Warriors bring down No. 14 Titans

By: Waldorf Sports Information Director

ALBERT LEA, Minnesota – The Waldorf University hockey team brought down University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh by a score of 6-2 during Friday’s Northern Collegiate Hockey League (NCHL) matchup.

“It was our most consistent 60-minute effort so far this season,” Waldorf coach Brett Shelanski said. “We won puck races and physical battles consistently in all three zones.”

Freshman Eric Long put together a hat trick and added an assist to lead the Warriors (6-1, 3-0), who entered the game ranked No. 8 in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division II Central Region poll. Junior Matthew Liggett contributed two goals and junior Jeffrey Bartel delivered a goal. Bartel racked up three assists, while seniors Spencer Johnson, Reed Loucks and freshman Tyler Wilson dished out two assists apiece.

Jason Johnson and Anthony Grebe each provided goals for the No. 14 Titans (3-5, 2-3).

Junior goalkeeper Dustin Stevens rejected 21 of the 23 shots he faced.

Wisconsin-Oshkosh’s Tony Francois faced 51 shots and tallied 45 saves.

The Warriors outshot the Titans by a 51-23 margin. Waldorf utilized its puck movement to create more scoring opportunities.

“We moved the puck well for most of the night,” Shelanski said. “When we did turn the puck over, we had urgency on the backcheck.”

Long put Waldorf on the board four minutes into the first period after scoring off a pass from Bartel. Grebe evened the score a minute later with Cortland Maxfield and Logan Polack on the assists.

Long produced a one-time goal off a pass from Spencer Johnson during the second minute of the second period to give the Warriors a 2-1 advantage. Waldorf took a two-goal lead with two seconds remaining in the second period when Liggett scored on a power-play goal. Spencer Johnson and Wilson were credited with assists.

Liggett netted a goal assisted by Bartel and Wilson during the fourth minute of the third period to give the Warriors a 4-1 lead. Long connected for his third goal of the match 15 minutes into the third period with Loucks and Bartel on the assists.

Wisconsin-Oshkosh cut the lead to 5-2 when Jason Johnson scored off a pass from Andrew Schulenburg with less than four minutes remaining in the match. Bartel capitalized off passes from Loucks and Long during the 18th minute of the third period.

The Warriors conclude their series with Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Saturday for a 2 p.m. matchup at Albert Lea City Arena.