Superior, WI. - The St. Scholastica Men's hockey team came out with a win tonight in the championship game of the Superior Showdown. It was a lights-out performance by the Saints, as they pulled away with the victory after a late goal in the third period to secure the win. The night's final score was 3-2 and the Saints outshot the Yellowjackets 30-21, the Saints now move to 6-3-1 overall.
How it Happened
1st Period
The Saints came out hot in the first period, having four shots on goal in just five minutes. But the Yellowjackets were able to score first, despite having only five shots in the entire period. At 7:44, UWS scored an even-strength unassisted goal. The Saints outshot the Yellowjackets 10-5, with 10 players having shots on goal.
2nd Period
An intense second period resulted in a more even battle on the shot chart. Although the Saints outshot the Yellowjackets 8-7, they were not the first to score. Nick Lanigan (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) made a rushing attempt to prevent UWS from scoring on a lucky breakaway, his success resulted in a penalty shot for the Yellowjackets. At 8:47, UWS scored on the penalty shot and took a 2-0 lead.
Just minutes later with the help of some dominating faceoff wins from the Saints, they came back within one goal of the Yellowjackets. Freshman Wyatt Wurst (Edina, MN) scored his first goal of the season at 13:15 with an assist from Kieran Chung (Nottingham, Great Britain). The Yellowjackets led 2-1 heading into the final period.
3rd Period
It was the Saints' showdown in the third period, as they outshot the Yellowjackets 12-9. Brodie Girod (Clavet, SK, Canada/Clavet HS) tallied a 60% faceoff success rate throughout the game, and after a successful faceoff win early in the period, he was able to tie the game up with the help of Lanigan and Hunter Hanson (Blaine, Minn./Blaine HS) at 5:35.
With everything on the line, both teams focused on their quest for the win. The Saints began firing shots from all directions, and the Yellowjackets defense made several blocks. The rolls quickly reversed the rolls but the Saints did the same, as Braden Panzer (Grand Forks, ND) made back-to-back blocks.
With just minutes remaining, the Saints made an elite scoring attempt and Jacob Seitz (Mountain Iron, Minn./Virginia HS) found the back of the net for a late third-period lead of 3-2 at 17:49. Chung added his second assist of the game and Tristan Shewchuk (Saskatoon, SK, Canada/St. Joseph HS) also assisted. The Yellowjackets made one last push to tie it up as they pulled their goalie following a UWS timeout. But the Saints would not even allow the puck to get to goaltender Eino Rissanen (Sonvillier, Switzerland/Lycée Blaise-Cendrars) as Lanigan and Jack Fuss (Edina, Minn./Edina HS) made two vital blocks in the remaining minutes.
The clock wound down and the Saints came out with a huge win 3-2 on the home ice of their bridge battle opponents.
Up Next
The Saints will return to Mars Lakeview Arena next weekend, on Friday, December 6, at 7 p.m., to play Hamline University. The Pipers are currently 2-5-0 overall and 1-3-0 in MIAC matchups.
