Box Score Yellowjacket 3, St. Norbert 1
Box Score
 
The Yellowjackets come out strong to start the 2012 portion of their schedule with a 3-1 victory over St. Norbert College in the Green Knights' first-ever visit to Wessman Arena.
 
The Yellowjackets didn't waste any time out of the gates as Teal Crosson (Alexander, Manitoba/Crocus Plains) won the scrum in front of the net and put the puck home at 1:24 of the first period.  The unassisted tally was Crosson's first collegiate goal.  The Green Knights came back four minutes and eight seconds later when Andrea Seene took the puck at center ice and skated it up to the left circle and she fired a shot that beat Shanley Peters (Gnadenthal, Manitoba/Garden Valley Collegiate) high on the glove side to knot the game at one goal a piece.  The Green Knights and Yellowjackets would trade penalties to close out the first period, but both teams would finish 0-2 on the power play.  The first period proved to be all Yellowjackets as they outshot the Green Knights 13-2.
 
The Yellowjackets continued to dominate into the second period when Kelsey Firkus (Chilliwack, British Columbia/Chilliwack Senior Secondary) fed the puck to # Dani Schultz (Morris, Minn./Morris Area)# and skated up the middle and let a backhand shot go that beat St. Norbert goaltender Kaley Gibson at 3:59 of the second period to make it 2-1.  The goal was Firkus' fifth goal on the season.  After that point, shots started to even out due in part to three power play opportunities for the Green Knights.  Shots in the second period were 7-5 in favor of the Yellowjackets as both teams failed to capitalize on the power play for the period. 
 
Both teams struggled to find the net during the first ten minutes of the third period.  That all changed when Kerry Mayhew (Littleton,Colo./Heritage) won a face-off that skipped over to Schultz and her stick was in the right place at the right time when she caught the puck and let a wrist shot go to the back of the net to make the score 3-1.  That goal fueled St. Norbert as they had control of the game the rest of the way.  The Green Knights went on to produce eight shots on net in the final eight minutes of the game.  An interference call on Kaiti Graham (Middleville, Mich./Thornapple Kellogg) at 19:40 of the third period gave the Green Knights a 6-on-4 advantage, and the extra attacker to put some pressure on the Yellowjackets in the game's final minute.  However, it was the Yellowjackets who held their way to the 3-1 victory in front of 202 at Wessman Arena.

Peters finished with 17 saves to get the win for the Yellowjackets, while Gibson had 24 stops in the losing effort for St. Norbert.
 
The Yellowjackets will look to close the weekend series with St. Norbert on a winning note tomorrow (Jan. 14) at 2:00 p.m.  The game can be viewed via webcast at www.ifan.tv