SUPERIOR, Wis.: The first semester of the 2019-20 academic year has come and gone, which means in the athletic world attention is turned to holiday tournaments. For Yellowjacket Athletics, it means it's time for a pair of events being held on campus.
 
The Yellowjacket men's hockey team will be hosting the Third Annual Superior Showdown, sponsored by Subway December 28-29, while the women's basketball team will be hosting the Second Annual Superior Shootout Classic December 29-30.
 
Superior Showdown sponsored by Subway
 
Superior Shootout Classic
 
"With these two events, we're hosting eight games on campus over three days and that's always exciting. We love having the opportunity to showcase our community and UW-Superior to visitors coming in to compete," said UW-Superior Athletics Director Nick Bursik. "Our hope is that the community is just as excited about these three days of competition as we are."
 
Banquet Speakers Announced

The keynote speaker for the Superior Showdown is longtime NCAA Division III hockey coach Mark Wick. A former assistant coach at UW-Superior (1996-98), Wick is currently an assistant coach at Augsburg University after a long tenure as the head men's hockey coach at the College of St. Scholastica. Recently, Wick has become an accomplished public speaker and tireless advocate for mental health awareness.
 
"During this year our teams have been dedicating their cause efforts to mental health awareness and suicide prevention, and Mark's message walks in lockstep with what our teams are focusing on," Bursik said. "Mark delivers a powerful message and everyone in the room will find it beneficial."
 
Wick has been open about his own battle with depression, and his journey was featured in a story in the Duluth News Tribune.
 
Brian Frye will be the featured speaker for the Superior Shootout Classic banquet. Frye, a native of Burnsville, Minnesota, has enjoyed a long basketball coaching career and is currently the head girls basketball coach at DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Among other coaching stops, Frye had a three-year stretch as the director of women's basketball operations at the University of Minnesota (2002-2005).
 
"Brian is a great motivator, and I think the teams playing in this year's event are really going to enjoy hearing his message," said Yellowjacket Women's Basketball Head Coach Zach Otto-Fisher. "We're fortunate to be able to bring someone with his resume to UW-Superior."
 
Frye served as the director of the Minnesota Summitt Girls AAU basketball program in 2000 and founded the Minnesota Summitt Showcase for college coaches to assist in the promotion of Minnesota talent to collegiate recruiters. He also coached the Summitt 17 and under girls basketball team to a ninth place finish in the national AAU tournament in 2000.
 
Free Admission for Youth
 
When the games begin Saturday, December 28, admission will be free for youth. No admission will be charged to kids attending any games of the Superior Showdown or Superior Shootout.
 
"It's important to us that the kids in the area have the chance to come in and watch, not just our teams but the others as well, compete at a high level," Bursik said. "It's a no brainer for us to make events like this free to the youth."