Stars Pounded by Pioneers

Looking nothing like the team that took both Edina and Minnetonka to the limit before falling in recent games, the boys hockey team lollygagged its way to a 6-1 loss against Hill-Murray on Tuesday night at the .

Where the Stars could find positives and moral victories to be had in their defeats to the No. 2-ranked Hornets and No. 8 Skippers, all that was to be found in a lackadaisical effort against the fourth-ranked Pioneers was disappointment.

"Hill-Murray is a good team and you can't play as poorly against a team like that as we did tonight," assistant coach Guy Olson said.

Olson, his fellow coaches and Holy Angels players were shut in behind a closed locker room door for a stern meeting after 51 minutes of hockey which saw the Pioneers out-skate, out-pass, out-hustle and out-score the hosts.

"We hope so," said Olson when asked if it was just an off-night for the Stars. "Hill-Murray just all-around beat us tonight."

The Pioneers took the lead for good just over 90 seconds into the game and added two more goals before forward Mario Bianchi scored what would be Holy Angels' lone tally of the night with just over three minutes remaining in the second period.

While the Stars were struggling to even put a shot on the Hill-Murray net, the Pioneers were flinging the puck at Holy Angels goaltender Brett Pierce.

The junior made a number of acrobatic saves among the 25 stops he made—17 in the second period—to keep the score relatively close until late in the game as his teammates mustered up just 10 shots in the game.

"About the only thing we got tonight was good goaltending," Olson said. "(Brett) really kept us in there."

Hill-Murray turned the game into a rout with three third-period goals, with the last pair coming in the final two minutes after any hope had long since left the Stars' side.

The final horn mercifully sounded to draw the curtain on the night, as Holy Angels dropped to 8-5 on the year.

For better or worse, the Stars do not get much time to dwell on the contest as the team must now prepare to face the No. 1-ranked team in the state—Eden Prairie—on its home ice at 7 p.m. this Thursday night.

"It doesn't get any easier," Olson said. "I think we'll come back with a pretty good effort."