Kaid Nokes goes head-to-head with a Storm defender
(photos by Jim Lindquist)
The Tigers broke open a tight 1-1 game with a six-goal second half to roll past Chanhassen 7-1 in a Missota Conference contest played Tuesday, Sept. 20, at Tiger Stadium.
"I don't know what happened in the second half but for the last 30 minutes our boys lit it up," coach Julian Buss said. "Cole Landwehr was unstoppable. Chanhassen had no answer for him."
Landwehr scored four times after intermission, all in a span of 17 minutes in which the Tigers completely dominated play on the cool, windy evening.
The Storm drew first blood and kept the home team off the board until Reid Wolfe tied the count with 9:48 remaining in the opening half.
The score remained knotted until Landwehr opened the floodgates at the 29:34 mark on passes from Tyler Petter-McCauley and Blake Smith. Over the next 17:14 Landwehr scored three more times and Smith and Kenny Riley added one apiece as the Tigers upped their record to 7-2-1 overall and a perfect 3-0 in the Missota Conference.
Keeper Chad Stivers had another quality outing in the nets, losing his shutout bid when the Storm scored what Buss called a "fluke" goal in the opening period.
Brandon Scott, who assisted on Riley's goal, moved from his forward position to midfield and drew some high praise from his coach.
"Brandon played 60 minutes at midfield for us tonight," Buss said. "He helped lead the team with aggressive and smart play that eventually led to scoring opportunities. If not for that, the second half scoring situation would have looked a lot different."
The Tigers put their perfect conference record on the line when they host Shakopee Thursday night at Tiger Stadium. Saturday they hit the road to battle Section 1AA rival Owatonna.
