The Merrill hockey team suffered a 12-0 loss at home on Thursday to D.C. Everest, disappointing but not stretching the imagination considering the Evergreens were recently rated as high as second in state and are still fifth.
What hurt more was the 9-0 defeat at Marshfield the previous Tuesday.
Everest scored a trio of goals in each of the first two periods, then exploded for 6 in the third.
“I thought we played really well the first two periods,” MHS coach Chase Nelson said. “I really felt something clicked. They started to buy into the things were running.
“When we play a team more of our caliber, if we continue to do these things, they should work for us.
“The third period was a different story. They skated four lines against us and we skated mostly two. They just wore us down.”
Thirteen different players figured in Everest’s scoring. Brandon Dively (2 g, 2 a), Collin Helke (3 g), Alex Yde (2 g, 1 a) and Joe Patterson (1 g, 2 a) led the way.
Saves-MHS-Stephen Simon 13-14-9-36. D.C.E.-Michael Moe 2-4-5-11.
Stuck in a marsh field
The Tigers jumped out with a six-goal first period, then tacked on two in the second and one in the third.
“Marshfield is the team just above us in conference (standings) and I thought it would be a closer test,” Nelson said. “We’re kind of at that point in Valley games where we say, ‘Let’s go out and learn and hope we can compete.’
“They are out of our league at this point. They’ve got one line that can compete with anyone in the Valley and we don’t have that yet. Obviously, missing (injured senior defenseman) Jared Hoffmann hurt us. We’re really young on defense with a junior, a 15-year old exchange student and three freshmen.”
The Tigers were led by: Bobby Leggon (4 a); Scheyler Seyfert (3 g, 1 a); Zac Alboreo (1 g, 2 a); Zach Leggon (1 g, 2 a); and Nathan Borchardt (3 a).
Saves-MHS-Stephen Simon 11-9-10-30. Marshfield-Mac Alboreo 8-1-2-11.
Merrill is now 2-9 overall and 0-6 in the Valley. The Tigers were 2-4 and 8-6, while the Evergreens were 6-1-2 and 13-2-2.