D1 Horde Beat Muskies With Late Nelson Goal; Clinch Playoff Spot

2011-02-27 St, Paul, MN (Highland South):  The D1 Northern Horde played a fired up Muskies line-up and came from behind to win 3-2.  The Muskies came out with guns blazing in the first period and pressured the Horde defense.  After a break to fix the game clock, the Muskies got loose in front of the net on a bad line change and went ahead 1-0.  The Horde regrouped midway through the second when Jon Zimmerman put in a rebound off a Jeff Nelson shot to tie it up.  The McDonald-Zimmerman-Nelson line would continue to apply pressure after giving up that first Muskies goal.  After Nelson made a strong play in the corner to dislodge the puck from the Muskies D, Zimmerman took it behind the net and fed Darren McDonald in front of the net.  His shot rebounded to Nelson who put it in on his second attempt from the back post.  "The Muskies goalie was hot tonight, saving everything in sight, and their D was stifling," said Nelson.  The Muskies answered the call in the third period when the Horde D misplayed a puck in the air to tie it up.  At that point it was game on for the Horde.  Wave after wave of Northern Horde lines took it to the Muskies, whose goalie had a performance reminiscent of the Horde's last game against the Diablos.  "Chris Warlick and Steven Lenzen are still shocked at how the Muskies goalie stopped three breakaways from each of them on the night," said Rob Yurko an hour after game time.  Finally, with less than three minutes to go in the game, Nelson got loose on the right side and slid it near post for a 3-2 lead.  The mettle of the Horde D would be tested again when Zimmerman was whistled for interference with only one minute remaining - his first penalty in over 60 AHA games.  "Really?" was the reaction from Dana Cudo, which was very polite compared to the "Are you F*%KING kidding me" from Gary Schwartz.  Chris Warlick and Stevne Lenzen, still shocked at how the Muskies goalie stopped three breakaways from each of them on the night, weren't even aware the Horde pulled out the victory.  As the scorekeeper said to Zimmerman in the box, "They haven't gotten within 40 feet of your goalie in the third period, even man-down I don't think you have anything to worry about."  The Horde next take on the Icedogs in a D2 reunion late on Sunday night at New Hope.

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Northern Horde beat outmatched Stars 11-0

Sunday, February 13, 2011, New Hope Arena, New Hope, MN.  In his first of two controversial coaching moves of the night, Captain John Errigo asked Dana Cudo, Rob Yurko, and Dan Bolles to stay home to try to give the Stars a chance during Sunday’s game. It didn’t work, as the Stars were grossly overmatched despite the Horde’s short bench.

The Horde came out strong, and peppered the Stars goaltender with 30 shots in the first 2 periods, 11 of them finding the back of the net. Most Horde players ended up on the scoring sheet, with Steve Lenzen (4) and John Errigo (2) having multi-goal nights. When asked what the most important play of the game was, defenseman Brian Hinderks stated, “It had to be Gary Schwartz’s assist on the 8th goal. That assist single-handedly turned the tide and gave the Horde the confidence it needed to finish with a W.” 

Despite some chippy play by the frustrated Stars, the Horde managed to play a clean game. The most controversial call came late in the game, when Chris Warlick got called for a 2-minute penalty for “trying too hard with an 11 goal lead” – at least that’s what it looked like to the guys on the bench.  

Errigo’s second unorthodox coaching move came at the end of the second period. With the Horde ahead by 11 goals, and having outshot the Stars 30-5 to that point, Errigo appealed to his teammates to ease up and go easy on their rivals. When asked how this locomotive could possibly be slowed down without derailing, Errigo’s advice to the team was to “try play like you’re Jon Zimmerman”. To this, defenseman Tyler LaMont bemoaned, “You realize that we’re only ahead by 11.” Errigo stood firm, and with the Horde playing like an army of Zimmermans, they were outshot in the final period by a tally of 7-3. Despite this late Stars flurry, strong play by goaltender, Nathan Kangas, kept them off the scoring column, as he recorded his league-high 3rd shutout of the season.

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D2 Horde Fall Behind Early; Battle Back to Win in Overtime

2011-01-17, Eden Prairie, MN: The D2 Northern Horde came from behind twice to tie the score, ultimately prevailing in overtime at a nearly-empty Eden Prairie ice rink.  The game was tightly contested when the Knights put one past Horde goalie Pete Morrow one minute into a power play.  The Knights struck again less than 30 seconds later by taking advantage of some defensive confusion in the Horde end putting the Horde down 2-0 little more than halfway into the first period.  The Horde started their climb back into it when Shawn Espeseth knocked the puck to Suneel Arora at the point.  Arora’s shot was stopped but Dan Kline knocked the puck past the Knights’ goalie to start the scoring.  “I’m so used to having my back to my own goalie that I almost fired the puck back at Pete,” commented Dan Kline. Just over two minutes into the second period, the Horde tied it at two when Chris Haack centered a pass to Richard “Big Stick” Dargis who knocked a backhand into the net.  Later in the period, the Knights took the lead again when Dmitry Tovb got behind the Horde defense on a breakaway.  The defense did a nice job getting back, forcing a sharp-angle backhand shot which just squeaked underneath Morrow’s waiting glove.  After several extended stretches of pressure in the Knights defensive zone, Joe Lee centered a pass to Mark Paska.  Paska’s initial shot was saved but Ryan Dolan was in the perfect spot to bang home the rebound.  After a friendly chat in front of the Knights’ goalie (a request for further comment from Kline was rebuffed), the teams battled to a regulation tie.  “I skated all the way in from the point because I was hoping to knock some heads together. It figures Kline would wuss out,” said Jeff Cook.  With less ice time remaining than the 5-minute overtime clock would allow, Paska decided he’d had enough and intentionally lost the opening faceoff.  He then methodically picked the puck off the Knights’ defenseman’s stick, walked in alone on the goalie and knocked home the game winner just 14 seconds into overtime.

 
Next up for the D2 Northern Horde is a rematch with the Fighting Loons.

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Strong Third Period Key as D2 Horde Beat Maroons 2-1

2011-01-10, Hopkins, MN:  The D2 Northern Horde overcame the fatigue of the an indescribably long drive out to Hopkins to beat the Maroons in one of the best games of the seasons.  Both teams rose to the occasion and played with ferocity with sixth place in the D2 standings on the line.  The game was a defensive battle all the way, which looked scary for the Horde with Jon Zimmerman subbing for Stan Kruglikov.  However, Zimmerman shocked everyone by not giving up a goal on the night.  Said captian Kline, "We are always nervous when Zimmerman is back there, but with the speed of Joe Lee, we thought he wouldn't hurt us too badly." Through the first period, the Maroons controlled the play, but Richard "Big Stick" Dargis got his second goal of the season with a 140 foot shot from the Horde's defensive blue line as he was getting off the ice for a change.  The puck slipped past a stunned Maroons goalie to put the Horde into the lead.  The game remained scoreless as both goalies turned away shot after shot.  In the third period, the Maroons put a deflected puck past Pete Morrow to tie things up, but the Horde were not through.  Jonny "Clutch" Nygren made sure the Horde would go home winners when he stole the puck at the blue line, made a great move at the left boards to create some space and blasted (sort of) the puck past a stunned Maroons goalie to put the Horde up for good.  After the game, Ryan Dolan expressed his surprise, "I never expected to see Nygren get a goal in that situation.  Usually, he makes a play and then gives the puck back to the other team so they won't be embarassed he just stole it from them.  For some reason, he decided to do something with it tonight."  Despite being outshot 31-17, Pete Morrow was solid all night in picking up another win between the pipes.  The Horde are looking forward to the return of Will Schultz next week to make ensure that no goals get scored from the third line.

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Horde D1 Dominate Lakers D1 - Get First Win of the Season

2010-11-06 St. Louis Park:  With another strong performance, the Northern Horde D1 got their first win of the season against the Lakers D1 on Saturday night.  The Horde D was tough once again, limiting the Lakers to 17 shots while putting 32 on the Lakers goalie.  Chris Warlick opened the scoring for the Horde with an unassisted goal only four minutes into the game.  His linemate, Steven Lenzen, got his first goal in the maroon and white six minutes later when he knocked home a pass from John Errigo with Chris Warlick getting the second assist.  In the second period, Peter Small got his first for the Horde with assists to Chris Brown and Tyler LaMont.  Unfortunately, for the Horde, the shutout for Nathan Kangas ended off a deflection in the third period, but that was all the Lakers could do against a stubborn Horde D led by Dan Kline, John Fischer and Rob Yurko, who played his best game to date for the Horde and was tough in the corners all night.  Brian Hinderks picked up a shocking unsportsmanlike penalty at the end of the game, which surprised him as much as the Horde bench, but even a 6-on-4 could not threaten Kangas between the pipes.

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Horde Just Miss Championship Game; Playoff Run Caps a Strong Season

April 10, 2010, Bloomington Ice Gardens- The Horde's inaugural winter league season exceeded expectations as the beginner school team finished tied for fourth in the D2 standings and made the playoffs. In the first game of the playoffs, the Northern Horde finally beat the Puck Hounds, with a bruising 5-3 win at New Hope. The Horde came out to play and battled hard all night. Brian Hinderks made a penalty shot that even he didn't know he made until he reached the bench and Brian later capped the win with a beautiful shot from the point. In the second game, the Horde had a lot of chances in the first period but couldn't capitalize and went down 3-1 to a determined Ice Sages at Bloomington. The lone Horde goal was scored by Dana Cudo, her second of the season. On Saturday evening, the Horde needed to win to make the championship and jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period. Unfortunately, two quick penalties put the Horde in a five on three situation and the Nighthawks managed to get two past Pete Morrow. The Horde regained the lead on a goal by Dan Bolles, but the Horde gave one back with five minutes to go in the game. With 2:01 to go, the Horde took a penalty to go down and man. Needing a win, the Horde pulled the goalie with one minute left in the game to skate five and gave up an empty netter with 11 seconds remaining.
Overall, the Northern Horde's initial campaign has to be called a success on all fronts. The team started 0-1-1, but rebounded to finish the regular season 13-5-2 scoring 85 goals while only surrendering 48. The Horde led the league with the fewest penalty minutes and beat every team at least once. The team was very balanced getting key contributions from everyone. Jeff Nelson led the team with 22 goals and 30 points and Dan Bolles added 18 goals and 8 assists. Brian Hinderks and Tyler LaMont combined for 15 goals and 17 assists from the defense. Liam Monahan, Chris Haack and Jon Zimmerman each tallied 10 assists. Jon Nygren, Will Schultz, Mark Paska and Ryan Chester gave scrappy play throughout the season, each contributing with key points and making plays from the wings. Sunneel Arora and Dan Kline were consistent and reliable stay home defensemen who could separate guys from the puck and turn the play back to the Horde's advantage. Dana Cudo was the toughest player on the Horde, getting banged around but always being in the right spot at the right time - definitely the strongest two way player on the team. Gary Speier, Jeff Cook, David Homel and Fin Samson, the team's subs, combined for 9 goals and 13 assists in a combined 34 appearances. And Bill Messinger, while hurt for most of the season, brought a tough edge to the team and rallied the troops against the Diablos with his physical play. Everyone contributed at least two points and Horde D gave up the second fewest goals and second fewest shots in the league. Pete Morrow had a terrific season in goal with a 2.33 GAA and 0.875 save percentage facing 393 shots and posting a 14-6-2 record including the playoffs.
The Northern Horde improved throughout the season and is ready to mount a strong campaign this summer to prepare for next winter. WE WILL BE BACK!

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