Eastview Hockey Association

The Eastview Hockey Association welcomes your feedback and encourages you to complete the end of season/tryout survey for this past 2012-2013 season.  An email was sent to the primary email account used during the registration process.   If you did not receive an email, please contact admin@eastviewhockey.net.  Your answers/feedback will be anonymous.  The survey will close on May 4, 2013.   The Board plans to review and analyze the results of the survey in May to help them plan for the upcoming season.   Thank you in advance for taking the time to complete. 

Thanks to all of the candidates who offered their time and talent to serve on the EVHA board.  Congratulations to the newly elected board members, David Leach, Jim Lombardi and Kelly Griffitts.  In addition, David Kisch has been elected to serve another 3 year term on the board.  Thanks to everyone who voted and a special thanks to Brandy Koster, Steve Johnson and Jeff Tuthill who spent many many hours helping strengthen the association over the last several years. 

To cap off a fantastic season, the Bantam B2’s claimed first place in the District 8 playoffs by beating Rosemount in overtime 3-2.  The Lightening advanced to the championship game by defeating Cottage Grove 3-1, Eagan 5-0 and Lakeville South 4-0 in their pool play.  Against Cottage Grove, the Lightening played well,  getting solid goaltending from Nic Leibold and goals from Ryan Oliveros, Bobby Harnagel and Jack Beren.    In the second game verses Eagan, Zac Herro tended the net and blanked the Wildcats, while his teammates spread the scoring around with goals by Blake Carlson, Dylan Buck, Reese Orman, Logan Albrecht and Ryan Oliveros.  In their final game of pool play Zac Herro subbed for an ill Nick Leibold and shut out the Lakeville South Cougars with goals coming from Jack Beren, Tyler Kukowski, Cullen Buck and Reese Orman.

The championship game played on Sunday March 17, (St. Patrick’s Day) against neighboring Rosemount, appeared the “Luck Of The Irish” was in full force, when the Irish struck first when a pass to the front of the Eastview net was deflected in off a shin pad with only a couple of seconds remaining in the first period to take a 1-0 lead.  The Lightening continued to pressure and finally hit pay dirt on a face-off in the Irish Zone that Cullen Buck won with a shot right on net and Tyler Kukowski buried the rebound to knot the game at one.  The Irish benefited again in the second period, when Eastview gave up a rare breakaway that lead to a goal and staking them a 2-1 lead. Eastview turned up the heat in the third period with shift after shift each line continued to pressure the Irish goalie but were turned away with several outstanding stops.  With scramble in front of the Irish net, Jake Sodomka scooped up a puck that was blocked in front of the net, and on a nice spin-o-rama beat the goalie to his lower stick side to even the game at two.  The Lightening continued to force the play and the ice was decidedly tilted in their favor, but late in the third period the Irish took advantage of an aggressive onslaught and came down on a two on one and getting a quality shot but Zac Herro came up big smothering a good chance.  In the overtime the Lightening dominance continued with an unrelenting forecheck that eventually paid off.  With a faceoff deep in the Irish zone, Tyler Kukowski won a crucial face-off to Cullen Buck who had beat his defender off the draw  and found himself one on one with the goalie, and with a well placed backhand off the far side upper corner pipe he sealed the victory.

Coaches Nick Saunders and PJ Anderson stuck with a yearlong philosophy of rolling their lines no matter the situation and getting contributions and improvement from every player and were rewarded with a 33-5 record.   Goalies, Nic Leibold and Zac Herro, provided a solid backdrop to a stingy defense which was reflective of the team 1.11 GAA allowing only 42 goals.  The defense (Andy Moran, Josh Tindell, Danny Kapala, Bobby Harnagel, Will Hovde and Dylan Buck) rarely gave up clear chances and limited the amount of shots and rebounds the goalies need to handle throughout the year.  The forwards (Logan Albrecht, Jack Beran, Cullen Buck, Blake Carlson, Tyler Kukowski, Ryan Oliveros, Reese Orman, Jake Sodomka and Jack Woehler) provided tremendous back-checking support as well as a balanced scoring attack that resulted in a 167 goals on the year, averaging 4.39 goals per game.

Congratulations to the players and coaches for a memorable year.