Whitecaps game serves to support Jablonski, Privette

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Last Updated on Sunday, 27 May 2012 23:31

The Minnesota Whitecaps hosted the Manitoba Maple Leafs over the weekend of Jan. 27, beginning with the first game of the three-game series at the East Bethel Ice Arena. The St. Francis community came out to support the Whitecaps with an enthusiastic crowd.

Before the game, some of the Whitecaps players held an hour long clinic for the St. Francis female youth hockey teams. The crowd was entertained by both national anthems as they were sung by St. Francis high school choir standout Sabrina Fivegel.  The game was back and forth with Manitoba scoring the first two goals. Not until closer to the end of the first period did the Whitecaps get on the score board with a goal by Allie Thunstrom from Amanda Trunzo. With two minutes left in the period, Carrie Holldorf slammed one in to tie the game.

At the start of the second period, the Whitecaps legend struck first, taking the lead. Three minutes later another Whitecaps star, Brooke White-Lancette, found the back of the net, putting the Whitecaps up by two goals.

Manitoba would not be held down and in 30 seconds answered back with a goal of their own. With less than two minutes left in the second period, the Maple Leafs tipped one in to end the period with the game tied at 4-4.

The third period was all Whitecaps, starting off the period was a top shelf goal by Meaghan Pezon.  At the halfway mark, Amy Stech found the back of the net with precision passes from Jenny Potter and Winny Brodt. A few minutes before the end of the game, Amy Stech put the Whitecaps up 7-4 to win the game. St. Francis Youth Hockey provided a meal for both teams as the players from the Whitecaps and Maple Leafs signed autographs.

Game two of the series with Manitoba was hosted on Jan. 28, by the Chaska/Chanhassen Hockey Association at the Chaska Community Center. The Chaska/Chanhassen community packed the building and were again blown away by a local vocalist and hockey mom who performed the Canadian and American national anthems.

Tons of food was also collected for their local food shelf. Winny Brodt donated a summer camp to Os Hockey as a raffle prize which was won by Jenna Clements of Bloomington. Jenna is on Bloomington’s 10U A team and was so excited about winning the raffle for the camp.

“The game was so fast and fun to watch,” Jenna said. “ I will definitely be back to watch another Whitecaps game.”

The Whitecaps came out on top of this game, scoring three goals in the first period by Pezon, Allie Thunstrom and Potter to the Maple Leafs’ one goal. The second period’s two goals were from Thunstrom, gaining her a hat trick for the game. Manitoba scored their second goal of the game in the third period as Stech ended the game with a goal of her own. The  final score of 6-2 gave the game to the Whitecaps.

After the meeting and greeting of the fans, the Whitecaps took to the ice again, giving the youth of CCHA a few hockey lessons they will remember for a lifetime.

The Sunday Jan. 29, game was hosted at Fogarty Ice Arena by Blaine and Spring Lake Park Youth Hockey Associations. Admission was free for all youth through high school and a free raffle ticket was received by all attendees. Lots of people walked away with Dave’s Sport Shop and Whitecaps t-shirts, hockey sticks and pucks. After the game another hour-long Whitecaps clinic was held for all the youth teams.

Even though the final score was 7-2 in favor of the Whitecaps, the score was not indicative of the excitement of the game. Both teams continued to work hard and hustle the entire game. Pezon scored the lone goal in the first period putting the Whitecaps out in front.

The Maple Leafs scored first in the second period with the Whitecaps answering with three goals from Potter, Sam Nixon and Stech, respectively. Manitoba’s defense, Jocelyn Larocque and Canadian National team player scored the last goal for Manitoba at the beginning of the third period. The Whitecaps answered back again with three goals from Amanda Trunzo, Sam Nixon and Jessica Tyra.

At each game, donations were accepted for Jenna Privette and Jack Jablonski as well as t-shirts and wristbands were available for purchase.

The following weekend, Feb. 4 and 5, the Whitecaps took on the Shattuck-St.Mary’s U19 prep team at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School. Both of these games were a battle all the way to the end. Saturday’s game was a 2-1 win for Shattuck and Sunday’s game was a 4-3 win for the Whitecaps.

The last home series brings the Manitoba Maple Leafs back to Minnesota again. These games will again be dedicated to Jablonski and Privette. Come on out and support the Whitecaps.