Midland edges Waldorf in season sweep
By Aaron Schneider
FREMONT, Neb. – The Waldorf College hockey team fell short to Midland University in a 5-4 loss despite a comeback effort for Waldorf.
Midland (6-0) took advantage of the lead it built early in the match to secure the season sweep over Waldorf (4-4).
Midland’s offense was kick-started by Jason Henry as he provided two goals in the first 10 minutes of play. In the second minute of the contest, Jason Henry scored with the help of assists from Sam Turner and Bradley Hepler. He added another goal in the ninth with assists coming from Turner and Ben Henry.
Penalties hindered Midland as Waldorf’s Ryan Veillet capitalized with Midland being down two men as the freshman forward from Langley, British Columbia connected on a goal in the 13th minute of the opening period. Junior Artem Savelyev contributed with the assist.
Midland’s offense continued its strong attack during the second period, pulling ahead to a 5-1 advantage. Four minutes into the second period, Zach Voss provided a goal with assists coming from Blake Neumann and Evan Anderson. Two minutes later, Blair Seitz scored following assists from Sam Zwiener and Neumann. During the 16th minute of the second period, Connor Hyde tallied another goal for Midland with Taylor McConnell and Jarret Walt assisting.
Waldorf began its rally near the end of the second period as junior Spencer Johnson converted on a power play off an assist from sophomore Travis Park.
The momentum carried into the third period for Waldorf as Savelyev added a goal of his own. Senior Reed Loucks and sophomore Drew Soderberg contributed assists on the play.
Freshman Robert Danyo kept Waldorf’s offense rolling, notching a goal with four minutes remaining in the game. Junior Alex Fleming and Park dished out assists.
Midland, which was outshot 38-24 by Waldorf, shored up its defense for the remaining four minutes of the match to secure the hard-fought victory.
Sophomore Ronald Paulson and junior Nicholas Carroll took care of duties between the pipes for Waldorf. Paulson recorded 10 saves while facing 14 shots. Carroll saved nine of the 10 shots fired in his direction.
Waldorf owns a 2-0 record in the Northern Collegiate Hockey League (NCHL) standings and resumes conference play against the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (1-1) next weekend at Oshkosh, Wis. Game times are scheduled for 8 p.m. on Friday and 3:25 p.m. on Saturday.