Zach Maas pours it on
Zach Maas closed out the regular season like he started.
The senior forward opened the season with 10 goals and 15 points in Wadena-Deer Creek's first five games.
Maas, a three-year varsity player, finished with six goals and seven points in the Wolverines' final two games helping, W-DC finish the regular season with an 18-6 overall mark.
Maas tallied four goals in a 5-1 victory over the Northern Lakes Lightning Feb. 8.
"Two of those were just rebound goals," said Maas, who also plays baseball. "They were just crashing-the-net type goals. Two of the goals were on power plays.
"The one I got the hat trick on, they turned the puck over in their zone. I just plucked it out of the air, walked in, I wasn't far from the net so it was a short breakaway, then it deflected off the cross bar and went in."
Two days later, in a 6-3 victory over Red Lake Falls to close out the regular season, Maas registered two more goals and an assist. He finished the regular season with 34 goals and 65 points and is sixth in Section 4-1A scoring.
Year: Senior
School: Wadena-Deer Creek
Sport: Hockey
Position: Wing
Key stat: Had six goals in two games
Linemates Jascha Pettit and Justin Wolden were fourth and seventh in the section.
"Playing with those two guys helps your stats," said Maas, who hopes to attend either St. John's University or the University of Minnesota-Duluth next year. "It's nice having two players that can get you the puck. We had sort of a slump where we didn't score quite as much. We were still productive, but it seems like we're picking it up right now."
Maas' goals heading into the season were to help W-DC advance to the state tournament. His personal goal was to crack the 100-point mark. He accomplished that Jan. 25 in a 3-2 win over Litchfield.
"I believe I was at 98 going into the game and right off the first shift I had an assist that put me one away," said Maas. "Then on the second shift we had a breakaway, Pettit picked up the puck and I got a goal off it."
Maas also finished fourth in the section with 12 power-play goals and one short-handed.
Last season he collected 16 goals and 38 points.
"He's taken his game to the next level this year," said W-DC coach Scott Woods. "In scoring opportunities this year he's finished well. Last year when he had the chance to bury the puck he just didn't finish. He's really improved his goal scoring. He's making an early move, forcing the goalie to commit to something and then he makes another move. He's really accurate with his shots and scores a lot in the upper corners."
Other notable performances
Basketball: Jesse Fisher, Pequot Lakes, finished with 57 points, 15 rebounds and nine blocked shots in three games.
Tucker Sheley, Pequot Lakes, had 56 points, 16 rebounds and 12 assists in three games. Against Park Rapids he reached 1,000 career points.
Jordan Riewer, Staples-Motley, scored 25 points against Melrose.
C.J. Peeters, Crosby-Ironton, had 42 points, 26 rebounds and 23 assists in three games.
Micah Eveland, Pine River-Backus, finished with 25 points, five rebounds and six assists against Northome-Kelliher.
Caleb Nurnberger, S-M, had 26 points against C-I.
Will Kornbaum, Little Falls, scored 25 points against Sartell.
Mark Eno, Aitkin, had 28 points against Ogilvie.
Shane Finck, Verndale, scored 34 points against Nevis.
Hockey: Lukas Jorgensen, Little Falls, recorded his 100th career point against Sartell.
Wrestling: Cody Schrupp, Nathan Waslaski and Pat Bresnahan, Pequot Lakes/Pine River-Backus, won individual Park Region Conference titles.
Ethan Kern, Zak Lambert, Jake Braaten, Sam Moenkedick and Matt Moenkedick, Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale, won individual Park Region Conference titles.
Brad Hofstrand, Wade Adams and Andrew Keyfes, Crosby-Ironton, won individual titles at the Walker Invite.
Devin Becker, Jordan Benson, Sam Klein and Hakan Binek, Staples-Motley, won individual titles at the Wolf Pack Invite.
Isaac Werner, Keith Wasserzieher, Justin Chouanard, Nathan Cummings, Andrew Hallberg, Travis Hallberg, Matt Christensen and Brad Insley, Aitkin, won individual Great River Conference titles.
JEREMY MILLSOP can be reached at jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5856.