Hawks power past Spartans

Daniel Litchke’s hat trick led the Superior High School boys hockey team to a 5-1 win at Hudson Saturday afternoon.

The Spartans returned to action Tuesday night, hosting the undefeated Hermantown Hawks, who came to Wessman Arena with an overall record of 15-0.

The Hawks are now 16-0 overall and 4-0 in the Lake Superior Conference after defeating the Spartans 4-3 thanks to a pair of third-period power-play goals.

Up next for the Spartans (8-5-1, 1-3) is the Showdown in Titletown Tournament in Green Bay.

Superior opens against the host Green Bay Notre Dame Tritons Friday night.

The tournament runs through Sunday.

Hawks 4, Spartans 3

Daniel Mikel's first goal of the season gave Superior a 3-2 lead over Hermantwon early in the third period. But the lead didn't last long as the Spartans ran into penalty problems.

Thanks to a number of saves by Paxton Paine and a couple of blocked shots out front, the Spartans survived a Hermantown 5-on-3 power play that lasted more than 1:30.

Superior wasn’t as fortunate a bit later as Travis Koepke scored his second goal of the game seconds into a Spartan penalty. The goal came with 3:13 remaining.

Less than a minute later Brady Uotinen was given a five-minute major penalty for checking from behind and 1:29 later, Hermantown’s Jared Thomas scored the game-winning goal with assists from Jared Kolquist and Brian LaBlanc.

Superior was whistled for six penalties, all in the third period.

Each team scored a goal in the first period, starting with Superior’s Brett Bukowski scoring his fifth goal of the with assists from Daniel and Gerald Mikel.

Hermantown tied it up with 2:35 left in the opening period when Chris Benson put home a centering pass from Thomas.

Each team scored once again in the second period, starting with Hermantown’s Koepke two minutes into the period.

The Spartans tied it up at 12:14 when Bukowski took a pass from Daniel Litchke and put a one-timer through the pads of Hawk goaltender Matt Mensinger.

Paine finished with 20 saves for Superior and Mensinger had 18 for Hermantown.

Hermantown 1-1-2—4

Superior 1-1-1—3

First Period: 1. SHS, Brett Bukowski 5 (Daniel Mikel 3, Gerald Mikel 6), 8:25. 2. H, Chris Benson (Jared Thomas), 14:25.

Second Period: 3, H, Travis Koepke, 2:06. 4. SHS, Bukowski 6 (Daniel Litchke 9, Nolan Holcombe 16), 12:14.

Third Period: 5. SHS, D. Mikel 1 (Trent Olson 4, Bukowski 6), 4:50. 6. H, Koepke (Andrew Mattson), 13:47 (pp). 7. H, Thomas (Jared Kolquist, Brian LaBlanc), 15:57 (pp).

Saves: Matt Mensinger, H 4-8-6—18. Paxton Paine, SHS 4-4-12—20.

Spartans 5, Raiders 1

The Spartans also got goals from Steven Mikel and Aaron Wakefield and 23 saves from Paine in Saturday’s win at the Hudson Sports and Civic Center.

Superior took a 2-0 lead in the first period as Litchke scored on a power play with an assist from Caleb Dushkin and Mikel scored with a helper from defenseman Aaron Johnson.

Hudson’s lone goal came on a power play in the second period.

The Spartans dominated the third period with three more goals, starting with Litchke’s second score of game with an assist from defenseman Uotinen.

Litchke completed his hat trick by scoring into an empty net with 54 seconds remaining, but the Spartans weren’t done yet as Aaron Wakefield scored 17 seconds later with Hudson’s goaltender back in the game.

Superior 2-0-3—5

Hudson 0-1-0—1

First Period: 1. SHS, Daniel Litchke 10 (Caleb Dushkin 5), 3:24 (pp). 2. SHS, Steven Mikel 5 (Aaron Johnson 4), 6:26.

Penatlies: Lawrence Pruitt, H (tripping), 2:04.

Second Period: 3. H, Pruitt, 12:29 (pp).

Penalties: Trent Olson, SHS (tripping), 1:40. Steven Burke, H (interference), 5:05. David Kein, H (interference), 9:00; Dane Sislo, SHS (hooking), 11:19; Jake Quade, H (holding), 13:10. Dylan Haskins, H (tripping), 15:22.

Third Period: 4. SHS, Litchke 11 (Brady Uotinen 6), 8:56. 5. SHS, Litchke 12, 16:06 (en). 6. SHS, Aaron Wakefield-Zubiate 7, 16:23.

Penalties: Dushkin, SHS (hooking), :35. Johnson, SHS (checking from behind), 2:47. Taylor Casey, H (interference), 10:09. Haskins, H (interference), 16:44.

Saves: Paxton Paine, SHS 23. Josh Mattis, H 18. Power plays: SHS, 1-for-7; H, 1-for-4.

Tags: sports, hockey, spartans, hermantown, updates