Horde Join D2 - Tie Defending Champs in Opener

The league office gave the Northern Horde a warm welcome to D2 by scheduling their opener against the defending champion Chaos.  These teams squared off in a pre-season scrimmage where Chaos completely controlled the play.   However, the Horde stepped up to the challenge on Sunday night and in an evenly played game drew 2-2.  The Horde gave up the first goal at 2:18 of the first period, but the Horde responded at 16:47 in the second period when Dan Bolles picked the puck up from behind the net and fed Jeff Nelson who beat the Chaos goalie to tie the game.  The pace of play picked up and Chaos scored again at 7:57 of the second.  However, a scant four minutes later, Bolles again found Nelson, this time in the slot, and the Horde evened the score.  In the third period and the overtime, each team had some good chances, but neither could beat the goalies, who both played tough all night.  Pete Morrow played his best game for the Horde to date, facing 25 Chaos shots and allowing only two goals.  

The Horde scrimmage the Ice Sages on Monday, November 2 at 10:10 pm at Hopkins Pavilion and then face the Puck Hounds at 6:00 pm on Saturday, November 7 at St. Louis Park (west rink). 

 

 

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Schedule's Out

After a strong inaugural summer season that saw the Horde go 8-1 against the Diablos, including winning the beginner league championship, the Horde are once again ready to take the ice.

Roster Changes
With Liza Messinger and Andrew Dayton off to school, the team seamlessly added new members Suneel Arora (joining us from the Snowmen), Dana Cudo (Walking Sticks) and Chris Haack strengthening the Horde defense as well as adding scoring to the front lines. Gary Speier and Jeff Cook join the Horde as subs from the Snowmen, bringing much needed physical presence to the team. Bill Messinger rejoined the team following a lengthy rehab.

Pre-season Wrap Up
During the pre-season, the Horde skated evenly with the Wildcats and Chaos and wrapped up with a strong performance beating the Fighting Loons with a hat trick from Dan Bolles and two goals from Jeff Nelson. Jon Nygren scored in each pre-season game giving the Horde another potent scoring threat and Pete Morrow backstopped the Horde with two strong performances.

Schedule
The first two weeks of the schedule are out the Northern Horde open with Chaos D2 at Richfield on Sunday, October 25 at 8:45 pm. The Horde expect a stiff challenge as Chaos is the reigning D2 champions and looked strong in a pre-season scrimmage against the Horde where the Horde narrowly escaped with a 6-5 win. Following a bye week, on Saturday, November 7 the Horde face the Puck Hounds, another team expected to be in contention come playoff time. The Hounds were in the playoff hunt last year and return nearly their entire team.

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Pre-season ice schedule

Date

Time

Location

Notes

Wed Sep 9

9:45 – 11:15 PM

Polar Ice Arena

Team Practice [coach Molepske/Tyler]

Wed Sep 16

9:30 – 11 PM

Hopkins Pavilion

Scrimmage v. Wildcats (D2) [wear white jerseys]

Wed Sep 23

7:00 – 8:15 PM

Breck

Team Practice [coach Rob Little]

Wed Sep 30

9:45 - 11:15 PM

Polar Ice Arena

Scrimmage v. Chaos (D2) [wear white jerseys]

Wed Oct 7

9:45 - 11:15 PM

Polar Ice Arena

Scrimmage v. TBD

Wed Oct 14

8:45 – 10:15 PM

Breck

Team Practice [coach Rob Little]

Wed Oct 21

10:15 - 11:45 PM

Polar Ice Arena

Team Practice [coach Molepske/Tyler]

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Northern Horde - Champions!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009, St. Louis Park Ice Arena (east rink) - Champions! Say it again, Champions! Following eight tough games (and one scrimmage) against the Diablos hockey club, the Northern Horde claimed victory with a 6-1 defeat of the Diablos in the B-school championship game. After relentless pressure throughout the first period, which saw captain Jon Zimmerman shoot four easy opportunities into the chest of Diablos goalie Steve Peterson, defensemen Dan Kline opened the scoring at 5:50 of the first period with a slap shot from the point off a nice feed from Tyler LaMont. In the second period, the Horde scored again when center Mark Paska took a feed from Jon Nygren at 16:04 and beat the Diabols' goalie for a 2-0 lead. Shea Moyer scored at 15:32 to bring the Diablos within one, but at 5:24, the Horde answered with a Brian Hinderks goal set up by Dan Bolles. Bolles then led a strong shift at the end of the second period winning a face-off at 0:26 to Liam Monahan who fired a shot from the high slot past the goalie, showing his value to the Horde after a 3 week trip in California. A mere 23 seconds later, Jeff Nelson picked up the puck and drove hard to the net scoring to put the Horde up 5-1. The Horde controlled play in the third period and their effort paid off when left wing Jon Nygren forced a turnover at center ice that Jon Zimmerman picked up and slid past goalie Peterson for a 6-1 victory.
Following the game, a few bottles of $7 champagne were consumed in the parking lot, primarily by Dan Kline's friend, Martine. The Horde celebrated their 8-1 record against the Diablos. Jeff Nelson led the beginner league with 12 goals on the season and Dan Bolles led the league with 8 assists. Jeff Nelson and Jon Zimmerman led the league with 17 points. Pete Morrow led the league with a 2.78 GAA and a 7-1 record, to go with his 0.812 save percentage.
This was Liza Messinger's final game with the Horde as she leaves for Middlebury next week; she will be missed. The Horde are excited to welcome four new players to the roster for the fall season - Dana Cudo, Chris Haack, Suneel Arora and Jeff Cook. Cook and Arora fortify the strong Horde defense following an 0-20 campaign with the Abominable Snowmen in the 2008-09 AHA winter league. Cudo and Haack will strengthen the Horde's attack, with Dana coming off a summer season L5 championship with the Walking Sticks and Chris joining the league for the first time bringing his experience coaching Como mites hockey to the Horde (who skate like mites). With the new additions, the Horde are well positioned for the 2009-10 D2 winter season, where they will work to unseat the reigning champions, Chaos.
Go Horde!

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Horde Drop Second Straight - First Loss to Diablos

It was an off night for the boys (and lady) in white, as the Northern Horde lost their first game to the Diablos during the summer B-school season.  Diablos forward Dmitry Tovb was out with a shoulder injury sustained in Monday’s L5 playoffs opening round, and perhaps Dmitry’s missing physical play made the Horde play soft.

The Horde knew they were facing a rejuvenated Diablos who played a strong game in the L5 playoffs, until the Butterflies scored a few in the third period to bust it open.  In the first period, the majority of  play was in the neutral zone, but the Diablos managed three goals on four shots and took a 3-0 lead to the last minute of the period when center Andrew Dayton, playing his last game for the Horde, scored off a Tyler LaMont pass from behind the net to bring the Horde to within two.  In the second period, the neither side looked particularly impressive.  In the third period, the Horde turned it up and kept play almost entirely within the Diablos zone.  However, the Horde were not able to mount a comeback and the game ended with a 3-1 loss.  For the game, the Horde outshot the Diablos 27-8, but were unable to put the shots where they count – in the back of the net. 

A special thanks to Andrew Dayton who finished his Northern Horde career with 6 goals and 5 assists in 9 games.  He departs for his second year of law school at Michigan soon and will not make the championship game.  The Northern Horde look forward to the B-school championship on Wednesday, August 26, at 8:00 pm at St. Louis Park.  Bill Messinger is expected to return for the Horde making his first appearance of the season.  Will Bill be enough to turn the tide in the Horde’s favor?

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Dung Beetles Hand Horde First Loss

Despite a valiant effort that saw the Horde put up 37 shots, the 10 skaters on the Horde bench could not hold off the Dung Beetles in the first round of the L5 summer playoffs and lost 6-3.  The Dung Beetles opened the scoring at 11:01 of the first period when a shot from the point took a bad bounce and was deflected by goalie Peter Morrow into the goal.  The Horde drew two penalties but were unable to capitalize and the Dung Beetles pounced on a loose puck and put it in late in the period to go up 2-0.

In the second period, despite outshooting the Dung Beetles, the Horde have up two more goals and opened the third trailing 4-0.  Finally, the Horde offense took life in the game.  Mark Paska opened the scoring at 11:58 of the third banging home a nice pass from Brian Hinderks.  4 minutes later, Jeff Nelson put in the rebound off a Jon Zimmerman shot from the point and followed that up with a goal of a series of passes from Dan Bolles and Jon Nygren.  The Horde ultimately lost 6-3, but it was a good effort with a short bench, evidenced by the Horde keeping most of the play in the Dung Beetles’ end and outshooting the Dung Beetles in every period.

The Horde return to the ice Wednesday at Breck at 9:30 pm against their archrivals, the Diablos.  This is the Horde’s final tune-up before the B-school championship on August 26.

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