Box Score Box Score

SUPERIOR, Wis. – The St. Scholastica men's hockey team won its first season opener since 2009 with a 5-1 victory Friday night over Border Rival University of Wisconsin-Superior at Wessman Arena.

Scoring started not more than 73 seconds into the contest as freshman Dylan Nowakowski (Calgary, Alberta/Centennial HS (Brooks-AJHL) ) scored his first collegiate goal to put the Saints on top 1-0. Alex Valenti (Blaine, Wash./Bellingham HS (Merritt-BCHL) ) and Ryne Bodger (Duncan, British Columbia/Cowichan Secondary (Merritt-BCHL) ) had the assists.

CSS added to its lead midway through the opening period as last season's leading scorer Brett Corcoran (Parksville, British Columbia/Ballenas Secondary (Trail Smoke-BCHL) ) netted a power-play goal to make it 2-0 at the first intermission. Tyler Miller (Fort Frances, Ontario/Rainy River HS (Thunder Bay-SIJHL) ) assisted on the goal. The Saints outshot the 'jackets 11-8 in the first period.

Freshman Brenden Kotyk (Regina, Saskatchewan/Michael A. Riffel HS (Dauphin-MJHL) )'s first collegiate goal came on the power-play four minutes into the second period to make it 3-0 St. Scholastica. Corcoran and Bodger had the assists.

The Yellowjackets got their only goal of the night with the man advantage at 12:20 left in the second period on a Joey Massingham tally. CSS starting goaltender Colin Rundell (Tees, Alberta/Lacombe Composite (Alaska-Fairbanks) ) would have to leave the game with 5:17 left in the second period due to injury and freshman Tyler Bruggeman (North Mankato, Minn./Mankato West HS (Austin-NAHL) ) would be thrown into the fire with the Saints down two men on a penalty kill. CSS killed off the two-man advantage as the score was 3-1 at the second intermission.

Alex Valenti (Blaine, Wash./Bellingham HS (Merritt-BCHL) ) put the game on ice in the third period, scoring with a little over four minutes remaining to make it 4-1 and then adding an empty net goal to make the final 5-1. Freshman Justin Krabben (Rocky Mountain House, Alberta/Hunting Hills HS (Canmore-AJHL) ) and senior captain Brenden Bradbury (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Monticello HS/Vincent Massey Collegiate (Waywayseecappo-MJHL) ) assisted on Valenti's first goal.

Rundell picked up the win for the Saints, making 17 saves, despite playing only 34 minutes. Bruggeman made 10 saves in relief, including eight in the third period. Dennis Nordmark made 16 saves in the loss for Superior.

Both teams combined for 26 penalties with the Saints going 2-for-6 on the power-play and the 'jackets 1-for-8. The win for the Saints is the first in the last eight meetings with the Yellowjackets.

The same two teams will do battle again tomorrow night at Wessman Arena with the puck scheduled to drop at 7:05 p.m. All of the action can be heard live on Saints Sports Net.