Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Jackson Bladholm battles for control with Waseca’s Charlie Huttemier during their game on Monday. Waseca defeated Marshall 5-1.

MARSHALL – After falling to Waseca in its season opener on Saturday, the Marshall boys hockey team looked to bounce back against the Bluejays on Monday night. Waseca had other ideas, though, and used a 2-0 start to earn a 5-1 victory at the Red Baron Arena and Expo.

Marshall assistant coach Jim Haynes said they were able to show improvements from Saturday’s game, but knows they have a young group with a lot of inexperience going into the season.

“We improved from Saturday, which was the first main goal, so that’s a positive. We’ve still got a lot of things to learn; it’s a young group with a lot of inexperience, but on the flip side, there are a lot of guys getting an opportunity to learn and hopefully we can get efficient in the learning process,” Haynes said. “We saw some things we liked and obviously we’ve got a lot of things to work on in the process of improving.”

It was back and forth to start, with both sides getting some scoring chances early on. Waseca would strike first near the midway mark of the opening period to make it 1-0. Then in the closing seconds of the frame, the Bluejays struck again to push their lead to 2-0 after one.

Waseca wasted very little time getting on the scoreboard again, as it started the second frame with a goal just nine seconds in to give the Bluejays a 3-0 lead. Marshall would earn a string of power play opportunities over the next several minutes, but couldn’t capitalize.

The Tigers continued to battle, however, and were rewarded with 1:51 to play in the second when Corbin Beernaert connected with the back of the net for his first varsity goal and cut the deficit to 3-1 after two.

Waseca would answer right back, though, getting a goal a little more than two minutes into the third to push its lead back to three at 4-1. The Bluejays then scored on a power play with 3:23 remaining to bring it to the 5-1 final.

Waseca outshot Marshall 23-21 on the game. Ezra Maurice recorded 18 saves in net for Marshall.

Up next

Marshall (0-2) will face Minnesota River on Thursday at 7 p.m. Haynes said their biggest takeaway will be continuing to learn and improve each day with each game they play.

“We’ve got to look at the process of improving every day and taking what we’re learning in these games and bringing that to practice,” Haynes said. “Bringing focus to practice with what we’ve learned, so that’s the most important thing.”

Waseca 5, Marshall 1

Waseca 2 1 2 – 5

Marshall 0 1 0 – 1

SCORING SUMMARY

First Period

Waseca: K. Ahlschlager, 7:01 (Forshee).

Waseca: Huttemier, 16:28 (Forshee).

Penalties

Marshall: Deutz, 8:20 (Hooking, 2 min).

Waseca: Hanson, 5:34 (Roughing, 2 min).

Second Period

Waseca: K. Ahlschlager, :09 (Hanson).

Marshall: Beernaert, 15:09 (Reinsma).

Penalties

Waseca: J. Ahlschlager, 12:56 (Checking from behind, 5 min).

Marshall: Plante, 11:06 (Holding, 2 min).

Waseca: Brown, 7:47 (Elbowing, 2 min).

Third Period

Waseca: Brown, 2:10 (Huttemier,

K. Ahlschlager).

Waseca: Harguth, 13:37 (Power play) (Neaves).

Penalties

Marshall: Sherman, 10:42 (Interference, 2 min).

Marshall: VanOverbeke, 5:23 (Interference, 2 min).

Waseca: Hanson, 0:30 (Roughing, 2 min).

Marshall: Bladholm, 0:30 (Roughing, 2 min).

SOG: Waseca 23; Marshall 21.

Saves: Waseca 22; Maurice 18.