SUPERIOR, Wis. -- Last season, the final games before the semester break saw the Yellowjackets travel to Saint Mary's for a pair of games. The season, at that point, had already gone off the rails and the two games in Winona signaled the final descent to rock bottom. Friday night the Yellowjackets met the Cardinals again, this time in the season opening contest at Wessman Arena, and the result was much different, and more satisfying, this time around.
After a scoreless first period the Yellowjackets scored three times in the second and four times in the third on the way to a 7-0 blanking of the Cardinals. Seven different players scored goals and 15 of the 19 skaters registered at least a point in the game for the Yellowjackets.
The victory, though convincing, didn't come easy, as the 'Jackets were anything but sharp in the first period. Shots in the opening period favored the Yellowjackets 9-8, but penalties were a factor. The Yellowjackets played shorthanded three times, but the penalty kill got stronger each time over the boards and kept the Saint Mary's power play off balance.
The Yellowjackets would get the eventual game-winning goal at the 4:11 mark of the second period when
Ty Proffitt (Fairbanks, Alaska/Fairbanks BEST) got the rebound of a
Levi Cudmore (Park River, N.D./Park River) shot and put it past Cardinal goaltender Nick Nast to make it 1-0. It went to 2-0 at 8:34 of the second when
Andrew Durham (Richardson, Texas/Plano East) carried into the zone on the left wing, found another gear, and drove hard to the net before sliding a shot between Nast's pads. With 5:28 to go in the middle frame
Chad Lopez (Arlington, Texas/University of Texas) made it a 3-0 game, getting a loose puck at the top of the goal crease and lifting the puck over a sprawled out Nast.
Before the fans could even return to their seats for the start of the third period, the Yellowjackets would tally again. This time
Jordan Martin (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Vincent Massey Collegiate) made a perfect feed from the left circle to the right, and
Artur Terchiyev (Kiev, Ukraine/Everst Academy) blasted the one-timer past Nast to make it a 4-0 game just 40 seconds in. Moments later the Yellowjackets would strike again, this time
Coltyn Bates (Brandon, Manitoba/Vincent Massey Collegiate) sprung
Will Blake (Champlin, Minn./Breck) in on the Saint Mary's defense, and the sophomore deked from his forehand to the backhand and had a wide open net to slide the puck into to push the lead to 5-0.
Saint Mary's called a timeout after the Blake goal, hoping to stop the bleeding, but it didn't happen. Just over a minute after the fifth goal the Yellowjacketstacked on another. This time it was Bates, who finished off a great three-way passing play to make it 6-0 at 3:08. That spelled the end of the night for Nast, who was lifted from the game in favor of Al Rogers. Rogers would make nine saves, but on the 10thshot the Yellowjacketsclosed out the scoring.
Troy MacTavish (Kanata, Ontario/Earl of March) finished off a scramble near the goal, scoring on the power play with 27.1 seconds to play to make the final 7-0.
Lopez and Terchiyev paced the offense, each finishing the game with a goal and two assists. Bates had a goal and an assist, while Martin had a pair of assists.
Oscar Svensson (Södertälje, Sweden/Haga Gymnasium) got the start in goal for the Yellowjackets and earned his second career shutout, finishing the night with 20 saves. At the other end Nast finished his night with 22 saves. The Yellowjackets outshot the Cardinals 38-20 on the night.
