SUPERIOR, Wis. - An early-season trademark of the Yellowjacket men's hockey team was the fast start. On the way to a 12-2-1 start, the Yellowjackets usually scored first, and once they had that lead they rarely gave it up. The last month, however, the starts have been slower, and wins have become more difficult.

Friday night the Yellowjackets went back to their roots, finding the back of the net four times on the way to a 6-3 win over Northland in the opening game of the 2020 WIAC Commissioner's Cup Playoffs. The victory puts the Yellowjackets (15-8-3) in position to advance to the WIAC semifinals with a win or a tie Saturday.

The Yellowjackets opened the scoring early. Troy MacTavish (Kanata, Ontario/Earl of March) had the puck below the goal line and found a wide open Levi Cudmore (Park River, N.D./Park River) in front, and the sophomore made no mistake, beating Northland goaltender Taylor Unruh high to the glove side to make it 1-0 just 2:44 into the game. The goal snapped a 13-game goal drought for Cudmore.

Northland tied the game when Kalib Ford scored a goal off a faceoff at 7:44.

The tie didn't last long, as the Yellowjackets exploded for three goals in a span of 6:16 to blow the game open. Dylan Johnson (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet) started the play in the left corner and passed to the high slot where Conor MacLean (Wilcox, Saskatchewan/Athol Murray College of Notre Dame), who was back in the lineup after missing the last four games, settled the puck down and then wired a shot over Unruh's glove to make it 2-1. It was MacLean's fifth goal of the year. That goal came at 12:08 of the period. Moments later the Yellowjackets struck again, this time it was Lawson McDonald (Rosetown, Manitoba/Northlands Parkway Collegiate) doing the damage, taking a pass between the circles slipping a shot between Unruh's pads to make it 3-1. Then at 18:24 Liam Blais (Uxbridge, Ontario/Uxbridge Secondary) picked up his seventh goal of the year, finding a loose puck behind Unruh and poking over the goal line to make it 4-1 Yellowjackets after one period.

It stayed that way until the final minute of the second, when Ty Proffitt (Fairbanks, Alaska/Fairbanks BEST) scored his fourth goal of the year, ripping a shot from the slot past Gennaro Anzevino, who came on in relief of Unruh after the first, increasing the Yellowjacket lead to 5-1 after two.

In the third Northland refused to go away, and made things too close for comfort midway through the period. Kurt Sonne scored on a wrist shot from the right circle at 12:11 to make it a 5-2 game. Then 33 seconds later Ford picked up his second of the game to cut the lead to 5-3.

Times were tense as the clock wound down in the third, but the Yellowjackets salted the game away when Chad Lopez (Arlington, Texas/University of Texas) scored into an empty net with 1:14 to play, making the final score 6-2. For Lopez, the goal broke a stretch where he scored just once in 12 games.

For the first time in over a month Oscar Svensson (Södertälje, Sweden/Haga Gymnasium) got the start in goal and finished the game with 25 saves. His record for the year is now a tidy 9-2-0.

The second game of the WIAC playoff series will be Saturday at Wessman Arena.