Lourdes stops Trojans in semifinals... again

For the second year in a row the New Prague Trojan boys hockey team's playoff hopes came crashing to a halt at the hands of Rochester Lourdes in the Section 1A semifinals.

Only this year, instead of a sudden death loss, the Trojans had to endure 51 minutes of stifling defense, as New Prague's high-powered offense was unable to find the back of the net in a 4-0 loss to the Eagles.

A day earlier, New Prague tallied nine goals in a 9-3 quarterfinal win against LaCrescent.

New Prague ends its season with an 18-8 record. Rochester Lourdes, the No. 3 seed, and Red Wing, the No. 1 seed, will play Thursday, March 5, at the Rochester Rec Center for the Section 1A championship.

Trojans 9, Lancers 3

New Prague sophomore Darren Lapic scored the game's first two goals. Later in the period, after LaCrescent scored two power play goals in less than a minute to cut a four-goal deficit to two, Lapic added a third goal to complete his hat trick and the Trojans were on their way to the semifinals in a 9-3 win.

The game had been scheduled for Thursday, but a snowstorm moved all four of the Section 1A quarterfinal games to Friday. The game was further delayed by about 45 minutes when LaCrescent's 2-1/2 hour bus ride was interrupted by a mechanical breakdown on Interstate 35 near Dundas. New Prague sent one of its school buses to pick up the Lancers, and they arrived just before the scheduled 7 p.m. start time.

In addition to the three goals by Darren Lapic, his brother Tyler had two goals and three assists. Schyler Adams had a goal and three assists and Adam Corr picked up three assists. Jordan Holicky had two goals, Thomas Fadden had a goal and an assist, and Sam Olson had two assists. Zach Adams, Cody Meyer and Aaron Kes each had an assist.

Joe Morris got the win in goal, stopping 22 of 25 shots. New Prague outshot the Lancers 52-25.

Eagles 4, Trojans 0

New Prague outshot the Eagles through two periods, but trailed on the scoreboard 1-0. The only goal of the first two periods came midway through the second when the Trojans turned the puck over in their own zone and gave the Eagles a point-blank shot on net.

Rochester played physical defense, shut down the Trojans' passing lanes, and took advantage of mistakes. Lourdes also played strong on the power play, which was necessary because they took a number of penalties, especially in the second period.

The Eagles scored seven minutes into the third, then added two more in the final two minutes for the 4-0 win.

Lourdes outshot the Trojans 25-19. Morris played well, stopping 21 shots.