Yellowjackets 4, Northland 1

SUPERIOR, Wis.: It's been a tough start to the season for the Yellowjacket women's hockey team. A rugged early-season schedule has pitted the Yellowjackets against three teams ranked in the top ten nationally, and although the games have been tight, the results haven't gone the Yellowjackets' way. Tuesday night at struggling Northland College team came to town, giving the Yellowjackets the opportunity to get things moving in the right direction. The Lumberjills have struggled, going winless through their first four games and scoring just twice in the process.

It should have been easy, but like everything else so far in 2018-19, Tuesday's contest was anything but easy. In the end, however, the Yellowjackets found their collective footing and scored three times in the third period to cap a dominating performance in a 4-1 win Tuesday at Wessman Arena.

C.C. Hayes (Fort Frances, Ontario/Fort Frances) led the way for the Yellowjackets, scoring three times to record her first collegiate hat trick. Hayes now has four goals in the last two games.

With all of the numbers going in the Yellowjackets' direction, it was actually Northland that got the first break. Just over five minutes into the hockey game Robyn Matula took a shot from a sharp angle that got past Yellowjacket goaltender Catherine Johnson (Lakeville, Minn./St. Paul Academy) to put the Lumberjills in front.

The 1-0 lasted until the closing minutes of the second period. That's when Hayes picked up her first goal of the game, driving the net from the right wing and banging in a rebound of a Jenna Curtis (Webster, Wis./Webster) shot to tie the game 1-1 at 17:55 of the period. Despite owning a 26-2 edge in shots on goal in the second, the Yellowjackets were forced to go to the locker room tied 1-1 after 40 minutes.

At 7:51 of the third period the Yellowjackets pulled ahead for good. Amber Heidenreich (Phillips, Wis./Hayward) took a shot from the slot that appeared to hit Northland goaltender Gabby Suhr in the mask, and the rebound came to Myka Sutherland (Champlin, Minn./Home School) who scored her first collegiate goal to make it 2-1. Mandy Tomlinson (Waupaca, Wis./Waupaca) also got an assist. Hayes scored her second of the game at 14:04, tapping in a loose puck after Suhr misplayed it to make it 3-1. She finished off the hat trick by scoring into an open net at 17:28 to make the final score 4-1.

The ice was tilted in the Yellowjackets' favor throughout, as they outshot the Lumberjills 56-14. After seeing a lot of pucks in her first four starts of the season, Johnson had it a little easier Tuesday, being forced to make just 13 saves to pick up her first win as a Yellowjacket. She is now 1-4-0. At the other end Suhr was fantastic, making 52 saves for Northland.

Up Next: The Yellowjackets (2-4-0, 0-1-0 W.I.AC.) return to conference play when they host UW-Stevens Point in a two-game weekend series. The first game is set for 7:00 p.m. Friday night at Wessman Arena.