Eldo holds off Kochevar’s efforts in close town league playoff win

A/B league finals set for Monday at 8:15 p.m.

By Than Acuff

It’s getting down to the wire and you can see it in the full benches and the effort of the players on the ice as teams are positioning themselves for a shot at the 2025 A/B town league hockey title.

That commitment was on full display Monday, March 10 when Kochevar’s and the Eldo met at Big Mine Ice Arena. The two teams finished the regular season in second and third place with Kochevar’s on a four-game winning streak and with the Eldo a mixed bag of results having won two, lost one and tied one heading into Monday’s game.

Two of the top three scorers in the league were on the ice and it was evident from the start that the intent from both teams was to hold Eldo’s top gun Ben Barocas and Kochevar’s scoring machine Sam Reaman in check. Other than that, both teams stayed true to their styles and Kochevar’s brought their high-flying game from the opening faceoff looking for seams up ice to send players onto goal. Their north-south style had an immediate impact as Olle Koiman threaded a pass up ice to Sam Evans breaking free and when Eldo goalie Eric DiMarco came off his line to close down the angle, Evans slipped past him and tucked the puck in for a 1-0 Kochevar’s lead.

The Eldo’s diligence to well-positioned defensemen and holding the blue line did play out as well as they responded 30 seconds later when Thomas Mclean cut off a Kochevar’s breakout to feed the puck to Barocas and Barocas picked the near post to tie the game.

The two teams stayed true to their styles of play but saw limited success in their attacks as Kochevar’s diligence to getting back on defense and the Eldo’s continued positional play held the scoring in check until the seventh minute of the first period when Mark Kraus set up Don Turner for a goal and a 2-1 Eldo lead.

Kochevar’s came close to tying the game early in the second period but a savvy play by Pink Loubier broke up their 2-on-1 attack. Betsy Welch’s work on the wing would eventually bear fruit for the Eldo as she set up Turner for him to turn to goal. The play drew a penalty and while the Eldo was held off for most of their powerplay, they eventually capitalized when McLean tallied his second assist of the game setting up Turner for his second goal and a 3-1 Eldo lead.

Kochevar’s put in a big push at the end of the second period with Koiman’s inspired effort, much like his dad Dan’s effort in the Al Johnson race years ago, but DiMarco made the necessary saves to maintain the Eldo’s two-goal lead heading into the third period.

While an Eldo player suggested a defensive stance in the third period reminding his team, “play defense, we don’t need another goal,” the Eldo was wise to keep pushing for more. Matty Schmalz battled for the puck in the corner to drop it to Loubier and Loubier fired a puck that Kochevar’s goalie Nicholas Mikeska never saw thanks to a screen from Kraus for a 4-1 Eldo lead. Two minutes later the Eldo struck again as Danny Stoneberg sent the puck to Turner up ice and while Turner missed the goal on his initial shot, he gathered his own rebound to ultimately score, and the Eldo was sitting on a 5-1 lead with four minutes left in the game.

Kochevar’s being Kochevar’s though are never out of the hunt, especially with the likes of the Evans brothers outskating everyone on the ice. While Isaac held court on defense alongside Jake Sunter and Jeff Snyder, brother Sam continued to attack the Eldo net and tipped in a shot by Reaman with just over three minutes left to play. A minute later the two connected again to pull within two of the Eldo and when Sunter snuck in off the blue line, Reaman fed him for a slapshot to cut the Eldo’s lead down to one.

Kochevar’s continued to press, and press hard, pulling their goalie with just under a minute left to play but the Eldo and goalie DiMarco staved off the assault to hold on for the 5-4 win.