St. Marys Stops UWS

NSO – NEWS RELEASE

There are games where a hockey coach will tell you that every mistake his or her team made ended up in the back of their net. For the Yellowjacket men’s hockey team, Friday was one of those games.

While they held a major territorial advantage for much of the night and badly outshot Saint Mary’s, the Yellowjacket offense stalled a bit and couldn’t overcome a few key mistakes that resulted in goals for the opposition. In the end, it was Saint Mary’s that left Wessman Arena with a 5-2 win and sent the reeling Yellowjackets to their third straight loss.

The early stages of the game it was all Yellowjackets. The home team came out of the gates firing, outshooting Saint Mary’s 17-4 in the period, but went into the intermission trailing. Saint Mary’s, on the other hand, weathered the Yellowjackets’ storm and potted a pair of goals late in the period to take a 2-0 lead. At 16:26 Kelvin Walz let a wrist shot go from the right circle that beat Yellowjacket goaltender Zach Thompson (Duluth, Minn./Denfeld) low on the stick side for his first goal of the season. Just 18 seconds later Saint Mary’s increased its lead when Chad Cesarz pounced on a loose puck near the Yellowjacket goal and slid home his third of the season.

A penalty in the final seconds of the opening period ensured that the Yellowjackets would enter the second with the man advantage, and they made Saint Mary’s pay. Owen Stauber (Hermantown, Minn./Hermantown) started the play in the neutral zone, and Jake Johnson (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) finished it, as his wrist shot from the right circle eluded Saint Mary’s goaltender Phil Heinle to get the Yellowjackets on the board just 1:23 into the period. For Johnson, it was his team-leading fourth goal of the season. The freshman has now scored at least one goal in four of the first five games in 2014-15.

Saint Mary’s quickly answered, however, to regain the two-goal lead. A turnover in the defensive zone put the puck on the stick of Jude Warner, and his shot from between the circles beat Thompson on the glove side to make it 3-1 at 3:35 of the second period.

Later in the period the Yellowjackets had a chance to pull back to within one when David Dalbec (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) got behind the defense, but the outlet pass was behind him and the play didn’t develop. However, Brandon Anderson (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Tech) intercepted the ensuing clearing attempt on the right wing and, while almost standing on the goal line, put the puck on goal and it got past Heinle for his second of the year, making it a 3-2 game at 14:02 of the second period.

Moments later the Yellowjackets nearly drew even, as Tanner Dion (Hardisty, Alberta/Central Sedgewick) was sent in alone on Heinle, but his backhand attempt was stopped and it stayed 3-2 into the second intermission.

The teams came out skating in the third, as five minutes elapsed before the first stoppage in play. The Yellowjackets had chances to tie the game, but both Johnson and Jordan Shockley (Duluth, Minn./Marshall School) were stopped at point-blank range.

Saint Mary’s added its fourth marker of the game at 9:30 of the third when Taylor Portner took a center pass and went in alone on Thompson. He made a quick fake, forced Thompson to open the pads and slid the puck underneath him for his first of the year to make it 4-2. Saint Mary’s closed out the scoring at 14:09 when Bob Marx’s shot from the blue line beat Thompson for his first of the year, making the final score 5-2.

For the game the Yellowjackets outshot Saint Mary’s 41-20. Heinle was the star of the game, making 39 saves, including 33 in the first two periods, holding the Yellowjackets at bay while his team built an insurmountable lead. At the other end, Thompson finished with 15 saves.

Special teams were strong again for the Yellowjackets, as they finished the night 1-of-3 on the power play and a perfect 2-of-2 on teh penalty kill. The Yellowjackets took three penalties for six minutes and Saint Mary’s took four penalties for eight minutes.

The Yellowjackets (2-3-0, 0-0-0 WIAC) will look to snap their three-game skid Saturday night when they host Hamline University at Wessman Arena. Game time is set for 7:05 p.m. and can be heard live locally on 91.3 FM in Superior. If you are outside the local listening area you can tune in online through the iFan Sports Network. Jon Garver will have the call.