St. Norbert rolls over Yellowjackets

Box Score

St. Norbert 5, Yellowjackets 0
Box Score

On Friday morning, the St. Norbert College Green Knights descended on Wessman Arena for their morning skate, and one of their players shattered a piece of glass behind one of the nets. After the first period of Friday's game, the arena ice resurfacer ran out of gas, delaying the intermission slightly as a new tank was attached to the machine.

That's the kind of day it was in Superior, where the gloominess was not exclusive to the gray, rainy weather outside.

St. Norbert scored three goals in a span of eight minutes in the first period, essentially putting an end to Friday's contest before it was even a period old. The Yellowjackets struggled to mount any kind of an offensive attack, and in the end, the No. 2 team in the country looked every bit like they were ready to make a run at their third consecutive national title, blanking the Yellowjackets 5-0 at Wessman Arena.

With the win, St. Norbert has now won seven straight games, while the Yellowjackets have lost back-to-back games for the first time on the season. And with the shutout, the Green Knights have now kept the Yellowjackets off the scoreboard for the last 161:12 the two teams have played.

St. Norbert got the all important first goal early in the game. Hunter Brown let a shot go from the right point that Joe Perry deflected past Drew Strandberg (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Westgate CV&I) to make it 1-0 just 3:42 into the game. The lead stretched to 2-0 at 5:17 when the vaunted St. Norbert power play, which has scored on over 40% of their chances in conference play, converted. Team scoring leader Kyle Stroh scored his team-best 14th goal of the year as his wrist shot got past Strandberg. Brandon Hoogenboom made it a 3-0 game when his shot from the right circle eluded Strandberg on the stick side at 11:42 of the frame.

The play evened out a little bit in the second period, which saw the Yellowjackets outshoot St. Norbert. But despite 11 shots, the Yellowjackets weren't able to generate any quality scoring chances. St. Norbert, on the other hand, did. Off a face-off to the right of Strandberg, Perry took a couple steps to his right and wired a wrist shot past Strandberg low on the stick side at 6:56 to make it 4-0.

In the third period, St. Norbert closed out the scoring just as their second power play of the game expired. Cody Keefer came out of the left corner and pounced on a loose puck to score his tenth goal of the year and make the final score 5-0.

Perry enjoyed a big game for St. Norbert, finishing with two goals and an assist. Stroh had a goal and an assist and Cullen Bradshaw a pair of assists to pace the offense.

On the Yellowjacket side, the shutout means that Pat Dalbec (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) had his 15-game scoring streak come to a halt, marking the first time this season he failed to record at least one point. Joey Massingham (Duncan, British Columbia/Cowichan Secondary) also had a scoring streak come to an end, after picking up points in six straight games.

David Jacobson made 25 saves to pick up his fifth shutout of the season for the Green Knights and improve to 11-2-1 on the year. Jacobson has now blanked the Yellowjackets three times in four career starts and has yet to allow a goal at Wessman Arena. At the other end Strandberg fell to 8-4-1, making 19 saves in the losing effort.

It was a relatively clean game, as only three penalties were called. The Yellowjackets took two penalties for four minutes, while St. Norbert took just one for two minutes. St. Norbert was 1-for-2 on the power play while the Yellowjackets were 0-for-1 on the man advantage.

The Yellowjackets (10-5-1, 5-3-1 NCHA) and the Green Knights will play game two of their weekend series on Saturday, January 12 at Wessman Arena. Game time is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. and can be watched live via UW-Superior's pay-per-view partner AmericaOne. The game will be broadcast on tape delay on 91.3 FM KUWS beginning at 7:00 p.m. Jon Garver will be on the call.

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