Miller leads Spartans past Hudson

The Superior High School boys hockey team defeated the Hudson Raiders 5-4 Saturday afternoon at Wessman Arena.

Junior Aaron Miller had a big game for the Spartans, scoring three goals and assisting on both of Tyler Nystrom’s goals. Nystrom also picked up an assist as the Spartans improved to 3-1 on the season.

Paxton Paine picked up the win in net for Superior, finishing with 21 saves. Josh Mattis had 23 saves for Hudson.

Hudson struck first with Emerson Korum’s power-play goal with an assist from Michael Hommes 6:34 into the game.

The Spartans tied it up with a power-play goal of their own when Miller came out from behind the net and ripped a back-hander past Hudson goaltender Josh Mattis. Nystrom and Jesse Polson assisted on the goal that came at 10:35.

Miller scored again two minutes later when he took a centering pass from Beau Reder and beat Mattis with a high shot from the slot. Reder’s pass was actually intended for Nystrom, but the puck got past him and went right to Miller, who skated into the slot from the left circle before scoring his third goal of the year.

Miller completed his hat trick and gave the Spartans a 3-1 lead when put home his own rebound on a power play 4:25 into the second period.

It went to 4-1 about four minutes later when Nystrom scored from the left circle. Mattis got his body on Nystrom’s power-play goal that was assisted by Miller and Aaron Wakefield-Zubiate.

Hommes brought Hudson within 4-2 when he poked home a rebound at 15:21 of the second period, but the Spartans regained a three-goal lead when Nystrom scored again at 16:43. Miller and Trent Olson assisted on Nystrom’s power-play goal.

The Raiders got within 5-3 on Wyatt Dove’s goal with 6:03 remaining. Daniel Tripicchio assisted on the goal when he picked off a Spartan clearing attempt and put a shot on net. Paine made the initial save, but Dove was alone near the right post to put home the rebound.

It became a one-goal game with 3:24 remaining when Korum scored with assists from August Nuutinen and Hommes.

Hudson used its timeout with 12.5 second remaining and the face off to the left of Paine.

Superior won the face off and was able to kill off the remaining seconds to improve to 3-1 on the season.

Superior plays again at 7 p.m. Tuesday at River Falls and hosts New Richmond at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Hudson 1-1-2—4

Superior 2-3-0—5

First Period: 1. H, Emerson Korum (Michael Hommes), 6:34 (pp). 2. SHS, Aaron Miller 2 (Tyler Nystrom, Jesse Polson), 10:35 (pp). 2. SHS, Miller 3 (Beau Reder).

Second Period: 4. SHS, Miller 3, 4:25 (pp). 5. SHS, Nystrom 4 (Miller, Aaron Wakefield-Zubiate), 8:52. (pp). 6. H, Hommes (August Nuutinen, Daniel Tripicchio), 15:21. 7. SHS, Nystrom 5 (Miller, Trent Olson), 16:43 (pp).

Third Period: 8. H, Wyatt Dove (Tripicchio), 10:57. 9. H, Korum (Nuttinen, Hommes), 13:26.

Saves: Josh Mattis, Hudson 7-8-8—23. Paxton Paine, SHS 5-10-6—21.

Tags: sports, hockey, superior, spartans, preps, updates