Prep hockey: Arrowhead claims Admirals Cup.
Warhawks net 12 goals in title game
Much of the attention at the start of the prep hockey season was given to University School and Waukesha. Both teams reached the state tournament last year and were in the state rankings at the beginning of the season.
Arrowhead, which returned 10 seniors, including five who made the Classic 8 all-conference team, felt shunned.
“I can tell you how they took it, they put it up in the locker room,” Warhawks coach Carl Valimont said. “That’s how they took it. They put it up in the locker room and said, ‘Hey, we’re not getting any respect. We need to go earn it.’ And I’m fine with that.”
The Warhawks are garnering attention now. They increased their winning streak to 10 games by scoring their most goals of the season in a 12-3 victory over Whitefish Bay/Nicolet/Shorewood in the championship game of the Admirals Cup on Wednesday afternoon at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
Eighth-ranked Arrowhead, which won the Admirals Cup for the fifth time in 10 years, is 11-1 and leads the state with 73 goals.
“It’s really kind of simple,” Valimont said, “These guys shot a lot of pucks in the offseason. Their shots are better, they come harder and we had some really nice goals out there today. I don’t know a lot of goalies that are going to save those. The bottom line is they put a lot of work in.
“And the old equation is you put a lot in, you get a lot out; you put a little in, you get a little out. So these guys bought into the fact that if we put extra work in during the spring, summer and fall, we’re not going to see any results until the winter, but that’s OK. And now they’re starting to see the fruits of their labor.”
Arrowhead junior Jaxson Carr was ranked ninth in the state with 14 goals before he scored three more against WNS.
Senior teammate Caleb Beversdorf, second on the team with 13 goals, scored four times for his first varsity hat trick.
The Storm (3-6-2) allowed the first four goals of the game and can only hope for a better result in a rematch with the Warhawks on Jan. 12.
“I find they just outwork everybody, and they’re wellcoached,” WNS coach Eric Murano said. “They do a really good job of pinpointing what your weaknesses are and they get after it. They did it to us today.”
Just one goal was scored in the first period, but Carr needed only 18 seconds to get the first one of the second pe- riod. Arrowhead later added a short-handed goal from Tyler Trivett and closed the period with goals from Beversdorf and Jack Schlingsog for a 7-2 lead.
Arrowhead had five more goals in the third period, including four on the power play, to surpass its previous season high of 10.
“We don’t really need the media attention,” Beversdorf said. “We’re just going to go into each game like we’re playing the best team in the state, like our coach says. We just prepare the same way and play who’s in front of us.”
Homestead 5, Cedarburg 2: The Highlanders’ sevengame winning streak was halted Monday in a 5-2 loss to Arrowhead, but they responded by scoring the first two goals before adding three more in the final period in the third-place game. Gavin Henry scored twice and P.J. Quale added a goal and two assists for the Highlanders (9-2).
Alex Russo scored both goals for Cedarburg (4-6), which suffered an 8-3 loss to WNS on Monday.