ST. PETER, Minn. – Two weeks ago, the Yellowjacket men's hockey team hosted the Fifth Annual Superior Showdown, sponsored by Subway, at Wessman Arena. The 'Jackets, who had never won the event, were hoping to keep the tournament hardware at home for the first time. Their opponent in the tournament opener was Gustavus, a team that came into the game with just one win on the year.
 
Things didn't go the Yellowjackets' way that night, meaning they would have to wait another year to win their own tournament. On the flip side, the Gusties picked up their second win of the year.

Friday night the teams met again, this time at Don Roberts Ice Rink on the Gustavus Adolphus campus, and this one ended up being much more to the Yellowjackets' liking.
 
The 'Jackets scored four times in the second period, including three goals in a span of 2:25 late in the period on the way to a 6-3 win in St. Peter.
 
With the victory, the Yellowjackets (10-5-1, 5-2-0 WIAC) snapped a two-game winless streak on the heels of their final non-conference game of 2022-23.
 
Early on the Yellowjackets carried the play, and they opened the scoring at 13:52 of the first period when Collin Pederson (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna Senior) took a centering pass and put the puck past Gustavus goaltender Jackson Hjelle to make it 1-0. The goal snapped a nine-game goal drought for Pederson. Jordan Guiney (Victoria, British Columbia/Belmont Secondary School) assisted on the goal, giving him his first point as a Yellowjacket.
 
It stayed that way until the first minutes of the second period when the Yellowjackets extended the lead.
 
Antonio Di Paolo (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan/Humboldt Collegiate Institute) made a lead pass to Tristan Therrien (Prévost, Québec/Newbridge Academy), and the freshman went in on the breakaway, beating Hjelle between the pads with the wrist shot to make it 2-0 at 1:57 of the second.
 
Gustavus came roaring back and quickly tied the game.
 
Toby Sengvongxay wristed a shot past goaltender Dylan Meilun (Morden, Manitoba/Morden Collegiate Institute) on a power play at 4:24, and Nate Stone tied the game just 32 seconds later.
 
The Yellowjackets took the lead for good at 15:45 of the second period when Conor MacLean (Wilcox, Saskatchewan/Athol Murray College of Notre Dame) scored his second goal of the season. MacLean got the puck in the neutral zone, sped past a defender and snapped a shot past Hjelle from the right circle for his second of the year.
 
Just over a minute later Sam Sterne (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) got the puck at the left point and made a pass to Zach Bannister(Grande Prairie, Alberta/St. Joseph Catholic) in the right circle. Bannister's shot beat Hjelle high on the glove side for his second of the year, making it 4-2 at 16:52. For Bannister, the goal snapped a nine-game goal drought.
 
Then, at 18:10 Matt Francois (Denver, Colo./Grandview) scored his second goal of the season to make it 5-2. Francois got the puck in the right circle but couldn't get the shot away. He stayed with the puck, and in the left circle wired a shot over the glove of Hjelle.
 
Gustavus pulled back to within two in the third, making it 5-3 on a goal from Stanislav Danaev at 8:14.
 
The Yellowjackets salted the game away in the final minute, when C.J. Walker (Boise, Idaho/Athol Murray College of Notre Dame) scored into the empty net, making the final score 6-3.
 
Meilun earned the win in goal for the Yellowjackets, turning aside 14 shots to improve to 8-0-1 on the year.
 
The Yellowjackets will close out the non-conference portion of their schedule tomorrow when they travel to St. Paul, Minn. to take on Hamline. The opening faceoff from TRIA Arena is scheduled for 5 p.m.