Spuds over Greenwave 5-2

Boys hockey: Moorhead upends Green Wave


Senior High earns respect from Spuds
By: Ryan S. Clark, The Forum

The East Grand Forks Senior High boys hockey team doesn’t have an upset win over a top-ranked team like Moorhead.

So what? Big deal. The Green Wave have other things in common with the Spuds and they showed in a 5-2 loss on Tuesday night at the Moorhead Sports Center.

“We’re in the same boat as them,” said Senior High co-head coach Tyler Palmiscno. “We’re still trying to figure some things out.”

Palmiscno’s right. The Green Wave (6-5) have split the last two games and it was easy to see why that was against Moorhead (5-3-1).

They overcame being dominated in puck possession in the first period to head into the intermission down only 2-1.

Senior High rallied from a 3-1 hole when Tyler Hajicek cut it to 3-2 with 2:35 left in the second.

And that’s when the breakdown came. Moorhead took a 4-2 lead off a goal scored from a faceoff.

A minute later, Moorhead’s Tony Uglem scored his second goal of the night.

“That period, we had a bit of a letdown,” said Senior High defenseman Gage Ausmus. “It’s frustrating because we made mistakes on the faceoff and if we don’t make those, we have a chance to win it.”

But there are positives to take from this. Remember Senior High has only played two section games so there’s still time to improve.

Plus, this is a young team with a roster comprised of sophomores and juniors like Ausmus, who is a sophomore.

Moorhead coach Dave Morinville had plenty of praise for the Green Wave.

He knows what it’s like to watch a team figure things out.

Two weeks ago, Moorhead suffered 6-0 loss to Duluth East, the worst home loss in Morinville’s 14 seasons.

Last week, it upset previously undefeated No. 1 Wayzata.

Morinville said it’s a process but said Senior High is on the right track.

“I like playing them,” Morinville said. “It’s always close and the thing about that team is they don’t give up easy goals. You have to work hard to score against a team like that.”