After the first period of play, Mankato West leads 1-0.

Mankato West opened the scoring just as the first penalty of the game expired.  Senior Ryan Anderson, low in the right corner, found Andrew Bruggeman open in the slot, and the junior found the upper-right corner of the net to give the Scarlets the 1-0 lead at 12:16.

Though Duluth Marshall is outshooting West 13-8, the Scarlets have had the better chances.  Just 20 seconds into the game, leading scorers Corey Leivermann and Ricky Litchfield found themselves on a 2-on-1 rush.  Leivermann found Litchfield, and the latter was alone in front of goal, but the puck rolled off his stick and Marshall goaltender Willie Paul was able to poke-check it away. 

Five minutes later, Litchfield found a long rebound on the left side of the net, but with Paul diving across and the net gaping, the shot bounced off the outside of the cage.

The Hilltoppers will have to find a way to contain the Leivermann-Litchfield-Logan Deopere line; the three seniors have been by far the most effective line for the Scarlets.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 at 11:48 am and is filed under Boys\' Hockey, State tournaments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.