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New Ulm boys rebound with 4-1 win vs. Waconia

Staff photo by Steve Muscatello New Ulm’s Brandon Mehlhop gets a shot off despite pressure from a Waconia defender during the second period Thursday at the New Ulm Civic Center. For more photos of this event go to cu.nujournal.com

NEW ULM — Even though it is a basketball term, it was a nice way for the Eagles’ boys’ hockey team to rebound.

Landon Strong scored just 21 seconds into the game and New Ulm added two more first-period goals as it rebounded from a loss with a 4-1 win against Waconia on Thursday night at the New Ulm Civic Center in nonconference hockey.

Strong added another goal with Sam Berg and Luke Scheid adding the other New Ulm goals.

Nate Miller and Brandon Mehlhop each had two assists with Nick Banal, Tomas Babik and Cole Wellmann all getting helpers.

New Ulm goalie Jack Raymond recorded 30 saves and lost his shutout with less than 2 miinutes left in the game on a power play goal from Waconia’s Ian Miller.

For the Eagles and coach Ryan Neuman, it was another game where they faced a team that tried to intimidate them.

The third period had 13 penalties — five in New Ulm — called including three for 5 minutes and three player ejections.

“I told the guys after the game that we cannot let a team like that get in our heads,” Neuman said. “They took us away from our game and sucked us into their game. The best thing that you can do is smile and just keep scoring goals.”

The Eagles (7-9-1) did that in the first 17 minutes. Strong rebounded a Miller shot past Waconia goalie Gavin Grahams 21 seconds into the game for a 1-0 lead.

Berg upped the lead to 2-0 scoring a shorthanded goal at the 10:20 mark with Banal getting an assist. Scheid made it 3-0 with less than a minute left in the first period.

New Ulm did not score again until Strong found the back of the net at the 14:17 mark of the third period.

“We just did not bury the puck in the rest of the way,” Neuman said. “There were a lot of penalties and it is tough to get in a rhythm between power plays and penalty kills.”

New Ulm successfully killed one of six Waconia power plays in the contest.

“Thw third period had a lot of penalties and the JV game was like that as well,” Neuman said. “I told our guys that we cannot get sucked into that style.

“We came out better tonight than we did last game after getting shut out last game. We needed this for our confidence. And Jack played another very good game tonight. That penalty that we took at the end cost him a shutout tonight.”

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