FAYETTEVILLE, NC – After a losing streak of six games, the Marksmen end the year on a two game winning streak. Marksmen Head Coach Jesse Kallechy wanted to have the best record in the league after the Holiday break, it’s safe to say with a 2-0-0 record, he’s succeeded. Marksmen Captain Jake Hauswirth scored the lone goal in what was a battle of two Goaltending Goliath’s.
“We had a power play that was working out really well tonight. We were getting shots through and that was that was the game plan, just to get shots through. They have a very good penalty kill, so it was the one way we figured we’d beat it. We were waiting to get our shots through in the beginning of the game and that opened up the crotch seam there. (Max) Cook made an unreal pass..”
Hauswirth praised his team’s performance in their first victory against the No. 1 team in the SPHL, the Macon Mayhem.
“It was hands down our best sixty minutes of the year that’s for sure. That’s the best team in the league right there, so we came to work.”
Dillon Kelley had a night to remember, stopping all 32 shots-on-goal for his first professional shutout. Kelley earned praise from his teammates, including Captain Jake Hauswirth who said “Dillon (Kelley) played unreal tonight”.
“I thought the team played great, anytime you win a game 1-0 it’s just a full team effort. We played great there, full sixty minutes. The guys did a great job, helping me see the puck, boxing out and keeping things clear..”
“We did a great job on the penalty kill, I did what I needed to make a big save for them. I was there and vice versa. There was some times I was down, but our guys were great at picking me up too. It’s just a full sixty minute team effort.”
Head Coach Jesse Kallechy had nothing but good things to say about his team’s performance. Scoring a power play goal one of the best teams in the league on the penalty kill is no easy task, yet the Marksmen did just that.
“Macon is a team, that all year our power play has really struggled against their penalty kill. For whatever reason, sometimes it’s just the matchup and how they play. We tried some different things, it didn’t really work how I wanted it to, so we’ll probably go back to the drawing board next time we play them again. We still got one and we needed to get one there. It’s nice to finally get it, their goalie made some huge saves and he played really well tonight.”
“Both guys played well. I thought it was arguably our best defensive game of the year as a team as well. We did a great job of tracking pucks in the neutral zone and we did a great job on the defensive zone, having layers. We had some huge shot blocks too, Alfie (Alfred Johansson) had a big one, Haus (Jake Hauswirth) had a big one where he laid down and blocked it. That’s what it takes to win games, certainly close games like that against the No. 1 team. Overall I couldn’t be happier with the guys effort and commitment and we talked about just going period to period, we haven’t lost a period yet after Christmas…”
The Marksmen travel to Knoxville, Tennessee tonight to take on the Ice Bears. They look to continue their winning ways but it’s not going to be an easy task. The Marksmen have a four game road stint until they head back home on Jan. 12th.
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