SUPERIOR, Wis.: For the second time on the young season, the Yellowjacket men's hockey team took on a top-five ranked opponent at Wessman Arena. Unlike last night, however, the game ended in favor of Superior.
Superior welcomed the No. 3-ranked Pointers of Stevens Point to town tonight and was in control on the ice and on the scoreboard for almost the entirety of the 60 minutes of play.
The Yellowjackets scored three times in the second period to blow the game open and went on to a 4-2 win, giving them their first victory over Stevens Point since November 10, 2012.
Scoring opened for the Yellowjackets early in the game, courtesy of
Liam Blais (Uxbridge, Ontario/Uxbridge Secondary). Blais received a pass from
Charles Martin (Blainville, Quebec/École internationale Lucille-Teasdale) behind the right side of the net, wrapped the puck around the left side and lifted it over Pointers goaltender Eli Billing's glove side at 5:17 of the first period.
The lead was extended for the 'Jackets in the second, as they put three goals on the board. On a shorthanded attack,
Coltyn Bates (Brandon, Manitoba/Vincent Massey Collegiate) took the puck up the left boards and glided towards the net. He faked a wrist shot just inside the circle before flipping the puck to his backhand and saucing a pass to Blais. Blais was in the right spot on the break to put his second shot on the night past Billing's outstretched glove to give Superior a 2-0 lead.
Troy York (Plano, Texas/West), the Yellowjackets leading point scorer last season, made his presence felt tonight in his return to action after being injured for the first three games of the season. He was laying his body out and getting his stick on pucks all night long. In addition, he tallied a goal and an assist on the night, with the former extending the 'Jackets advantage to 3-0 in the second. York took a pass from
Artur Terchiyev (Kiev, Ukraine/Everst Academy) just in front of the net, flipped a shot past Billing and set off a loud celebration by the hometown fans.
Stevens Point answered, however, when Steven Quagliata took a pass in the left circle and buried a shot past
Oscar Svensson (Södertälje, Sweden/Haga Gymnasium) to cut the deficit to 3-1 exactly one minute after York's score.
The most exciting goal of the night came off the stick of
Chad Lopez (Arlington, Texas/University of Texas) before the end of the second period. Lopez got the puck off a rebound while facing the crowd, and might have well said "watch this" to the fans before spinning and sniping a shot into the top right corner of the net. The puck hit the back of the net and came right back out, causing the officials to wave the goal off initially. After a discussion, the goal was counted and the 'Jackets went up 4-1.
Stevens Point tallied another score in the third, when Kelly O'Brien stuck his stick in front of a pass from Quagliata and tipped the puck past Svensson to cut the deficit to 4-2.
After a whistle with 1.1 seconds remaining, the crowd erupted, realizing that the game was as good as over and the Yellowjackets had just taken down a top-five opponent, something it  had watched their squad almost pull off last night.
Svensson won his third game in goal this year while saving 26 shots.
Billing ended the night with 26 saves and the loss in the net.
Superior improves to 3-1-0 (1-1-0 WIAC) and will travel to Pittsburgh, Pa., to take on Chatham in a two-game series starting Friday at 6 p.m..
