Box Score

Duluth, Minn. – The Saint Scholastica Men's hockey team headed south over the bridge to Superior in order to play their first game of the Superior Showdown against the Dubuque Spartans. Today's game ended in a win for the Saints, with a final score of 5-3.

Shewchuck led the Saints offense tonight, recording two goals and two assists of the night. Seitz was also instrumental in their victory tonight, recording three assists. 

How it Happened

First Period 
The first 20 minutes of action tonight was packed with movement and action on the ice. THe period opened up with a good defensive play by Dubuque, who blocked a Saints shot. The Spartans then took control of the puck and took it down to the Saints zone. The Saints managed to stop the five shots headed toward the net. 

The Spartans had control of the game, out shooting the Saints, but that was not going to stop the Saints forward momentum. The Saints found themselves short handed seven minutes into the game. The Saints penalty kill came up strong as the Spartans were only able to get two shots on net during their power play before it was killed off. 

The Saints quickly found themselves on the power play, following a Dubuque timeout, and with not long remaining in the power play, at 13:07, the Saints' Hunter Hanson (Blaine, Minn./Blaine HS) beat the goaltender coming off assists from Issac Suppin and Wyatt Wurst (Edina, MN). 

Not long later, at 16:29, Dubuque once again had a power play. The Saints did an excellent job killing off the first, unfortunately the Spartans were able to beat the Saints defense on their second try, evening the score. 

There was not much time remaining in the first period following the Spartans goal, but that has never been an issue for the Saints, as with only 57 seconds remaining, Braden Panzer (Grand Forks, ND), got the puck from Tristan Shewchuk (Saskatoon, SK, Canada/St. Joseph HS), Kieran Chung (Nottingham, Great Britain), and put the Saints ahead one again. 

Second Period
The Saints did not wait long to extend their lead as only 32 seconds into the period Jacob Seitz (Mountain Iron, Minn./Virginia HS) rang in the Saints third goal of the night, assisted by Evan Pahos (Parker, CO), and Shewchuk. 

It only took 26 seconds for the Spartans to respond to the Saints opening goal, registering their second of the period at the 58 second mark.

Following the Spartans goal, they attempted to quickly get another, getting off numerous shots, eventually finding themselves on the power play once again. The Saints penalty kill came up big once again and was able to kill the power play quickly and efficiently only allowing the Spartans to get one shot off. 

The Saints then had the puck, and took it past the Spartans blue line and got multiple shots on net, but the Spartans goaltender was able to stop all shots on net. 

The Saints were put in the box once more, this time for slashing, but the Saints penalty kill was more than efficient, getting four shots off while being down a man and killing the penalty without allowing any chance from the Spartans. 

Immediately following the Saints penalty, the Spartans suffered their own penalty. Dubuque took a timeout to regroup. Coming out of the time out, the Saints got four shots off on their extra man advantage, but failed to convert on any of them as the penalty was successfully killed off. 

With four minutes and twenty seconds remaining in the period, the Spartans took two costly penalties giving the Saints a two-minute five on three advantage for the Saints.

With half a minute remaining in the five on three Shewchuk found a good spot to shoot the puck and beat all of the defense and recorded his first goal of the night, his goal was assisted by Seitz.

The penalty was quickly killed off following the Saints fourth goal, and as time wound down in the second, the Saints were able to keep the game under control maintaining their two-goal lead going into the second intermission. 

Third Period
The beginning of the period was a back and forth battle, both teams traded shots and possession of the puck, but only a couple of minutes into the third, the Saints had an extra man advantage. 

The Saints power play did not come up strong on the power play as the penalty was killed.

Following the power play, the Saints found themselves on their heels in their own defensive zone until a penalty was called on the Saints.

Not long into the Spartans power play, the Saints defense opened a window for the Spartans who capitalized on their power play, getting their third goal of the game. 

The game was now only a one goal contest, the Saints had possession of the puck in the Spartans zone, unable to get past the defense, the puck found itself moving in all zones of the ice. 

The Spartans largely dominated the third period, not allowing the Saints to get very many good looks at scoring but the Saints defense was able to fend off any offense from Dubuque.

The Saints called a timeout with only five minutes remaining in the game, with nothing coming after the time out, the Spartans made the ultimate decision to pull their goalie with one minute forty-five seconds remaining in the game. 

Following a stoppage of play, the Spartans called their timeout with a minute and a half remaining in the game, in hopes of catching a miracle. 

But the Spartans' hope quickly fell as Shewchuk iced the puck and scored his second goal of the game, an empty netter. Seitz recorded his third assist of the night on the Saints fifth goal. As time ticked away, the final buzzer sounded as the Saints took the game one win with a final score of 5-3. 

Goaltending
Eino Rissanen (Sonvillier, Switzerland/Lycée Blaise-Cendrars) manned the net for the Saints tonight, he recorded 31 saves on 34 shots on net. He had a save percentage of .912.
Ryan Piros was in net for the Spartans, he recorded 40 saves on 44 shots on net. He had a save percentage of .090.

What's Next
The Saints (5-2-1, 2-2 MIAC)  will advance to the championship game of the Superior showdown, their opponent is to be determined following the University of Wisconsin Superior vs Laurence University. Game two is scheduled for Saturday, November 30, at 7:05 p.m.