SUPERIOR, Wis. – For the Yellowjacket men's hockey team, everything came down to one.
After dropping Friday's game to UW-Stevens Point, the stage was set for a one game, winner-take-all contest to determine who would be the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) regular season champion. After Friday, the Yellowjackets and the Pointers were tied atop the WIAC standings, each having 31 points, setting the stage for an epic regular season finale.
The 60 minutes of regulation time weren't enough to decide the winner, as the teams were deadlocked at 2-2. The five minutes of overtime didn't decide anything either, meaning the game was going to come down to a shootout.
And the conference champion was going to be decided by one shot.
With each team having scored once,
Carson Riddle (Ortonville, Mich./Brandon) blew the roof off Wessman Arena, as he broke in and slid a shot underneath Stevens Point goaltender Alex Proctor, giving the Yellowjackets the shootout win, 2-1, and the extra point in the WIAC standings, making them the top-seed in the upcoming WIAC tournament.
Riddle has likely never scored a bigger goal that will not count in his statistics, but he and the Yellowjackets wouldn't trade it for anything.
Getting to that point wasn't easy, however, as like Friday, Stevens Point built a 2-0 lead in the first period. On this night, however, the injury-depleted Yellowjackets dug deep and were able to draw even, scoring twice in the second period to make it 2-2 after forty minutes.
Reed Stark (Suffern, N.Y./Douglas County West) led the charge offensively for the 'Jackets, scoring once and adding an assist.
At the other end,
Jan Skorpik (Brandýs nad Labem, Czechia/OA Prague) didn't get the start but came into the game to start the second period and turned aside all 14 shots he faced through two periods and overtime. He stopped three-of-four chances in the shootout, as well and his record now stands at 4-1-1.
Game Notes
- Andrew Poulias opened he scoring for Stevens Point, scoring from the slot at 10:43 of the first period to make it 1-0.
- Tyler German extended the lead at 17:15, beating Yellowjacket goaltender Jack Boschert (Florissant, Mo./Duchesne) on the short side from the left circle for a shorthanded goal.
- In the first minute of the second, Stark got a loose puck in the left circle and blasted a shot past Proctor on the short side to cut the Pointer lead in half.
- Stark then made a key play on the tying goal, corralling a puck on the right wing and finding Kade Shea (Duluth, Minn./Denfeld) in the high slot, and Shea's wrist shot beat Proctor low, tying the game at 10:21 of the second.
- The Yellowjackets had a chance on the power play in overtime, but that was erased when they took a penalty.
- In the shootout, Skorpik stopped the first shooter for Stevens Point before Gavin Rasmussen (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet) buried his shot to give the Yellowjackets the early edge.
- Sean Bunting tied the shootout for Stevens Point in the second round.
- Neither team scored in the third round and Skorpik made a save in the fourth, setting the stage for Riddle's heroics.
- Skorpik now has a shutout streak of 220:06.
- The Yellowjackets made a goaltending change in all three regular season games against the Pointers.
- Both Boschert and Ikki Kogawa (Chiba, Japan/Collingwood Collegiate Institute) exited the game with injuries and didn't return.
- The WIAC regular season championship is the first for the Yellowjackets since 2021.
The Yellowjackets have earned a bye in the opening round of the WIAC playoffs and will host a semifinal series beginning Friday, Feb. 28. They will play the winner of the series between UW-Stout and UW-River Falls. The opening faceoff will be at 7:05 p.m. at Wessman Arena.
