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Bluebirds start out important week with win

JANESVILLE — Every time Aaron Jacobson shoots the puck, his injured left shoulder emits a wave of pain.

On Tuesday night, the Janesville Bluebird did a lot of grimacing, then smiling.

Jacobson scored four goals as the Bluebirds defeated Middleton, 5-1, to start a critical week for Janesville in Big Eight Conference hockey.

Janesville, 6-1 in the Big Eight, takes on Verona (6-0-1) in a battle for first place at the Janesville Ice Skating Center on Thursday night.

The Bluebirds could not have played much better against the visiting Cardinals (5-2-1), with the exception of the 10 penalties they were whistled for in the first two periods.

But despite playing with one armed tied behind their back because of penalties in the first 34 minutes, the Bluebirds still outshot Middleton in that span, 24-12.

“Our defense, Michael Valentine, Derek Mussey and Danny Folker in particular, really stepped up,” Janesville coach John Mauermann said. “They had a game where they basically had no mistakes. Every decision they made, basically worked out.

“They just kind of quarterbacked that thing back there.”

While the defense was keeping the Cardinals out of Bluebird goalie David Jacobson’s face, Aaron Jacobson and the potent Janesville front lines were peppering Middleton sophomore goalie Eric Smith.

Smith kept the Cardinals in contention in the first period with 13 saves, but he eventually wore down under the pressure of 41 Bluebird shots on goal.

“It could have been 5-0 after the first period,” Mauermann said. “He kept them in the game.”

Aaron Jacobson, who is on the second line with Bentley Geldard and recent junior-varsity callup Sean MacDougall, made an immediate impact. He took a cross-ice pass from Mussey and fired a shot from the left point that beat Smith over his right shoulder to give Janesville a 1-0 lead just 57 seconds into the game.

“He sniped the guy,” Mauermann said. “Aaron can get the puck to the net. He’s a sniper like that.”

Middleton tied the game on a power play just over seven minutes later, but Logan Lemirande moved in on Smith on a 5-on-3 Janesville advantage and stuffed his rebound past Smith to put the Bluebirds ahead for good with 2:28 left in the first period.

Aaron Jacobson, who injured his shoulder in practice last week, took over the scoring from there. He took a pass from Mussey, who angled the puck off the sideboards around a Middleton defender, and beat Smith just over two minutes into the second period.

Jacobson then came out of the penalty box in the third period just as Ross Mauermann stole the puck near mid-ice. Mauermann fed Jacobson, who stuck the puck past Smith.

Six or seven caps came sailing onto the ice from the Janesville student section in honor of the hat trick.

Jacobson didn’t stop there, as his slap shot from the left point beat Smith and concluded the scoring with 5:16 to go.

John Mauermann was encouraged by the play of his third line of Ryan Shelton, Joe Allen and Sly Flynn, which is giving the Bluebirds the kind of depth it takes to make a serious state tournament run.

“They were constantly using their speed to gain an advantage,” the coach said. “That was a big factor in the game as well. We’re just not a one-man or two-man show.”

While the conference race could swing in Janesville’s favor this week, the Bluebirds’ coach is looking at the larger picture.

“All we’re trying to do is get better,” coach Mauermann said. “Middleton is not in our sectional. Verona is not in our sectional. We hope that these games will make us better when we get to the 21st, 22nd and 23rd game to be a really good hockey team.”

JANESVILLE 5, MIDDLETON 1

Middleton 1 0 0—1

Janesville 2 1 2—5

First Period

J—Aaron Jacobson (Derek Mussey, Danny Folker), :57; M—Max Nicholson (Todd Kontzinsky), 8:35 (pp); J—Logan Lemirande (Ross Mauermann, Zach Bayreuther), 14:42.

Second Period

J—Jacobson (Mussey, Danny Folker), 14:32.

Third Period

J—Jacobson (Mauermann), 1:21; J—Jacobson (Bentley Geldard), 11:43.

Saves—Eric Smith (M) 36; David Jacobson (J) 16.