Memorial had no let down tonight after winning the Conference Championship on Tuesday. They completely dominated Menomonie from start to finish with a business like 8-0 performance, scoring their first goal at the 1:10 mark and finishing it off with goal 8 at the 89th minute mark. It was expected, when the top team in the conference plays the team at the bottom. Menomonie brings great effort and attitude but just does not have the talent or depth to hang with Memorial this year.
For Memorial you just wanted to check a few boxes tonight.
Play hard, play efficient with no let down. The early score set the tone for the night. There would be no upset tonight.
Keep your confidence and momentum as the conference season winds down, this team has bigger plans this year. Mission accomplished. Leading scorer Jack Longville hit for 4 scores tonight and 5 different Abes scored a goal. A decisive win with a dominating first half of possession for Memorial.
No injuries. You also need a little luck and good fortune to advance deep. All good for Memorial as they were able to rest starters and let their deep bench get some extra time. That is important as well. They will need all hands on deck to make a deep run into the playoffs.
Shout out to Dawn….thanks for the updates, could not have written this without you. You know I will be asking for more help tomorrow at Park…so get ready! Also, big thanks to Miles for the video. If these look better, then it’s because a tech savvy youngster took the video and not me…so let’s see how he did…on to the highlights.
The first goal happened quick…too quick for my video assistant (unpaid assistant so how much can I expect really) to capture, but I am told it was a misplayed ball by the GK on a slow roller from Longville, maybe a slip on the wet field, so let’s not show that one. Don’t have any video, so that works out. Here is goal number 2, a nice assist for Jolley over the top of the defense giving Jack time to maneuver and slot home a nice shot. 2-0 Abes.
Around the 35 minute mark, Will Orser and Jack Longville combine for a nice play along the touch line. Will with a nice pass and Jack with the quick touch finds the near post. Bang bang play for a 3-0 lead and a first half hat trick for Longville.
This next goal is kind of interesting. Mitch Brenner gets the hustle award of the night for his persistence. The ball just kept ending up near his feet, he kept getting bumped but just keep with it. A bit unfortunate that the referee did not just let it play out and a whistle blew for a foul. Kind of a bummer they took the score away from Brenner after all his hard work. A penalty is called and Orser calmly puts it away. Spoiler Alert: Don’t feel too bad…I am predicting Brenner might make some noise later.
The GK for Menomonie guesses right, makes a good attempt to dive to his left, but too much power and placement for Orser. Well done. 4-0 at the 30 minute mark.
So this one gets the award for the goal of the night. 7 total touches. Let’s see, we had two crosses, 3 headers, a few other touches and a crazy flick header from Longville (goal #4 tonight) from near the 18 that goes upper 90. In hockey we would give 2 assists for the nice lay off from Lyons and the nice cross from Free. You might want to watch this one a few times. Enjoy, you wont see one like this very often. A flick header from the 18, wow!
The half ends at 5-0. I was about to lose my video assistant but he was able to capture one more nice play. Memorial almost got it to 6 on a nice rip from Cooper Lyons from just outside the 18. Well, maybe about 25 yards. A nice layoff to him and a really nice first touch one time shot with some pace on it. The GK pushes it wide. A little bit left and that’s a goal. Keep shooting kid!
The second half was more of the same with the Abes hitting for three more goals.
Bryce Burlingame opened his season scoring account for the season on a PK at the 46 minute mark. I think that makes every starter except Joe Free with a goal this year. Pretty impressive. Something tells me Joe will have a big goal before the season ends. He did add an assist tonight to his tally.
Zach Haig hit for another goal this year off a set play direct kick from Cooper Lyons. That’s 2 in the last 3 games for Haig.
And in the name of poetic justice, Mitch Brenner scores in the 88th minute, unassisted. He deserved that first one, so really cool he was able to score. Well deserved. Let’s honor Mitch with this little doozy of a goal by Edan Hazard from Chelsea.. I mean…it might have happened just like this. Enjoy!
So that’s how it finished, a nice 8-0 win over Menomonie. One game left in conference, a little revenge game against Rice Lake for ruining their perfect league record :). Memorial steps out of league this weekend for a game against Park High School. Normally a tough opponent , Park has struggled a bit this year with a 3-9-1 record but most of the losses are only by 1-2 goals, so competitive. The only common opponent has been Stillwater. An early season scrimmage with Memorial ended in a 0-0 score while Stillwater handed Park a 4-0 loss. Park has a nice program so get ready for a good game against a skilled opponent looking for a signature win.
Are you ready Dawn….you know I will be texting for updates!!