Spartans down Tigers in OT

The Superior High School boys hockey team snapped a three-game losing skid at Menomonie’s Dunn County Arena Tuesday night with a 6-2 victory over the Menomonie Mustangs.

The win improves the Spartans to 6-1, which includes a perfect 4-0 record against sectional opponents.

After opening the season with five wins, Menomonie falls to 5-2 with the loss.

Four of Superior’s goals were on the power play, including two by Aaron Wakefield-Zubiate and one each by Aaron Miller and Trent Olson. The other two goals were scored by Dane Sislo and Tyler Nystrom. Sophomore defenseman Jesse Polson also did his part with three assists.

The goals by Olson and Sislo were their first of the season. Sislo also picked up his first assist on Olson’s goal.

Menomonie took an early 1-0 lead in the first period but the Spartans answered with power-play goals from Miller and Wakefield-Zubiate for a 2-1 lead after the first period.

Jesse Polson assisted on Miller’s team-leading 10th goal of the season.

The Mustangs tied the game up 2-2 early in the second period but the Spartans took a 3-2 lead on Sislo’s goal with nine seconds remaining.

The Spartans put the game away with third-period goals from Wakefield-Zubiate, Olson and Nystrom.

Miller assisted on the goals by Wakefield-Zubiate and Nystrom and Polson completed his playmaker with an assist on Olson’s goal.

Zach Reiswig picked up the win in goal for Superior, finishing with 19 saves. Superior put 28 shots on the Menomonie goal.

Superior plays at Wisconsin Rapids at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Superior 2-1-3—6

Menomonie 1-1-x—2

First Period: 1. Men. 2. SHS, Aaron Miller 10 (Jesse Polson 3) (pp). 3. SHS, Aaron Wakefield-Zubiate 5 (pp).

Second Period: 4. Men. 5. SHS, Dane Sislo 1 (Trent Olson 4).

Third Period: 6, SHS, Wakefield-Zubiate 6 (Miller 11, Polson 4) (pp). 7. SHS, Olson 1 (Polson 5, Sislo 1) (pp). 8. SHS, Tyler Nystrom 8 (Miller 12, Wakefield-Zubiate 10).

Saves: Zach Reiswig, SHS 9-8-2—19. Men, 10-9-9—28.

Spartans win in OT

Wakefield-Zubiate’s goal 2:48 into overtime gave the Spartans a 5-4 win over the New Richmond Tigers Saturday afternoon at Wessman Arena.

Nystrom set up the game-winning goal when he centered the puck through the crease where Wakefield-Zubiate fought off a New Richmond defender and slid the puck behind Tiger goaltender Aaron Chwialkowski.

“Nystrom threw it out front and I saw it all the way,” Wakefield-Zubiate said. “The guy kind of had me hooked, so I just spun around and was standing right there for a tap-in goal.”

Superior came from behind twice in the game, first when Nystrom’s goal tied it up at 2-2 at 9:10 of the second period, and then when Polson tied it up at 4-4 with his first varsity goal with 5:21 remaining in the third period.

“The boys did a nice job of fighting back from being down twice,” SHS coach Jason Kalin said. “We started a bit slow but I thought the boys played great in the second and third periods.”

Paxton Paine picked up the win in goal for Superior with 20 saves, including three in the opening minute of overtime.

“They had two really good scoring chances in OT, but Paxton came up big in the tight moments,” Kalin said.

Chwialkowski had 23 saves for New Richmond.

Miller gave Superior a 1-0 lead 1:12 into the game when he skated in from the left boards and slipped the puck between Chwialkowski’s pads.

The Tigers tied it up at 7:34 when Jeremy Leavens put home his own rebound with an assist from Michael Bodsberg.

Each team scored twice in the second period.

Tanner Wisemiller scored a pair of unassisted power-play goals in the second period for the Tigers. His first goal came at 1:34 and his second was with three seconds on the clock.

In between, Nystrom put home his own rebound at 9:10 and Aaron Miller scored 11 seconds into a power play at 16:30 to give Superior a 3-2 lead, which didn’t last long with Wisemiller’s goal 27 seconds later.

“It’s tough when you give up one that late; it doesn’t give you a chance to get the momentum back,” Kalin said. “But our captains came in and let the guys know that was a position we shouldn’t have been in and we came out hot in the third period.”

Superior played well in the third period, but Bodsberg gave New Richmond a 4-3 lead at 6:44 when he came out from behind the goal and slipped a back-hander past Paine.

Polson’s tying goal came while the Spartans were skating short-handed and after excellent scoring chances by Wakefield-Zubiate, who was stopped by Chwialkowski’s diving save.

Wakefield-Zubiate was able to pick up the loose puck but then hit the right post on a wrap-around attempt. The puck eventually made its way out to Polson, who scored from between the circles.

“The goalie tried clearing the puck but I was able to glove it and he somehow made a stick save on it,” Wakefield-Zubiate said. “Then I screwed up on the wrap-around attempt, so I wasn’t feeling too happy about it. But Polson was still able to get it into the net.”

“It feels good, glad to get it out of the way,” Polson said. “We were pounding it down low and it squirted out to me and I shot in up top.”

SPARTAN SPIN: The Spartans don’t play another home game until hosting Cloquet on Jan. 29. … Reiswig was the winning goaltender in last week’s win at River Falls. … Grant Hanson sat out Saturday’s game with an injury.

New Richmond 1-2-1-0—4

Superior 1-2-1-1—5

First Period: 1. SHS, Aaron Miller 8 (Aaron Wakefield-Zubiate 7), 1:12. 2 NR, Jeremy Leavens (Michael Bodsberg), 7:34.

Second Period: 3. NR, Tanner Wisemiller, 1:34 (pp). 4. SHS, Tyler Nystrom 7 (Miller 10), 9:10. 5. SHS, Miller 9 (Trent Olson 3, Wakefield-Zubiate 8), 16:03 (pp). 6. NR, Wisemiller, 16:57 (pp).

Third Period: 7. NR, Bodsberg (Kole Hallmark), 6:44. 8. SHS, Jesse Polson 1 (Wakefield-Zubiate 9, Daniel Burger 1), 11:39 (sh).

OT: 9. SHS, Wakefield-Zubiate 4 (Nystrom 7), 2:48.

Saves: Aaron Chwialkowski, NR 5-10-8-0—23. Paxton Paine, SHS 5-9-3-3—20.

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