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University of Wisconsin-Superior Athletics

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Wisconsin-Superior
Yellowjackets
Drew Strandberg
Scott Thomson

Men's Hockey

St. Norbert dispatches Yellowjackets

Drew Strandberg
Box Score
St. Norbert 3, Yellowjackets 0

Friday the 13th.  It's an epic horror movie series from the 1980's, and a fitting backdrop for Friday's men's hockey game against St. Norbert.  The reason being that the Yellowjackets watched a nightmare scenario unfold at the Cornerstone Community Center, and unfortunately it is a movie that we've seen far too many times of late when the Yellowjackets travel to take on the Green Knights.  A pair of goals less than two minutes apart in the first period was all the Green Knights needed, and they cruised to a 3-0 victory over the Yellowjackets, who posed little challenge to the home team throughout much of the night.

With the win, St. Norbert is now 13-1-2 in the last 16 games played between the two teams at Cornerstone.

St. Norbert opened the scoring at 14:37 of the first period when Marian Fiala's shot went wide of the net and caromed out front to Alain Joanette who slid a pass between the circles to Emil Haque for his fourth goal of the year.  It was the eventual game-winning goal.  It went to 2-0 just a few minutes later.  A neutral zone transition turned into an odd-man rush in St. Norbert's favor when Derek Stauber (Duluth, Minn./Marshall School) lost his footing, and Johan Ryd made them pay, firing a shot from the right circle that glanced off Drew Strandberg (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Westgate CV&I) and into the goal for his ninth of the year at 16:21.

Late in the first period, the Yellowjackets had a power play and there was a flurry in the goal crease with bothy Kyle Leahy (Fort St. John, British Columbia/North Peace Secondary) and Pat Dalbec (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) swinging away at the loose puck, but neither was able to poke it past a sprawling St. Norbert netminder. 

After a scoreless second period the Yellowjackets came out with some life in the third period, but St. Norbert would have the best scoring chances.  They rang one off a post midway through the final period and had a couple of other near-misses, but the score remained 2-0.  Cullen Bradshaw closed out the scoring, going end-to-end and burying the empty-net goal with 13.5 seconds to play, sealing the win and making it a 3-0 final.

The Yellowjacket power play continued its season-long struggle, going 0-4 in the game.  The penalty kill, however had arguably their best outing of the year, forcing the Green Knights to go 0-3.  The Yellowjackets took three penalties for six minutes and St. Norbert took four penalties for eight minutes.

David Jacobson went largely untested in the game, making 21 saves to pick up his first collegiate shutout.  At the other end, Strandberg made 27 saves in the losing effort, his record falling to 7-5-1 on the year.

The Yellowjackets (8-6-2, 3-4-2 NCHA) will need a stronger effort on Saturday (Jan. 14) if they are to rebound and take the series rematch.  Game time is 4:00 p.m. at the Cornerstone Community Center and can be heard live on 91.3 FM KUWS, beginning with the pre-game show at 6:45 p.m.  You can also listen on the web at www.ifan.tv.  Jon Garver will have the call.
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