UW-Superior 3, UW-River Falls 3
SUPERIOR, Wis. (February 17, 2018) – Superior saw their season come to a close Saturday evening, ending with a 3-3 tie with UW-River Falls.
The two teams had energy and tenacity coming out of the gate, laying the lumber early. The Falcons were the first to find the scoreboard when Cayden Cahill stole the puck for a 1-on-1 situation, putting the puck in a 1:09 of the first period. It was then Troy York (Plano, Texas/Plano West)'s turn, scoring at 6:10 of the first on passes from Ian Ecklund (Twig, Minn./Proctor) and Tanner Skaja (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Tech). The first period would end similarly to the night before as the Bruno Birzitis (Riga, Latvia/Riga Distance Education Secondary) was booted from the contest with a 10-minute game misconduct. The 'Jackets were tied 1-1.
The second period was a wild one, the Falcons would take a quick 3-2 lead the 3:26 mark of the second, but the 'Jackets would make that up with two scoring answers. Ryan Calrson put the one-time slap shot in net from the blue line at 13:42 on a pass from Dylan Nelson (Clearwater, Minn./Annandale), and then York found twine on the wrister from Skaja. It would be a 3-2 lead for the Yellowjackets heading into the second intermission.
Superior would open the third period with back-to-back power-play opportunities, but were unable to connect on goal. The final period would be tight as the 'Jackets would surrender penalties of their own, but were able to kill. It came down to the final five minutes; the Falcons would find the back of the net at 16:45 of the period, tying the game at 3-3. The 'Jackets would fire five more shots in the remaining minutes, one on goal, but none went through. The game headed to overtime.
The crowd was rocking in Wessman for the final five minutes, the Yellowjackets would put 10 shots toward the crease, five of which were saved by the Falcon goaltender. Time continued to tick down, and coach Rich McKenna pulled Cole Skinner (Lunenberg, N.S./Parkview Education Centre) from goal with 2:34 remaining.
Superior saw a power-play chance at the 4:18 mark after a River Falls tripping call, and were able to get two more shots towards the net, but to no avail. The tie would give the playoff win to the Falcons and end the Yellowjacket season.
Skinner spent the night between the pipes for Superior, saving 21 pucks on the night. The Yellowjackets also were able to turn the tables on the Falcons in this second game, outshooting them 44-24, and winning 36 of the 66 faceoffs.
With the season finale, the Yellowjackets bid farewell to their two seniors: Dylan Nelson (Clearwater, Minn./Annandale) and Ian Ecklund (Twig, Minn./Proctor).
