Coach sees flaws in Pioneers' victory

Tuesday's Class 2A, Section 4 boys' hockey semifinal game was barely three minutes old at Warner Coliseum when it was clear No. 5 seed Mounds View, trailing 3-0, was in for a long night against top-seeded Hill-Murray. So much so that it turned into a short night for both teams.

The final 12 1/2 minutes were played with a running clock as the Pioneers beat the Mustangs 7-1.

Senior Dan Cecka had two goals and two assists for Hill-Murray. Joe Phillippi earned the victory in goal. But all was not well for the Pioneers at game's end.

Coach Bill Lechner held a long postgame meeting in the dressing room, expressing his disappointment in how his team backed off after taking a 5-0 lead into the first intermission.

The Pioneers' lack of intensity in the second period was so obvious it was easy to assume Lechner told his players to back off. Not so.

"I would never do that in a playoff game, not that early," Lechner said. "We just decided to play nice. Hockey isn't nice.

"We won 7-1 but it feels like we lost. Hopefully we learned a lesson. It's a little late for lessons."

Cecka said the team got the message.

"It was sad to see," he said of the lack of intensity in the second period. "I don't know what happened."

The Pioneers scored a pair of goals in the opening two minutes en route to their 5-0 lead. Mounds View got on the board at 10:10 of the second period on a power-play goal by Zach Jacobson. Hill-Murray answered with a power-play goal by Jeff Westerhaus at 14:48 for a 6-1 lead through two periods.

Ryan Furne's goal at 4:24 of the third period gave the Pioneers a six-goal lead, which led to running time for the rest of the game under Minnesota high school rules.

White Bear Lake 4, Roseville 3: The Bears rallied for two goals in the third period to edge Roseville and earn a trip to the section finals Friday to face Hill-Murray.

The Bears trailed 3-2 past the midway point of the third period when Chris Fiala scored on a rebound to tie the score. Less than a minute later, Matt Sura buried a rebound to give the Bears the lead.

"Blue-collar hockey, it's what we've been preaching all year long," White Bear Lake coach Tim Sager said. "For the past month we've been pounding it in, you've got to go hard to the net. You're going to have to get your nose bloodied."

Roseville had leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, thanks to a hat trick by Bobby Monsour. Trailing for the first time, it had a great chance to tie the score with 34.1 seconds to play. White Bear Lake was given a penalty for delay of game for knocking its own net off its moorings. Because the penalty occurred in the final two minutes, Roseville was awarded a penalty shot.

Roseville coach Jeff Pauletti selected captain Adam Mueller to take the penalty shot, but he never got a shot off, losing control of the puck as he attempted to deke goaltender Owen Collette.