East/Loyola hockey has proper response in 6-0 victory

Chad Courrier, The Free Press, Mankato, Minn.
·2 min read

Feb. 28—MANKATO — The Mankato East/Loyola boys hockey team lost its last game, so coach Adam Fries challenged his team to do better.

The Cougars played a lackluster second period Saturday, so Fries again challenged his team.

"I think we responded the right way on both occasions," Fries said.

The Cougars defeated Rochester John Marshall 6-0 in a nonconference game Saturday at All Seasons Arena. It helped ease the sting of Thursday's 6-3 nonconference loss to Owatonna.

"We needed to come out and get a win tonight," senior Layten Liffrig said. "We needed to have better energy."

East/Loyola scored twice before the game was four minutes old. Owen Quist scored off a rebound on Andrew Bastian's shot at 2:25 of the first period, and Hayden Guillemette added a second goal at 3:59, assisted by Layten Liffrig and Zachary Lebens.

The Cougars added another goal in the period, with Jacob Schreiber scoring on assists by Jacob Kanzenbach and Quintin Steindl at 11:52.

"We wanted to attack their forwards, attack their (defensemen) and even attack their goaltender," Fries said. "It was critical that we go on the attack to get that bad taste out of our mouths (from the Owatonna loss)."

After a scoreless second period, the Cougars converted on a power play early in the third. Just eight seconds into the man-advantage, Liffrig fired one in from a sharp angle, just to the right of the goaltender, at 5:57 to make it 4-0.

The Cougars scored again at 10:24, when Liffrig scored from 10 feet out, assisted by Guillemette. The final goal came at 14:39 when Steindl scored, assisted by Liffrig and Lebens.

"In the second period, we weren't very disciplined," Fries said. "We forgot how to play. We were playing for ourselves and not the guy sitting beside us. If you don't play disciplined, you can get beat."

The Cougars had a 48-18 advantage on shots on goal, with Riley Burnett picking up the shutout.

East/Loyola (10-3, 8-1 in Big Nine) plays nonconference games against Rochester Century on Tuesday and Mankato West on Thursday. The Cougars have Big Nine games remaining with Austin on March 9 and Albert Lea in the regular-season finale on March 13.

If the Cougars can win those two conference games, they would win the Big Nine championship.

"It's never been done at East," Liffrig said. "That would be something great for our legacy once we leave here."

Follow Chad Courrier on Twitter @ChadCourrier.