SUPERIOR, Wisc — St. Scholastica men's hockey traveled across the bridge to face the No. 12 University of Wisconsin-Superior (UWS) Yellowjackets this evening. The Saints came away with a decisive 3-1 victory behind three unanswered goals, including two from Riley Girod (Calvet, SK, Canada/).
Despite the Saints controlling play early, UWS opened the scoring at 9:18 of the first period. St. Scholastica answered just over two minutes later when
Andrew Cumming (St. Cloud, MN/St. Cloud HS) buried his first career goal, assisted by
Kennan Reyelts (Proctor, MN/Proctor HS) and
Luke McCarthy (Cottage Grove, MN/Park HS). The opening period was free of penalties, and the score remained tied 1-1 heading into intermission.
The Saints regained momentum in the second period, outshooting the Yellowjackets 5-4 before Girod tallied his first goal of the season at 8:53, off a feed from
Emmett Wurst (Edina, MN/Edina HS). Girod struck again at the 13-minute mark, this time assisted by E. Wurst and Reyelts, giving all three players a two-point night. CSS also came up big with a late-period penalty kill to maintain its two-goal advantage heading into the third.
Trailing by two, UWS pulled its goaltender with five minutes remaining, but the Saints' defense held firm, blocking three shots and adding a crucial save before a late tripping call on the Yellowjackets sent the Saints to a power play to close out the game.
McCarthy led the Saints with four shots on goal, while goaltender
Eino Rissanen (Sonvillier, Switzerland/Lycée Blaise-Cendrars) stopped 22 shots for a .957 save percentage in the 3-1 victory.
The Saints (2-1-1, 0-1-1 MIAC) will rest this weekend before returning to conference play against Augsburg University. Game one is set for Friday, November 21 at Mars Lakeview Arena, with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m.
