Titans Drop Fifth Game in a Row to No. 1 Hill-Murray

The Tartan boys hockey team’s 12-0 loss to Hill-Murray Tuesday night was a game of streaks.

The Titans (4-8 in conference; 11-10-1 overall) chalked up its fifth straight game without a win while top-ranked Hill-Murray (13-0 in conference; 20-3-1 overall) improved its winning streak to 13 in a row.

The Pioneers used a balanced attack—four goals in each of the three periods—to dispatch the Titans quickly and decisively. Senior forward Ben Bahe scored the first of his two goals just 90 seconds into the game on a Pioneer powerplay. Bahe would go on to notch two goals and two assists in the game.

Senior Bob Bruski scored the Pioneers’ second goal 90 seconds later to put the Pioneers ahead 2-0 with just three minutes gone in the first period.

“A good team will always expose your weaknesses,” Titans co-head coach Steve Romanchuk said. “Tonight we knew we couldn’t take penalties, which is exactly how we gave up the first two goals. From there, the flood gates opened.”

Sophomores Luke Voltin and Jake Guentzel capped off the first period scoring for Hill-Murray.

The second period saw much of the same with Tartan scarcely able to get the puck out of its own zone for much of the period.

Bruski scored his second goal of the game while teammates Conrad Sampair, Loren French and Kevin Schulze all chipped in to give the Pioneers an eight-goal advantage heading into the second intermission.

“That’s what we’re trying to do right now,” Tartan co-head coach Jim McElmury said of staying motivated despite the eight-goal deficit. “But (Hill-Murray) is just way too good a team for us right now. We just need to continue to work hard and move the puck a bit better.”

The Pioneers came out in the third period seemingly unfazed by the offensive onslaught to which it had subjected the Titans. And although Hill-Murray clearly switched to a strategy of pass first, shoot second, the goal-scoring continued throughout the final period.

Bahe and French scored their second goals of the game followed by Charlie Sampair and Jonah Johnson to tally 12 goals on 58 shots in the game.  

Coming off losses to South St. Paul, North St. Paul, Totino-Grace, St. Thomas Academy and now Hill-Murray in which the Titans were outscored 35-5, Romanchuk understands his players are nursing both physical and emotional wounds.

“The guys are struggling with confidence right now. We just told them that we won’t quit on them if they don’t quit on us. We said, ‘Look to your left and look to your right. Now fight for both those guys’.”   

Tartan next takes the ice against Henry Sibley (7-16-1 overall) on Feb. 17 and then faces Duluth East (18-5-0) on Feb. 19.