Yellowjackets 4, Saint Mary's 3
For the majority of the third period, it was likely that many of the University of Wisconsin-Superior faithful felt some form of unpleasant feeling due to the mysterious sense of déjà vu that had overtaken Wessman Arena.
The Yellowjackets fell victim to another untimely major penalty in the final period of play, this one a contact to the head citation aimed at Tanner Dion (Hardisty, Alberta/Central Sedgewick) (Hardisty, Alberta). Once again, after a somewhat lengthy discussion between the referees and linesmen, Dion was forced to retire prematurely from the contest. Just over one minute into the power play, Saint Mary's Bob Marx netted his first goal of the season to knot matters at three each.
A storyline eerily similar to this one also played out on Friday night in the Yellowjackets 6-5 overtime loss to St. Olaf. Fortunately for the home team, Kyle Leahy (Fort St. John, British Columbia/North Peace Secondary) (Fort St. John, British Columbia) was present to make sure the Yellowjackets didn't disappoint the second time around.
The junior found the back of the net as ne redirected a rebound over the glove hand of Cardinals netminder Jason Horstman to give the Yellowjacks a 4-3 win. UWS improves to 2-1-1 on the season while keeping the Cardinals firmly entrenched in the loss column with a mark of 0-4-0.
For the second night in a row, the Yellowjackets were able to rush out of the gates for an early advantage. In the process, UWS was able to snap out of its dreadful power play funk. Brad Denney was whistled for cross-checking and Jeff Forsythe (Campbell River, British Columbia/Timberline Secondary) (Campbell River, British Columbia) wasted no time in tallying his second goal of the season firing a hard shot through Horstman. Ryan Hill (Hermantown, Minn./Hermantown) (Hermantown, Minn.) and Pat Dalbec (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) (Superior, Wis.) assisted on the goal.
A mere 14 seconds later, Andy Singerhouse (Hudson, Wis./Hill-Murray) (Hudson, Wis.) rifled a blast from the blue line into the back of the net to give UWS a 2-0 advantage. The sophomore was helped out by Colton Kennedy (Kenora, Ontario/Beaver Brae Secondary) who fired a crisp pass that led to the score.
The Yellowjackets would cool off for the remainder of the frame before improving on their power play numbers yet against in the second. Hill continued the long distance assault on Horstman, picking up his first goal of the season off of a pass from Dalbec to give UWS a seemingly comfortable 3-0 edge.
The Cardinals struck back with a power play goal of their own coming off the stick of Nate Peterson at the 15:26 mark of the second period.
A UWS turnover proved costly at the beginning of the third as Tommy Robaczewski scored an unassisted goal to trim the UWS advantage to just one. The third period woes were due in large part to a 12-8 advantage in shots for the Cardinals.
Drew Strandberg (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Westgate CV&I) (Thunder Bay, Ontario) picked up his first victory of the season, sending away 15 of 18 shots fired his way. Horstman remains winless on the season at 0-2-0 and stopping 21 of 25 shots on net.
The Yellowjackets travel to Stevens Point next weekend to tangle with the Pointers. The weekend series begins on Friday (Nov. 11) with the puck drop set for 7:00 p.m. at K.B. Willett Arena. The game can be heard live locally on KUWS 91.3 FM beginning with the pre-game show at 6:45 p.m. If you are outside the local listening area you can tune in on the web at www.kuws.fm
or www.ifan.tv. Jon Garver will have the call.
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