Austin Packers boys hockey team rolls by Worthington 11-1 Tuesday evening
In a game you heard on AM 1480 KAUS, the Austin Packers boys hockey team played host to the Worthington Trojans at Riverside Arena Tuesday evening in the second game of their only back-to-back of the 2022-2023 season, and on Senior Night, the Packers set season highs for goals in a period with five, and goals in a game with 11 as they cruised past the Trojans 11-1.
Austin opened the scoring on the power play at 2:07 of the first period when sophomore forward Grady Carney drove to the net and fired a shot that deflected off the stick of Worthington netminder Collin Ahlers and into the net to give the Packers a 1-0 lead, with assists to Sam Eyre and Gavin Brekke. Austin made the score 2-0 when sophomore forward Matthew Phanchan fired a shot on net from the blueline that eluded the trapper of Ahlers at 3:56, but the Trojans cut the lead to 2-1 at 14:02 of the period on a goal from junior defenseman Ian Bumgardner, his first of the season. The Packers answered back :51 seconds later when Brekke got behind the Trojan defense, took in a long pass from defenseman Bradley Lagerstedt and scored on a breakaway to give Austin a 3-1 lead, and Carney tallied his seventh goal of the season with only :16 seconds left in the period, with an assist to Eyre to make the score 4-1 Packers at the end of one period.
Austin broke the game wide open in the second period when senior forward Isaac Swenson scored his second goal of the season at the 1:29 mark, with assists to Cade Morrison and Brekke, and leading scorer and point-getter Gahvin Schaefer took a long pass up the middle of the ice from Eyre and scored on a short-handed breakaway at 4:14 of the period to make the score 6-1. The Packers made the score 7-1 enjoying a 2-man advantage at 9:50 when Eyre earned his fourth point of the game with his fifth goal of the year and the fourth on the power play, with assists to Schaefer and Toby Holtz, and senior defenseman Dylan Regenscheid tallied his first goal of the season :41 seconds later at 10:31 when he snapped a wrist shot from the left point just inside the blueline through traffic and over the glove of Ahlers to make the score 8-1. Schaefer capped the deluge with an unassisted goal at 12:55 of the period to give Austin a 9-1 lead at the end of two periods. The Packers tacked on two more goals in the third period for the 11-1 final when Brekke earned his fourth point of the contest when he scored at 2:55, with an assist to Cade Morrison, and senior forward Corbin Madden tallied his first goal of the season at 7:59 when he fired a wrist shot from the right wing half-boards in the Trojan end that deflected off the stick of a Worthington defender in front and past Ahlers for the 11-1 final.
Worthington wound up outshooting Austin 40-37 in the game, but senior goaltender Ethan Knox turned away 39 of the 40 shots he faced for the win, while Ahlers made 26 saves in taking the loss. The Packers were penalized six times for 15 minutes, while the Trojans were whistled for seven penalites for 14 minutes, and Austin was 2 for 5 on the power play, while Worthington was 0-5.
With the win, the Packers are now 3-13 on the season, and Austin returns to action in Red Wing Thursday night versus the Wingers in a Big 9 Conference and Section 1A matchup, with puck drop at 7:15 p.m. that evening.
