March 31st, 2008 — by John Orr
Lincoln East High won the 2008 High School Hockey Championship, beating Creighton Prep Blue 4-0.
Lincoln East players and coaches pose with their medals and Championship trophy.
The final 2008 High School playoff bracket:
2008 High School Hockey Bracket - UPDATED 3/29/08
March 9th, 2008 — by Coach Orehek
In the last regular season game of ‘07-’08 Chris Orehek earned his second shutout of the season as the Millard North White Mustangs blanked Metro North 5-0. The Mustangs peppered Metro North goalie Aaron Noble with 26 shots while Orehek only had to come up with 7 saves to earn the victory. Billy Koons got the first of his 2 goals as he hammered in a great pass from Alex Forehead to make the game 1-0, 3:46 into the first period. Adam Reese kept his “point a game” string going as he got the second assist on the goal. Chris Brownell let the first of many “bombs” from the blueline fly, 12:17 into the 1st period and this one actually hit the net and missed Noble for a 2-0 lead. That is the way the 1st period ended. Orehek had 2 saves and Noble had 6.
The second period went scoreless but the Mustangs had a lot of opportunities. 10 shots were fired at Noble and he stopped all 10 of them, giving him 16 saves for the first 2 periods while Orehek saw 3 more shots to make his total saves for the game of 5.
Millard North added 3 goals in the third on 8 shots on goal. Koons got the first goal of the period, his second of the night, at the 6:30 mark on the Power Play once again with a helping hand from Alex Forehead. Mick Bayne kept his hot streak going as well as he netted another goal as he received a nice pass from Adam O’Connell and broke in on Noble and beat him with a good hard shot on the short side for a 4-0 lead. Alex Forehead notched another 3 point night as he scored the final goal of the game with :58 seconds remaining, unassisted. Noble had 5 more saves on 8 shots for a game total of 21 saves on 26 shots while Orehek finished with another 2 shot/2 save period for his game total of 7.
All in all the Mustangs game out strong and kept up the intensity the entire game and once again played the kind of hockey that Coach Orehek has been preaching about. Improving a little bit with each game . . . Next up for the Mustangs is a first round playoff match up with the Papillion Monarchs, Saturday March 15th at 4:30.
February 29th, 2008 — by Coach Orehek
The MN White Mustangs jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first period and didn’t let up as they skated past Papillion 6-3 tonight at Tranquility IcePlex. Alex Forehead got things started again for Millard North as he scored 1:19 into the game as he worked hard around the net and ended up smacking home his own rebound to make it 1-0. About 5 minutes later he found the twine again as Mike Dotson made a real nice pass that Forehead slid into the net to make it 2-0. The ever improving powerplay got a lot of practice tonight as the Monarchs were called for 8 different penalties in the game to the Mustangs one. Adam Reese got his name on the scoresheet again with a hard wrist shot from the point, with 2:12 left in the opening frame. Mike Dotson also added his name to the play with a nice pass out of the corner to the open Reese at the point. The Monarchs leading scorer Kevin Boyer got the first of his 2 goals as he finished off a nice 2 on 1 with Adam Vinter sliding a nice pass across the goalmouth to the wide open Boyer with :30 left in the first period. The shots were even at 9-9 as Chris Orehek stopped all but one and Travis Tlustos gathered in 6 of the 9 shots.
The score would stay 3-1 until 4:50 was left in the second period when Mike Dotson hammered home his first goal and 3rd point of the evening with an assist to Cody Kummer to make it 4-1 Mustangs. Papio didn’t give up and Boyer notched his 2nd goal of the game 1:30 later as he scored with an assist to Matt Molinelli, 4-2 Mustangs. Just as the Monarchs were about to kill off another penalty in the second period Alex Forehead finished off a GREAT play as he snuck a puck by Tlustos with assists to Kyle Conway and Mike Dotson less than 10 seconds after the penalty had expired.
In the 3rd period, the Monarchs mounted a bit of a challenge as they fired 14 shots at Mustang goalie Chris Orehek and were only able to sneak the one powerplay goal by him at the 3:29 mark of the third period to make the score 5-3. Then in probably the wackiest play of the night. The Mustangs scored just before the buzzerat the end of the game like team USA in the ‘80 Olympic’s. What made the play even stranger was who the given credit for the goal. Cody Kummer will tell you (with a huge smirk on his face!) that he was the one who wrapped the puck into the net as the clock expired. However, most of us in attendance know he was at the point and might not have even touched the puck, but in the record books he received credit for the goal. More than likely, the goal should have been given to Billy Koons who is going to see Monarch goalie Tlustos in his nightmares after the game. On no less than 3 separate ocassions he robbed Koons on great scoring opportunities. Mustang goalie Orehek had to come up with 13 saves in the 3rd period to preserve the win again for the Mustangs. MN finishes the regular season with 2 more games next weekend as they prepare for the end of the season tournament.
February 25th, 2008 — by John Orr
The following schedule changes were made for March:
MN White vs. Prep White game moved from Friday 3/7/08 at 6:15 pm-NHL to Thursday 3/6/08 at 8:15 pm-OLY
Metro North vs. Prep Blue game moved from Friday 3/7/08 at 7:30 pm-NHL to Thursday 3/6/08 at 9:30 pm-OLY
Papillion practice moved from Thursday 8:45 pm-NHL 3/6/08 to Monday 3/10/08 at 9:30 pm-NHL
February 23rd, 2008 — by Coach Orehek
On paper before the game started, it looked like David vs. Goliath. Prep Blue was 18-1-1 and Millard North White was 5-14-1. But the Mustangs had been improving game by game and the last time the 2 clubs met a few weeks ago, the score was 1-1 going into the third period. Prep scored a couple of power play goals to put the game away. Millard North White didn’t let the record or the outcome of the last game intimidate them tonight!
A minute and a half into the game Kyle Conway sent the puck into the Prep zone for a line change. Mick Bayne saw an opening and broke free after the puck. He caught the Junior Jay defensemen sleeping as he swooped in on the loose puck and broke in for a shot on goal. Prep goalie Tom Otten made what appeared to be a nice blocker save on the hard shot but the puck went straight up into the air and fell into the goal behind him. The lead was VERY short lived as on the ensuing faceoff Prep winger Nick Lanspa took advantage of a defensive miscue at the blue line and broke into the Mustang zone 2 on 1 with John Borman streaking for the net. Lanspa made a really pretty pass across the front of the net and Borman slammed in the tying goal. The Mustangs would regain the lead with 2:46 left in the 1st period on a text book play. As they pressed towards the goal, one of the Mustang forwards slid a pass out to Chris Brownell at one point. He heard his partner Adam Reese wide open on the other side of the rink. As he passed the puck over to Reese, the forwards converged on the net and Reese rifled a hard wrist shot towards the goal through a mass of bodies and into the back of the net. A nice way to celebrate his 18th birthday with his second goal of the season. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! That’s the way the first period ended 2-1 Millard North. The saves for the first period were even at 5 apiece for Orehek and Otten.
Almost 8 minutes went by in the 2nd period before the Mustangs would add to their lead. Alex Forehead made a nice shot on goal and Otten came up with the initial save only to have Billy Koons swoop in and knock in the rebound to put the Mustangs up 3-1. The teams traded power plays with neither team cashing in on the man advantage. Alex Forehead would get his goal as he scored on a nice pass from Mike Dotson to give the Mustangs some breathing room at 4-1 with 2:12 to go in the middle frame. Prep hadn’t won 18 games by rolling over and they weren’t going to on this night. With 15 seconds left in the period the Mustangs had iced the puck. On the ensuing face off Brad Kucera took a pass from Alex Pekelder and let go a rocket that found its way thru a sea of bodies in front of goaltender Chris Orehek to pull the Jr. Jays within 2 at 4-2. Mike Luchtel came into the game 1/2 way thru the period and was called on to make 5 saves while Otten was only called on to make 1 save before his departure. Orehek in the other net came up with 7 saves, allowing just the blast from Kucera to get by him.
The third period was time for Prep to kick it up a notch and they fired 15 shots at Orehek who only allowed one puck to sneak by him with 4:20 to go in the game. In the locker room the guys awarded the game puck to Orehek who had to come up with many key saves to preserve the win. On one play, Kucera broke into the Mustang zone right in front of the MN bench and let a hard snap shot from the face off circle fly towards the far upper corner only to have Orehek snatch the puck out of the air with his glove. Kucera could only shake his head, because he knew tonight belonged to the Mustangs. Alex Forehead iced the win with 36 seconds to go as he intercepted a Prep pass at center ice and broke in on the unattended goal (Prep had pulled Luchtel for an extra attacker). With a Junior Jay defensemen draped all over him, Forehead muscled his way towards the goal and floated a soft backhand shot into the empty net for the 5-3 win. All told Orehek stopped 26 of the 29 shots on net, many of them the were of the “WOW” category. It was also noted that Orehek had the largest fan club in attendance with close to 20 of his church senior high youth group in attendance to cheer him on. And what a game for them to see. (They have been asked to return for the rest of the games this season!) The Prep goalies combined to stop 17 of the 22 shots that the Mustangs threw at them.
“All three lines played exceptionally well!” said Coach Orehek. “The forwards dropped down to block shots and they hustled hard on both the forcheck and the backcheck. The defense played well in their own defensive zone and moved the puck up to the forwards.” “Everyone played a complete game tonight,” added Assistant Captain Adam Reese. “The forwards did their job in Prep’s zone and they hustled back to help us (the defensemen) out in our zone and Chris (Orehek) saved our butts when we messed up!” What a nice birthday present, huh Adam!
February 5th, 2008 — by Coach Orehek
4 players from the Millard North White Mustang hockey club were selected to play in the 2007-08 Omaha High School Hockey League’s All-Star game. The game will be played Saturday, February 9th at the Qwest Center as a part of hockey night in Omaha. The All-Star game will be played from 4-5:30 with the UNO Mavericks vs. Ohio State Buckeyes following at 7 p.m. A half price ticket can be purchased for the UNO game that will be good for admission to both games.
Senior Goalie Chris Orehek, Junior Forward Alex Forehead, Sophomore Forward Kyle Conway and Freshman Forward Mike Dotson. Coach Orehek and Scott Sheldon were selected as alternates for the game. The four players will play for Prep Coach Joe Grier who is the head coach of the North Squad made up of players from both Prep teams, Millard West, Millard North White, Papillion, Westside and Lincoln North. Congratulations to all the players selected for this honor!
The roster for the North team:
Prep White
John Olson
Matt Olson
Will Jurgensen
Alt - Ted Elliot
Prep Blue
John Borman
Kyle Lacy
Brad Kucera
Alt - Stephen Glow
Millard West
Mike Frankowski
Nick Hill
Ben Schmit
Alt - Jay Weaver
Papillion
Matt Baranko
Kevin Boyer
Nathan Giles
Alt - Matt Thies
Westside
Eric Adler
Aaron Kind
Patrick Thornquist
Alt - Jake Baumann
Millard North White
Kyle Conway
Mike Dotson
Alex Forehead
Alt - Scott Sheldon
Lincoln North
Trevor Wittrock
Phil Ehrman
Goalies - Team North
Michael Luchtel - Prep Blue
Cody Buis - Lincoln North
Chris Orehek- Millard North White
February 4th, 2008 — by John Orr
Continue reading for team information:
January 28th, 2008 — by John Orr
We would like to invite you to attend the 2007-2008 Omaha Metropolitan Amateur Hockey Association High School Hockey All Star Game. This year’s event will be held at the Qwest Center Omaha starting at 4:00 pm on February 9, 2008. In conjunction with the UNO Mavericks we are fortunate enough to be able to showcase our players at such a venue as the Qwest Center and by coming to the All Star Game you will have purchased admission to that evening’s UNO vs. Ohio State match up.
Please see the attached flier for details of the event – Please feel free to post fliers and hand out to friends and family. Tickets are ½ price and are only $9 for both events. We hope to see you there!
Continue reading →
January 20th, 2008 — by Coach Orehek
In a hard fought battle the MN White Mustangs broke open a 2-2 tie with 4 straight goals and then held on to beat the OW-S Skyhawks 6-4. OW-S opened the scoring in the first period at 6:27 when Curtis Leick took a pass from AJ Ivaskevicus and put the puck in the net. Less than 2 minutes later Billy Koons buried a shot past Mike Swinarski after a GREAT pass from Mike Dotson. Scott Sheldon also had an assist on the play to even the score 1-1. With 14 seconds left in the period Mike Dotson got one of his own as he took a pass from Chris Brownell in the Mustangs own zone and took it the length of the rink to put Millard North up 2-1. MN outshot OW-S 8-3 in the first period. OW-S would tie it up as Leick and Ivaskevicus teamed up again with Leick threading a shot low on the ice that went through a screen to beat Mustang goalie Chris Orehek. At the 11:39 mark of the period center Matt Craig won the draw back to Brownell at the point. Brownell didn’t miss the net with this one as he ripped a low wrist shot that found the back of the net to put the Mustangs up for good 3-2. The Mustangs were outshot 7-6 in that frame.
The Mustangs would only get 3 shots on goal in the 3rd period but all three made their way into the goal. Matt Craig scored one for himself as he scored on a real nice feed from Scott Sheldon at 3:25 of the 3rd period. Billy Koons would score his second goal of the game as he finished off a real pretty play with Sheldon’s 3rd assist of the game and Brownell’s 3rd point of the game as well to put the Mustangs up 5-2. Matt Craig scored his 3rd point of the game as he netted the final goal for Millard North with Adam O’Connell picking up the assist.
Omaha West-Skutt didn’t roll over and made a push to tie the game as they outshot the Mustangs 15-3 in the final period. Orehek was called on to make numerous saves but had 2 goals get by him as the Skyhawks picked up a goal by Zach Miller with AJ Ivaskevicus getting his 3rd assist. And then with 11 seconds left in the game Curtis Leick got his hat trick in a mad scramble in front of Orehek. Jax Veskerna got the assist on that goal. Orehek finished up the game with 24 saves on 28 shots for the win and Swinarski had 8 saves on 14 shots in the loss.
January 9th, 2008 — by Coach Orehek
The Mustangs snuck by the Burke High Bulldogs at Tranquility IcePlex Wednesday night 3-2. After the game both coaches commented on how evenly the game was played and just how much fun the game was. Alex Forehead was assessed a checking from behind penalty and sat out 12 minutes of the game but came back with a vengence and made up for it as he scored all 3 goals unanswered for the Mustangs. Burke jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as they took advantage of an early mistake by the Mustang defense. Christian Peterson swung wide and found himself in the clear as one of the Mustang defense tripped over the blue line backing into his zone and he beat Orehek with a nice move to his backhand. 3 minutes into the start of the 2nd period the Bulldogs found the back of the net again as Austin Spellman scored with assists to Tyler Huhmann and Josh Wolf. But that would be the last goal for them as the Mustangs shut them down for the remainder of the game.
Alex and the rest of his line caught fire and began to pepper the Bulldog goal, but Ryan Stednitz was equal to the task. They finally broke thru and Alex scored the first of his hat trick with 3:26 left in the 2nd period to make it a 2-1 game. With 8:48 left in the 3rd period Cory Neumann of BHS was given a roughing penalty. Although, the Mustangs didn’t score on the Power Play, you could feel the momentum change. Then with 2:32 left in the 3rd period, Forehead again found the back of the net with an assist to Mike Dotsen. On their very next shift 45 seconds later, Alex scored the game winning goal as the Mustangs were buzzing the net. Scott Sheldon made a real nice pass to Forehead in front of the net and he banged it in for the lead which had everyone on the bench saying, “WOW!”
The last 1:45 was crazy as the Mustangs tried to keep the puck in the Bulldog zone so that they couldn’t pull their goalie. But as an errant rinkwide pass missed its mark and ended up an icing, Burke was able to get the extra attacker. On the ensuing faceoff, Sean Norton squared off with Sheldon (who hasn’t lost many faceoffs this year!) and the Bulldogs had a real nice scoring opportunity only to have Chris Orehek kick out the shot with a HUGE pad save to ice the win. The Mustangs outshot the Bulldogs 21-18.
December 16th, 2007 — by Coach Orehek
It had been a long time coming, but the Millard North Mustang White Hockey team snapped it’s long losing streak with a HUGE team effort in their win over the Millard West Wildcats. All phases of the Mustangs game were clicking tonight. The defense was solid not allowing many second opportunities. When that happens the goaltender can make the saves he needs to. The forwards shot the puck when they had the chance and were rewarded with goals and their help in the defensive zone paid dividends as well. All 3 forward lines contributed in some way to the victory, although not all of their names are mentioned here.
Just like the first time the 2 teams played, Mike Frankowski struck with a pretty goal in the first minute of play as he sent the water bottle flying with a hard shot to the top shelf. The Mustangs would score the next 3 goals. Billy Koons found the back of the net with 1:31 left in the first period to knot the game at 1-1. Shots for the first period were 8-7 in favor of the Wildcats. Both teams could only muster 5 shots apiece on goal in the second period before all heck broke loose in the third. Only 5 penalties were called up to this point as well.
Kyle Conway put the mustangs up 2-1 on a nifty solo goal almost 6 minutes into the third period. He scooped up the puck in neutral ice and threaded his way thru the Millard West defense and snapped a shot by Drew Barsell, the Wildcat goalie. Alex Forehead gave the Mustangs a much needed insurance goal on the Power Play as he found the back of the net with assists to Scott Sheldon and Kyle Conway. When Captain Alex Forehead was asked about the pass that Sheldon made to him for the eventual game winner, all he could say was “WOW!” The Wildcats did not beat Chris Orehek for their second goal until there were :16 seconds left on a quick power play goal that did pull the Wildcats to within 3-2. Jay “Dream” Weaver scored on one of the few Power Plays that they would have in the game with their goalie pulled. On the ensuing faceoff Forehead then took off coast-to-coast and scored in 6 seconds to put the game away and ensure a Mustang victory. There were 10 penalties in the 3rd period and the Mustangs outshot the Wildcats 18-6 scoring 3 goals to the one goal for Millard West.
December 2nd, 2007 — by John Orr
The following High School League practice schedule changes have been made:
The High School League master schedule and each of the individual team schedules have been updated.
November 1st, 2007 — by Coach Orehek
In the battle of the Norths, Millard North White came out hard tonight and outshot Lincoln North 36-16 and came up with the shut out. Six different Mustang’s notched goals as they scored as many goals tonight as they had in the 3 previous games total. Scott Sheldon opened the scoring with a shot from behind the net the eluded Carson Jones the goalie from Lincoln North with an assist to Taylor Gray. Kyle Conway got the first of his 3 points with a goal as he whacked in a nice pass from Mike Dotson who also had 3 points tonight. Matt Craig scored the third Mustang goal with assists to Conway and Dotson and Alex Forehead netted an unassisted goal at 3:24 of the 2nd period. 2 minutes later Billy Koons jumped out on a line change and found himself in front of the net and tapped in a goal with Conway and Dotson getting their final points of the night. Chris Brownell added the last goal of the night with only 22 seconds left in the second period as he fired a low shot from the point on the ice that found the back of the net.
Things got a little rough in the 3rd period as 5 penalties were handed out with 3 of them on Lincoln. Mike Bachman took a shot to the head and kept his head as a Lincoln player skated off to the penalty box. Conway was tripped by the Lincoln goalie and some rough stuff ensued as he and Phil Ehrman from LN skated off to the box with only 38 seconds to play. Chris Orehek was only called upon to make 16 saves but he preserved the ellusive shut out for the Mustang White team. The Mustangs are now 1-2-1 on the season. Way to go Mustangs!
October 17th, 2007 — by Coach Orehek
After a very uninspired game against their schoolmates in the clash of the Millard North teams, the Mustangs came out on fire against the Wildcats from Millard West. It took a little wake up call again in the first 10 seconds of the game. Chris Brownell tried to make a clearing pass up the center of the rink and Mike Frankowski accepted the gift and skated in for a breakaway and beat Chris Orehek to make it 1-0. Captain Alex Forehead would tie the game on a nice feed from Mike Dotson. The first period ended in a 1-1 tie with the Mustangs outshooting the Wildcats 8-5. Kyle Conway would exact a little revenge as he scored an unassisted goal 12 seconds into the 2nd period. Millard West’s Jay “Dream” Weaver would knot the score up at 2-2 on a goal 2 minutes later. Matt Waldbaum would get the first of 2 goals from defensemen as he put the Mustangs up 3-2 at 9:42 of the second. The Wildcats put on a flurry in the final minutes of the 2nd period as Frankowski and Nick Hill put them up 4-3 to end the second. Only one goal was scored in the third period as both goalies stopped numerous shots at both ends of the rink. The second powerplay unit tied the game up as Adam Reese scored on a blast from the point on a feed from Matt Craig. Orehek stopped all 7 shots he faced to preserve the tie. Andrew Barsall was busy as he faced 11 Mustang shots in the 3rd. Justin McLeary faced 12 shots giving up 3 goals and Barsell faced 13 shots while giving up the 1 goal. Orehek faced 19 shots stopping all but 4. The Mustangs played a much more enthusiastic brand of hockey and outshot the Wildcats 25-19. Next up on the schedule are 2 games Halloween week with Elkhorn on the 29th and Lincoln North on the 31st, both games at Tranquility.
October 15th, 2007 — by John Orr
The 2007 Fall Freeze Tournament pairings have been made. The tournament format will be pool play with one team from each of the four pools advancing to the playoff brackets. The four tournament pools are as follows:
Pool A - Elkhorn, Metro North, Westside, Prep Blue
Pool B - Prep White, Burke, Millard West,
Pool C - Millard North Blue, Omaha West-Skutt, Lincoln North
Pool D - Millard North White, Papillion, Lincoln East
Click HERE to download the 2007 Fall Freeze Tournament brackets.
