UPDATED: Spartans lose 4-2 to Eau Claire Memorial

MADISON – The season came to an end Thursday for the Superior High School boys hockey team thanks to Hunter Scott and the Eau Claire Memorial Old Abes.

Scott, a 6-foot-4 junior, scored three goals to lead the Old Abes to a 4-2 victory over the Spartans in a WIAA State Hockey Tournament quarterfinal game Thursday afternoon at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison.

The Spartans end their season with a 16-8-1 record while the Old Abes (22-5-1) advance to today’s semifinals against Wausau West (26-1-1), a 2-1 winner over Wisconsin Rapids (13-12-1).

“It feels great,” Scott said. “The main goal was to win the game, but to come out with a hat trick is pretty nice to.”

Thursday’s loss was the final game for Spartan seniors Kellen McCoshen, Mitch Kontny, Tyler Plunkett, Kyle Wilander, Chris Bishop, Andrew Bronson, Jake Mergen and Joel Pettingill.

“It’s sad to say goodbye to a lot of great kids,” SHS coach Jason Kalin said. “I thought we played hard, but they obviously took advantage of their power-play situations. I thought 5-on-5 we played with them and we had some opportunities, so … it’s just tough luck.”

Two of ECM’s goals came on the same power play and turned a 2-1 Superior lead into a 3-2 deficit after two periods. The Old Abes then scored the only goal of third period when Scott completed his hat trick with six minutes remaining.

“We’ve been waiting for Hunter to play big for us and today we got a huge effort out of him with nearly three identical goals,” ECM coach Mike Schwengler said. “We knew we had to keep the puck down low on these guys. Superior has a heck of a hockey team and they’re well coached.

“We’re just pleased with the effort. Our goal was to get to Friday and we got to that point.”

The Spartans scored the only goal of the first period when Nolan Holcombe skated down the right wing and centered to Caleb Dushkin, who then left the puck for Daniel Litchke to put over Aaron McLaughlin from the slot. Litchke’s 10th goal of the season came at 7:07.

Just 19 seconds later, the Spartans found themselves shorthanded, but successfully killed off the penalty.

The Old Abes’ best scoring chance with the man advantage came in the final seconds when Pettingill, Superior’s goaltender, stopped a point-blank shot by Scott.

Superior also missed out on a power-play chance in a first period that saw the Spartans get outshot 11-4.

Scott didn’t miss the next time he had a chance as he tied the game up 1:50 into the second period with assists from Kal Herzog and Alex Smith.

Superior regained a 2-1 lead with Kontny’s power-play goal just six seconds into a Scott boarding penalty. Holcombe won the draw to Kontny, who beat McLaughlin from the dot in the left faceoff circle.

Penalties then killed Superior as the Spartans eventually wound up with two men in the box for 1:08.

The Old Abes made the Spartans pay as Scott stole the puck from a Spartan player and beat Pettingill from the right goal line.

ECM took a 3-2 lead on the same power play just 45 seconds later when Neil Klingensmith tipped a pass from Mark Munger past Pettingill.

After Scott gave ECM at two-goal cushion with 6:26 remaining, Superior was given life when an Old Abe received a double-minor penalty, putting the Spartans at a man advantage for four minutes.

The power play only lasted a minute as the Spartans were whistled for their sixth penalty of the game, giving each team four skaters.

Despite losing its man advantage, Superior had a couple of quality chances in the final two minutes, including a shot from the slot by Plunkett.

“Scooter (Aaron McLaughlin) played amazing,” Scott said. “We didn’t win without him playing the type of game he did.”

Kalin was also happy with the play of his goaltender, Pettingill, who finished with 29 saves.

“Petty played a great game, we knew he had to,” Kalin said. “Some of the saves he came up with unreal. He gave us a great effort today.

“I thought the guys did a good job of cleaning house in form, but as I said, it was a special teams game. We knew coming in that we had to stay out of the box .

“We’re just sad to see it end this way.”

SPARTAN SPIN: The four SHS fan buses that made the trip to Madison had an early wake-up call – they left Superior at 4:30 a.m. Thursday. … The Spartans got to test out the ice at the Alliant Energy Center with a practice Wednesday afternoon. … Superior defeated ECM 5-2 earlier in the season … ECM and Wausau West have played twice this season, with the Old Abes winning 4-3 and the Warriors winning 3-2. … The two remaining quarterfinal games are Stoughton vs. University School of Milwaukee and Green Bay Notre Dame vs. Madison Edgewood. … The championship game is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Saturday and will be carried live on My9 TV, along with the girls championship game at noon. … Some former Superiorites in attendance Thursday were Tim McNaughton (Wisconsin Rapids), former SHS assistant coach Sean Storie, former Spartans’ Eric Severin and Bill McCoshen and his sister, Colleen McCoshen. … Wausau West is coached by former Superiorite Pete Susens. … SHS has been to a record 33 state tournaments, including nine in a row. … Superior’s Tim Nelson is still atop the record charts with 10 assists in the 1991 state tournament. Other records set that year: most goals (14), most assists (17) and most points (37). … The 1986 team holds the record for most penalties in a game (15) vs. Northland Pines and most penalties in the tournament (24). … Kontny finished as Superior’s leading scorer on the season with 15 goals and 17 assists from 32 points. One point behind was Bishop (9-22-31) and Holcombe (14-14-28).

Eau Claire Memorial 0 3 1 — 4

Superior 1 1 0 — 2

First period: 1. SHS, Daniel Litchke 10 (Caleb Dushkin 10, Nolan Holcombe 13), 7:07.

Penalties: Joel Broberg, SHS (checking from behind), 7:26. Broberg, SHS (10-minute misconduct), 7:26. Andres Knickerbocker, ECM (hooking), 14:10.

Second period: 2. ECM, Hunter Scott 22 (Kal Herzog 4, Alex Smith 10), 1:50. 3. SHS, Mitch Kontny 15 (Nolan Holcombe 14), 3:57 (pp). 4. ECM, Scott 23 (Mark Munger 20, Michael Kopla 13), 6:46 (5-on-3). 5. ECM, Neil Klingensmith 17 (Mark Munger 20, Michael Kopla 13), 6:46 (pp).

Penalties: Scott, ECM (boarding), 3:51. David Dalbec, SHS (holding), 4:20. Jake Mergen, SHS (cross checking), 5:13. Brett Bukowski, SHS (holding), 10:04. ECM (too many men on ice), 14:31.

Third period: 6. ECM, Scott 24 (unassisted), 10:34.

Penalties: Mike Novacek, ECM (roughing), 2:53. Andrew Knickerbocker, ECM (slashing), 9:21. Dalbec, SHS (slashing), 9:21. Klingensmith, ECM (tripping), 11:24. Mergen, SHS (elbowing), 12:46 (5-minute major).

Saves: Aaron McLaughlin, ECM 3-7-12—22. Joel Pettingill, SHS 11-10-8—29.

Tags: sports, hockey, superior