes of a big year. The Panthers were 17-7 a season ago and 18-5-1 in 2016. Meanwhile, Monroe has just one conference win since joining the WIAA in 2012.
“We talked before the game that it would be a nice challenge for us,” Monroe head coach Barry Einbeck said. “They have a pretty decent team, and it was going to be a tough match for us. But the kids responded. I thought we came out a little slow, but the kids kept working and didn’t quit and just came up a little bit short.”
The Panthers took an early lead when Colton Eyers went top shelf off a pass from Nick Brien with 10:35 left in the first period. The Cheesemakers settled in from there, especially thanks to their netminder.
“I think everybody on our team knows that Heath is our backstop. He’s going to take us to where we need to go,” Einbeck said. “He helps out when we make mistakes in front of him. A lot of times that could mean pucks in the back of the net pretty quick if we make mistakes, but he made some pretty big saves for us tonight. Now we just have to figure out how to score a few more goals for him.”
Bear finished the night with 45 saves (95.7 percent). He has now saved 117 shots in the last 125 he’s faced (93.8). At one point in the second period, Oregon put three shots on goal in under 20 seconds, with Bear doing his best Dominik Hasek impression in the crease to stifle away any potential goals despite all the movement in front of the net.
“I just remember the basics – go to the posts when you don’t know where the puck is at and keep your head in the game,” said Bear, who added that he feels like he improves each time he hits the ice. “I get better and better every game as it goes on and the shots get harder and harder.”
The guys are disappointed in the loss, but they still are happy with the way things turned out. In year’s past it was pretty tough for them and we lost by big margins,.Monroe head coach Barry Einbeck
Both teams got a little chippy in the second period. Monroe’s Jared Cline was called for a roughing penalty with 8:34 left, and just 12 seconds later Oregon’s Gage Schlidgen was called for a hook. Neither team scored in the 4-on-4, but with 5:34 left in the period Monroe’s Kaiden Klitzke scored off a pass from Payton Stauffacher to even things at 1.
“In the first intermission, I told the kids that considering we hadn’t played very well we were still only down by one we we’re still in the game,” Einbeck said. “We had to change a few things, and I told them we had to pick up our forecheck, and they did. And we just needed to be strong with the puck and take care of the puck, and I think we did that, too.”
Eyers was called for a tripping penalty in the final minute of the period, but the Cheesemakers were unable to take advantage. In the third, Monroe’s Ryan Molitor and Connor Nafzger were called within two minutes of each other for tripping, but the Cheesemakers played well on the penalty kill until Zak Roskos snapped a one-timer into the net off of a pass from Adam Franken. Oregon outshot Monroe 47-20 in the game.
“The guys are disappointed in the loss, but they still are happy with the way things turned out. In year’s past it was pretty tough for them and we lost by big margins,” Einbeck said. “But now we’re starting to keep things a little closer. I think those two penalties at the end hurt us a little bit, because we were a little tired. But we’re not using those excuses. We just have to keep working and get better. And I think we will get better.”
The Cheesemakers co-op travels to McFarland (3-2, 0-2) Dec. 14 and hosts Viroqua at 1 p.m. Dec. 15.
