ASHLAND, Wis. – In sports, there's a saying – winning ugly. There's also another saying – a win is a win.
 
Coming off last Saturday's loss at Stevens Point, the Yellowjackets were looking to get back in the win column and keep pace with the Pointers at the top of the WIAC. The opponent, Northland College, a team the Yellowjackets swept two weeks ago, outscoring them 10-0 over the two games.

This time was going to be different, however.
 
Northland, who won its first game of the season last Saturday over River Falls, is a traditionally tough out on their home ice, the Bay Area Civic Center, and there was no reason to believe Saturday's game would be any different.

The Yellowjackets scored the first two goals of the game and gutted out a 2-1 win over Northland Saturday in Ashland.
 
With the win, combined with other results in the WIAC Saturday, the Yellowjackets (9-4-0, 5-2-0 WIAC) will go into the break tied for first place in the conference. Both the Yellowjackets and Stevens Point have 16 points. They are seven points clear of Eau Claire and Stout, who are tied for third with nine points.
 
There was nothing pretty about Saturday's game, one that featured 71 faceoffs and almost zero flow. The first period was particularly ugly, with 24 faceoffs and the two teams combining for just 13 shots on goal.

The Yellowjackets opened the scoring at 11:59 of the first period when Collin Pederson (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna Senior) made a perfect pass to spring Conor MacLean (Wilcox, Saskatchewan/Athol Murray College of Notre Dame) on a breakaway, and the Yellowjacket senior made no mistake, wiring a shot over the glove hand of Northland goaltender Viktor Wennberg to make it 1-0.
 
It stayed that way until 14:17 of the second period. Zach Bannister (Grande Prairie, Alberta/St. Joseph Catholic) made a pass that was out of the reach of Colton Friesen (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Dakota Collegiate). Friesen was in a footrace with the Northland defender in pursuit of the puck when Wennberg decided to come out of the net and play the puck. Friesen took advantage of that mistake, picking up the puck, stickhandling around Wennberg and scoring into an empty net for his eighth of the season and a 2-0 Yellowjacket lead.
 
Moments after the Friesen goal the Yellowjackets went shorthanded, and just eight seconds into the power play Northland converted, cutting the Yellowjacket lead to 2-1 at 15:11 of the second period. The goal was the first goal allowed by Yellowjacket goaltender Dylan Meilun (Morden, Manitoba/Morden Collegiate Institute) in more than three games, snapping a shutout streak of 232:55, a program record.
 
In the third period both teams had scoring opportunities. The best chances for the Yellowjackets came on their only power play of the night, but they were unable to get another one past Wennberg to pad the lead.
 
For the game, the Yellowjackets outshot Northland 32-20. Meilun made 19 saves for the Yellowjackets, improving his record on the year to 7-0-0. He became the first goaltender in UW-Superior history to start his career with seven consecutive wins.
 
The Yellowjackets will be back in action Thursday, Dec. 29 when they host St. Scholastica in the 2022 Superior Showdown, sponsored by Subway. The opening faceoff is set for 7:05 p.m. at Wessman Arena.