UWS men win fifth straight, women split with River Falls

Thanks to stellar special teams play, the University of Wisconsin-Superior men’s hockey team won its fifth straight game with a 4-2 victory over UW-Stevens Point Saturday night at Wessman Arena.

The Yellowjackets (5-1 overall, 3-1 in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association) scored a pair of power-play goals then killed off of a five-minute major penalty that was called with 5:26 remaining and UWS clinging to a 3-2 lead.

After killing off the Pointers’ power play, the Yellowjackets sealed the victory when Pat Dalbec was credited with an empty-net goal with 5.3 seconds remaining.

River Falls missed an excellent chance to tie the game when a Falcon hit the right post in the final minute of play.

After successfully killing off the penalty, Dalbec skated in on an empty net. But before the former Superior Spartan was able to get a shot off, he was hauled down but was still credited with the goal by the referees. With his third goal of the season, Dalbec now has scored at least one point the Yellowjackets’ six game.

“They made the call and we had to go out there and kill the penalty for five minutes,” UWS coach Dan Stauber said. “We’re happy to get out of there with a win. The situation we were in they could have easily scored the tying and winning goals, but we had a little puck luck on the pipes and did a good job keeping then from scoring.”

Saturday’s win also completed Superior’s two-game sweep of UWSP (3-4, 0-4). The Yellowjackets won Friday’s game 3-2 in overtime.

UWS got off to a good start Saturday with four shots on goal in the first minute.

The constant pressure paid off for UWS at 5:01 when Marc Fortin scored his first goal of the season. Cody Hotchkin and Andy Singerhouse assisted on the goal by applying pressure from the right side, which allowed Fortin to sneak in from the weak side and slap the puck behind Point goaltender Brandon Jaeger.

Both teams scored twice in the second period, starting with Jeff Forsythe’s 4-on-3 power-play goal with an assist from Dalbec at 2:34.

“Our power play has been coming together the last couple of games,” Forsythe said. “We’ve worked on some things in practice and it feels good to get that part of our game working.

Point made it a 2-1 game at 11:36 when Jerry Freismuth picked off a UWS clearing attempt and put the puck into the top left corner.

UWS regained a two-goal cushion at 12:36 when Kyle Leahy deflected a shot by Forsythe over Jaeger’s right shoulder. Leahy’s third goal came 19 seconds into a power play.

“They were giving us the lane all night, Friday night too, for that shot and we took advantage of it,” Forsythe said. “Leahy and (Joey) Massingham both just stand in front of the net. They’re warriors and make it possible for us to get shots through.”

Point made it 3-2 at 15:37 after a UWS defenseman blocked a shot, but the puck went right to Evan Dixon, who put it over Strandberg’s shoulder.

UWS killed off 57 seconds of a penalty carried over from the second period and then a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty before having to kill of Tanner Dion’s major penalty for checking from behind.

Strandberg, who was playing in his third game of the season, finished with 17 saves. Jaeger had 21 saves for Point.

“He was getting tired, he’s not in game shape yet, but we wanted to get him in there two nights in a row and he did a good job both nights,” Stauber said.

UWS is back in action next weekend against UW-Stout. Friday’s game will be played in Menomonie and Saturday’s game will be at Wessman Arena. Both games begin at 7:05 p.m.

“Two weekend sweeps in a row feels pretty good,” Stauber said. “We just have to carry it over to next weekend. We need to just take a breath, enjoy the moment and get ready to play again.”

UW-Stevens Point 0-2-0—2

UW-Superior 1-2-1—4

First Period: 1. UWS, Marc Fortin 1 (Cody Hotchkin, Andy Singerhouse), 5:01.

Second Period: 2. UWS, Jeff Forsythe 1 (Pat Dalbec), 2:34 (4-on-3). 3. UWSP, Jerry Freismuth, 11:36. 4. UWS, Kyle Leahy 3 (Forsythe), 12:36 (pp). 5. UWSP, Evan Dixon (Alex Kromm, Kevin Gibson), 15:37.

Third Period: 6, UWS, Dalbec 3, 19:54. (en).

Saves: Brandon Jaeger, UWSP 10-5-6—21. Drew Strandberg, UWS 9-3-5—17.

Friday’s Game

Mike Orosey’s goal 2:34 into overtime gave UWS a 3-2 victory over UWSP Friday night before a Wessman Arena crowd of 732.

Dalbec and Andy Singerhouse assisted on Orosey’s game-winning goal for the Yellowjackets (4-1), who took a 2-0 lead with Singerhouse’s goal in the first period and Tanner Dion’s power-play goal in the second.

The Pointers (3-3) forced overtime with third-period goals by Nick Kenney and Kyle Politz.

Kevin Gibson, who assisted Politz’s goal, is the son of Kirk Gibson, current manager of the Arizona Diamondback. The elder Gibson played in the major leagues for the Detroit Tigers, L.A. Dodgers, Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates. Gibson is best known for a home run he hit off Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series between the Dodgers and Oakland Athletics.

’JACKET JOTTINGS: UWS was 1-for-2 on the power play and UWSP 0-3. … The Yellowjackets had three minor penalties and the Pointers two. ...

UW-Stevens Point 0 0 2 0 — 2

UW-Superior 1 1 0 1 — 3

First Period: 1. UWS, Andy Singerhouse (Joey Massingham, Cody Hotchkin), 18:11.

Second Period: 2. UWS, Tanner Dion (Nick Stoskopf, Chad Blaniell), 4:27.

Third Period: 3. UWSP, Nick Kenney (Alex Brooks), 11:53. 4. Kyle Politz (Kevin Gibson), 10:32.

OT: 5. UWS, Mike Orosey (Pat Dalbec, Andy Singerhouse), 2:34.

Saves: Nick Graves, UWSP 4-9-9—22. Drew Strandberg, UWS 4-4-6—14. Att: 732.

Women’s Hockey

The UWS women salvaged a split with UW-River Falls thanks to a 2-1 victory Saturday afternoon at Wessman Arena. The Falcons won the opening game of the NCHA series 4-0 Friday afternoon.

Alyssa Black scored River Falls’ goal 10:53 into the first period.

UWS tied it up on Chelsey Wierschem’s power-play goal at 16:05 of the second period and took the lead on Haley Olmstead’s goal with 12:52 left in the third period.

Karen Larson and Kaiti Graham assisted on Wierschem’s goal and Sheryl Kaskiw helped out on the game-winner.

Shanley Peters had 25 saves in goal for the Yellowjackets. Gillian McDonald had 26 saves for the Falcons.

On Friday, Crystal Lowell, Kait Mason, Black and Brook Story scored goals and Ashley Kuechle finished with 18 saves for the Falcons.

Peters had 19 saves for the Yellowjackets.

UWS hosts Concordia-Wis., at 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday.

Hunger takes no holiday

Hunger Takes No Holiday will be holding a food and money collection during Saturday’s Yellowjacket men’s and women’s hockey games to benefit the Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Shelf.

Skate with’Jackets

Following Saturday’s men’s hockey game the UWS men’s and women’s hockey teams will hold the annual “Skate with the ’Jackets” at Wessman Arena.

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