Chaos ensues in front of Little Caesars goaltender Joseph Tynan during Friday's contest. (Photo by Carmo Photography)
WEST CHESTER – Chicago Mission head coach Anders Sorensen doesn’t know how Kyle Aucoin’s game-winning goal went in.
All he knows is his team moved to 2-0 at the USA Hockey Tier I 16U Youth National Championships after defeating Little Caesars 2-1 on Friday.
“It looked like a scramble, I just know that Aucoin dove in there, he looked like he floated over everybody there, it was hard to see where it went or how it went in but we’ll take it.”
Aucoin attributed his game winner to the hustle of his teammate Jack Horbach, who forced a turnover by Caesars goalie Joseph Tynan.
“I saw their goalie come out, he was kind of just fiddling with the puck,” Aucoin said. “(Horbach) is always going hard so we were trying to put some pressure on the goalie. He caused some traffic in front so I kind of just saw the puck and put it on net and good things happened.”
Only one day removed from an explosive 8-0 win over the Washington Little Capitals, Sorensen knew his team was in for a different type of contest this time around.
“I thought it was kind of a slow game, I think it looked like they were trying to slow us down in the neutral zone with a 1-3-1 so we had a hard time getting going,” he said. “I thought our guys mentally stayed in the game and didn’t give too many pucks away.”
“We just have to stick to our good habits,” Aucoin added. “Yesterday the team was a little weaker so we knew this one was gonna be difficult. We just kept playing defense because if you do well on defense it’ll alternate and it’ll help you play great offense.”
With the goals not flowing like their first game, Sorensen acknowledged the importance of keeping his guys focused offensively.
“I think that’s the biggest thing for this group for sure,” he said. “They wanna score, we have a lot of weapons but those guys have to understand too that you gotta do the right things to get there and understand a game like this one you’re not gonna get as many chances.”
After Laker Aldridge opened the scoring for Caesars with a little over a minute remaining in the first period, the Mission equalized just 3:38 into the second on a power play goal from Wyatt Schingoethe.
With two different types of wins, Aucoin knows it’s vital for the team’s confidence moving forward.
“It’s very important, we’re gonna have to come hard every game,” he said. “We just gotta be excited to play each game and stick to our habits and keep working hard.”
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