A crowd of 327 that featured a mix of students, alumni home for the break, and family and friends of the players spent their first night of break watching the Blake Bears defeat the Mounds View Mustangs 5-2.
At the start, the team couldn’t break out of their zone for the first minute. But once they did, they started firing shots at goalie Sam Moen, and kept play in the offensive zone due to their consistent forecheck. A broken play led to a chance that Fuzz Aafedt ‘25 denied. The ensuing possession led to a goal by Drew Cheng ‘27, his first on varsity. A turnover by Cheng led to a two on one for the Mustangs, but they missed the net. A beautiful pass by Grant Matushak ’25 went right to the stick of his brother Kellen Matushak ‘25, who scored his first goal for the Bears. They continued to apply the pressure, with the shot margin being 16-2 with two minutes left in the first. George Mark ‘28 made an excellent play in his varsity debut at Blake Arena, stopping the puck from crossing the goal line by inches. Aafedt made one more save to end the first period with a 2-0 Bears lead.
An early second period faceoff loss led to a chance and a save by Aafedt. The Bears then threw off five shots in a row but Moen turned them all away. The Bears continued to pressure throughout the period, throwing shot after shot at the net. The pressure continued with a James Thornton ‘25 chance ended by his stick breaking. A faceoff loss led to a chance down the ice that Mustangs forward Jameson Barrows capitalized on, cutting the lead in half. The Bears finished the second period with 19 shots to the Mustangs’ 13.
The bears came out firing with Charlie Moore ‘26 scoring on their first shot of the period 30 seconds in. Another shot found the back of the net a minute later, this time by Landon Bell ‘26. Aafedt stopped two odd man chances and the Bears continued to put the pressure on Moen. The Mustangs put one behind Aafedt by creating chaos in front of the net. The game settled into a rhythm, which included another goal by Bell, who celebrated alongside the student section. A Mustangs roughing penalty with three minutes left all but sealed the deal, and the high sticking penalty on the next play made it a 5-on-3 for the Bears. Although they couldn’t capitalize, it was enough to hold off the Mustangs. A huge hit by Thornton and a save by Aafedt closed out the 5-2 win. The Bears ended the game with 50 shots to the Mustangs’ 26. “[We] could’ve played better as a team, but [we’re] glad to be in the win column,” Thornton said.
The team’s next game is at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 3rd against Totino-Grace at the Brooklyn Park Community Center.
