The River Falls High School boys hockey team, a program in its second year of a rebuild, took a significant step in the right direction with a 3-1 victory at home against Baldwin-Woodville on Tuesday, Dec. 20. With the win, River Falls improved to 2-3 for the season.

For River Falls head coach Cam Wilken, Tuesday night’s game was the first time in the 2022-23 season that his roster put together three great periods of hockey against a strong team. Baldwin-Woodville went into the game with a 3-1 record for the season while returning players from last year’s outstanding Blackhawk team that finished 20-3-1 and made it to the state tournament.

“We finally put one together,” Wilken said after the win. “The team has been playing one really good period, one OK period and then the first period usually doesn’t go well. Those first four minutes weren’t what we were looking for, but then we fixed it. It’s a good section win.”

As Wilken alluded to, the first several

By Reagan Hoverman minutes of the opening period didn’t go well for River Falls. Baldwin-Woodville put sustained pressure on River Falls’ defense and peppered shots at Wildcat senior goaltender Jayden Serene.

Six minutes into the contest, Baldwin- Woodville senior Blake Lokken pushed the puck out of Blackhawk territory and went coast-to-coast before flipping a shot past Serene to take a 1-0 lead early in the first period.

River Falls quickly righted the ship, as three minutes later junior forward Wyatt Hoepfl scored the Wildcats’first goal of the game with an assist from senior forward Matthew Marsollek to tie it 1-1. Then with just under two minutes to play in the first period, River Falls got its first power play opportunity of the game when Baldwin-Woodville’s Jacob Omann got a two-minute minor for slashing.

The Wildcats quickly converted their fiveon- four advantage as junior forward Andrew Amundson crashed the net, got a pass from the aforementioned Hoepfl, and scored to give River Falls a 2-1 lead going into the second period. Coach Wilken spoke about Amundson’s command of the offense as of late.

“He’s really taken a step up for us this year, especially because Teddy Norman is banged up and hasn’t played a whole lot this year,” Wilken said. “(Amundson) has kind of said, ‘Alright, I’m going to be the guy who is going to carry the offense.’Andrew is doing a really good job of being in the right spot and he’s starting to get rewarded for it.”

While Amundson has served as the driving force throughout the first five games of the season, others players have stepped up too. Coach Wilken spoke about some of the other players who stepped up against Baldwin- Woodville and have been playing well through the first month of the season.

“There are other guys in there too,” Wilken said. “Wyatt Hoepfl has been playing really well. We’ve been really impressed with Wyatt Tschida, he’s the ultimate leader we’ve been looking for. So, it’s just not Andrew (Amundson).”

River Falls took a 2-1 lead into the second period and continued to play well, especially defensively. Perhaps no player has had more of a positive impact on the Wildcats this season than Serene.

Throughout the second period, Serene blocked and successfully saved shot after shot coming from Baldwin-Woodville’s talented offensive attack. The Blackhawks went into Tuesday night averaging nearly four goals a contest through their first four games.

After giving up that lone goal in the first period, Serene shut out Baldwin-Woodville in the final two periods to help secure the 3-1 victory. River Falls senior Hunter Rappel ensured the win when he scored an empty net goal to make it a 3-1 game with under two minutes to play. Serene finished the game with an elite .974 save percentage. Wilken spoke about Serene’s play this year.

“He’s the best player on the ice every night,” Wilken said. “We wouldn’t be where we were tonight or any game this year without him. He came into today with a .936 save percentage. It’s an amazing feeling to know he’s back there and maybe we could have a breakdown or two that isn’t going to cost us. We’re a way better team with him around.”

Although it wasn’t a Big Rivers Conference win, it was a Section victory, which means it could have playoff implications further down the road. River Falls is back in action on Tuesday, Dec. 27, and Wednesday, Dec. 28, when they travel to North Dakota to compete in a holiday hockey tournament.

The Wildcats’ first game on Tuesday afternoon is against West Fargo Sheyenne. The puck drop for that contest is slated for 1 p.m.

River Falls junior Hunter Rappel looks for an open teammate during the home game against Baldwin-Woodville on Tuesday, Dec. 20. Rappel scored an empty net goal late in the third period that helped seal the Wildcats’ 3-1 victory. Photo by Reagan Hoverman