Start mirrors defending champs’ expectations

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Last Updated on Thursday, 04 October 2012 15:53

By Nick Clark
MnJHL

The start looks an awful lot like the finish did a year ago for the Twin Cities Northern Lights.

Off to a 7-0-0-1 start through the first four weekends of Minnesota Division play in the Minnesota Junior Hockey League, the defending MnJHL regular season and playoff champions are once again sitting atop the regular season standings.

It has been the type of start that mirrors the expectations set forth by the team before their season began, but according to head coach Erik Largen, the first eight games are nothing more than just that – a start.

“I’m pretty happy with the level we are playing at right now, but we are nowhere near where we want to be” said Largen, now in his second year guiding the Northern Lights. “We have to get a lot better if we are going to sustain it.”

The standings don’t indicate as much, but Largen’s reasoning has plenty of legitimacy. Just seven players are back from last year’s group, meaning the eight games the team has been together represents the extent of junior hockey playing experience for most of them.

In a lot of respects, Twin Cities has leaned heavily on its veterans early on. Second-year forward Jace Childs (Savage, Minn.) already has 14 points (7 goals, 7 assists) in the eight games, second-year forward Gleb Kulikov (Dmitrov, Russia) has goals in four of the games, and second-year goaltender Will Schluneger (Webster, Minn.) has won in two of three of his starts while allowing just four goals.

“I always expect a high turnover rate at this level, but luckily, the guys we have brought back are a real solid group,” Largen said. “They have a lot to do with the start we’ve had.”

Childs has been most critical. He had 42 points in 33 regular season games with Twin Cities a year ago, and hasn’t slowed much off that pace this season. He’s had at least two points in all five games, and he’s managed to score at least a goal in every outing as well.

“Jace has been unbelievable,” Largen said. “I really feel that he is the best player in our league, and I don’t usually throw around compliments like that very often. But I’ve seen a change. I feel that his work ethic has been higher than last year. He is one of our leaders already. He wants the puck on his stick. He wants to score goals and he wants to do things to help our team win hockey games.”

Seven of Childs’ points came on the Sept. 21-23 weekend. He had three in an 8-1 victory at Hudson, two more in the Northern Lights’ 3-2 win at Maple Grove and then another two Twin Cities’ 4-2 victory over Edina.

Kulikov, Shane Gachne (Excelsior, Minn.), Dylan Blankenship (Fairbanks, Alaska) and Brett Connaughton (Glenview, Ill.) also had multiple point nights in the win over Hudson, and Carter Purdy (Elkhorn, Neb.) added a goal and an assist in the win over Edina.

Purdy is currently second on the team in scoring with nine points in eight games, and seven others have at least four points thus far.

“We are getting contributions from multiple guys, and I think that has helped us win some hockey games as well,” Largen said. “Our goaltending has been very good too. We could easily be 2-5 without the play of our goaltenders.”

Schluneger has won two of his starts, Isaak Tjaden (Northfield, Minn.) is 3-0 and Nate Gay (Bowling Green, Ohio) won both of his starts.

With three more games this weekend, the goaltending will likely have to be good again. Largen said the league is much deeper this season than it was a year ago, and in a grouping that already has seen all eight clubs win once, the proof has been in their play.

That makes the Northern Lights start even more impressive as the team heads into a weekend in which they will play St. Louis on Friday, Oct. 5, Tri City on Saturday, Oct. 6, and Illiana on Sunday, Oct. 7 – all at the Pleasant Prairie RecPlex.

“We’re pretty happy, but we have to keep moving forward,” Largen said. “These four-game weekends are tough. The league is so good this year that you have to be ready to go every night.”