SUPERIOR, Wis. – It's been an interesting opening month to 2022-23 for the Yellowjacket men's hockey team.

Through the first three games, the Yellowjackets went 1-2-0 and were outscored 16-10. Since then, heading into play Saturday, the Yellowjackets have won five-of-six games. The offense has been respectable, potting 17 goals in those six contests. The defense, however, has been downright dominant, allowing just six goals and posting three shutouts.
 
Saturday, as the Yellowjackets were looking to put together their second three-game win streak of the young season, they put it all together to post their most complete and dominating win of the year.
 
The offense exploded, getting goals from seven different players and the defense once again clamped down, as the Yellowjackets completed the sweep of Northland with a 7-0 win at Wessman Arena Saturday night.
 
On a night when 14 different players registered at least one point, the Yellowjackets extending their winning streak and improved to 7-3-0 overall and 3-1-0 in the WIAC.
 
The game wasn't without a little adversity, however.
 
Early in the game the Yellowjacket penalty kill, which entered play Saturday riding a streak of 30 consecutive kills, got put to the test when Bradley Stonnell (Surrey, British Columbia/Tamanawis Secondary School) was assessed a five-minute major for checking from behind. Not only did the killers do the job, but they also provided the offense on the night's game-winning goal.
 
Zach Bannister (Grande Prairie, Alberta/St. Joseph Catholic) intercepted a pass in the high slot of the Yellowjackets' zone and fed a pass up the seam to Gavin Rasmussen (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet Senior), who went in on the breakaway. Rasmussen faked the forehand before moving to the backhand and sliding home the shorthanded goal 14:05 of the first to make it 1-0.

Later in the period Dusty Bergstrom (Pine City, Minn./Pine City) intercepted a pass in the Northland zone and played the puck to the front of the goal where Austin Paul (Saint-Lazare, Quebec/École Secondaire du Sommet) redirected it for his second of the year, and the Yellowjackets were up 2-0 after one period.
 
Midway through the second period the Yellowjackets extended the lead. Paul and Ty Proffitt (Fairbanks, Alaska/Fairbanks BEST) worked the puck into the left circle and the shot was stopped by Northland goaltender Chris Curr, but leading scorer Colton Friesen (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Dakota Collegiate) banged home the rebound. For Friesen, the top-scoring freshman in the nation entering play Saturday, it was his seventh goal of the year, and the Yellowjackets led 3-0 after two.
 
In the third period the Yellowjackets outshot Northland 15-4 and tacked on four more goals before the period was half over.
 
Tristan Therrien (Prévost, Québec/Newbridge Academy) finished off a three-way passing play just 20 seconds into the third to make it 4-0. Proffitt scored the fifth goal of the game for the Yellowjackets, banking a shot off a defender past Curr, putting the Yellowjackets up 5-0 and in the process triggering the Culver's Five Goal Free for All.
 
Northland called a timeout, and made a goaltending change, but that did little to quell the Yellowjacket momentum.
 
At 5:26 of the third period MacGregor Sinclair (Irma, Alberta/Irma School) got a rebound to the left of the Northland goal and slid home his fifth of the year to make it 6-0. Then at 9:54 of the third period freshman Tyler Ryder (Byron Center, Mich./Northstar Christian Academy) scored his first collegiate goal to make the final score 7-0. Ryder took a long shot that was handled by Northland goaltender Kenny Vought, but Ryder stayed with the play, got his own rebound and flipped a backhand into the net.
 
From there the only drama remaining was whether senior goaltender Myles Hektor (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest) would earn the shutout. Hektor, making his second start in the last three games, went largely untested Saturday. He finished the game stopping all 13 shots Northland put his way. With the win, Hektor evened his record at 2-2-0 on the year and posted the fifth shutout of his career.
 
Bannister finished the game with three assists, while Proffitt and Paul both posted a goal and an assist.
 
The Yellowjackets are back in action Friday, Dec. 2 when they host UW-Eau Claire. The opening faceoff is set for 7:05 p.m. at Wessman Arena.