MONROE — The Monroe Avalanche Bantam B hosted the annual Avalanche Classic Jan. 19-20, just as winter arrived across the region.
The host Bantam B team lost 9-3 to Appleton to open the tournament Jan. 19. Aidan Grey would receive two passes off of the initial puck drop to score in the first 20 seconds. Sergio Fletcher and Carson Kurchner provided the assists. Appleton would tie the match at 1-1 towards the end of the period.
Easton Dreyfus fired home a power play goal five minutes into the second, with assists from Jaryn Fonseca and Grey on the play. The rest of the game would go Appleton’s way though, as Monroe would get bit with the penalty bug. Grey would get a second goal late in the game off of a pass from Payton Hathaway, but it would not be enough. Goalie Xander Obert had 30 saves for Monroe.
Next up for Monroe was Cedar Rapids later that day, and the Avalanche won 6-2.
Monroe would strike first, this time led by Sergio Fletcher. Assisting were Jaryn Fonseca and Payton Hathaway. Less than four minutes later the Roughriders tied it up. It remained tied going into the second period.
Christian Carpenter tapped in a loose puck to give Monroe the lead again four minutes into the second period. Monroe’s crisp passing opened up scoring opportunities that the Avalanche took advantage of. Aidan Grey would snap off a power play goal on passes from Easton Dreyfus and Carson Kurschner. Cedar Rapids would answer with a power play goal of its own, but Monroe would take over the rest of the game. Payton Hathaway put the Avalanche back up by two on a pass from Carpenter. The beginning of the third period featured a fast break, with Dreyfus lasering a pass to Jayden Downs, who one-timed it for an easy goal. Grey would once again wrap up the scoring for Monroe, this time on a pass from Carson Buholzer. Goalie Xander Obert had 23 saves on 25 shots.
On Jan. 20, Monroe took on eventual tournament champions Waunakee and lost 3-1.
Monroe again scored first, with Christian Carpenter providing a timely pass to Aidan Grey for the goal. Waunakee outshot Monroe 17-4 in the first periord, but the Avalanche would hold on to the 1-0 lead at first intermission.
Waunakee would tie it up with under seven minutes to go in the second period, which was dominated by the defense of both teams. In the third, Waunakee outshot Monroe 25-3, with two goals sneaking past Obert, who had 48 saves in the game.
