UWS skates past Nichols College

Pat Dalbec scored two goals and assisted on another to lead the University of Wisconsin-Superior men’s hockey team to a 6-2 win over Nichols College in one semifinal game of the Yellowjacket Hockey Tournament Friday night at Wessman Arena.

The Yellowjackets will play Curry College in the championship game at 7:05 p.m. Saturday. The Colonels defeated Finlandia 3-0 in the tournament opener Friday afternoon.

The first period was pretty even with Nichols putting 10 shots on goal and UWS nine.

Each team was also called for a penalty apiece, unfortunately for the Bison, a hooking penalty on Chris Gulante carried over into the second period and 41 seconds later Dalbec scored to give UWS a 1-0 lead. Kyle Leahy and Jeff Forsythe assisted on Dalbec’s one-timer from the top of the right circle.

UWS took a 2-0 lead when Joey Massingham left the puck in the crease for Forsythe, who put a wrist shot into the top right corner. Leahy picked up his second assist on the goal that came with 7:07 left in the second period.

The Yellowjacket blew the game open in the third period with four straight goals, starting when Cody Hotchkin’s soft shot hit the left post and the back of the leg of Nichols goaltender Alex Larson before sneaking across the goal line.

It went to 4-0 at 8:11 when Tanner Dion, who had a guy all over him, somehow centered the puck to Dalbec, who scored while being hooked.

“That was an unbelievable pass by Tanner,” Dalbec said. “I gave it to him, he went to the net and he just put it on my tape. That made my job easy.

A penalty was called on the play, and after another penalty gave UWS a 5-on-3 advantage, it went to 5-0 when Forsythe beat a screened Larson with an assist from Dalbec.

Less than two minutes later Dion deflected a shot by Ryan Hill past Patrick Salkind, who took over in goal for Larson.

“It was nice to start burying the puck in the third period,” Dalbec said. “It took us about 10 minutes into the first period before we got our legs going, that’s to be expected after having three to four weeks off. But we built on each period and by the end of the game we were totally dominating them.”

UWS goaltender Drew Strandberg had his shutout bid spoiled with 5:20 remaining when Joe Sposit scored with an assist from Brett Jackson.

Nichols scored again 23 seconds later when Zach Kohn scored on a power play with assists from Tyler Beasley and Sposit.

“It was just one of those things where a couple of bounces went their way,” Dalbec said. “We just had a 30-second lapse, but I thought we played pretty good for 60 minutes. Now we have to continue to play like this Saturday.”

Strandberg finished with 17 saves for UWS. Larson had 24 saves before being replaced by Salkind, who finished with seven saves.

’JACKET JOTTINGS: UWS was 2-for-3 on the power play and was called for three minor penalties. Nichols was 1-for-3 with the extra skater and had four minor penalties. … Dalbec leads UWS in scoring with 12 goals and 20 assists for 32 points. He has also scored at least one point in all 14 games this season. … Kohn, a native of Delafield, Wis., leads Nichols in scoring with 12 points (three goals and nine assists). He also now has 112 career points which moves him to No. 9 on Nichols’ all-time scoring list. … Nichols is located in Dudley, Mass., while Curry is in Milton, Mass.

Nichols College 0-0-2—2

UW-Superior 0-2-4—6

First Period: No scoring.

Penalties: Kyle Leahy, UWS (elbowing), 9:52. Zach Kohn, NC (hooking), 19:26.

Second Period: 1. UWS, Pat Dalbec 11 (Kyle Leahy, Jeff Forsythe), 0:41 (pp). 2. UWS, Forsythe 3 (Joey Massingham, Leahy), 12:53.

Penalties: UWS (too many men on ice), 13:56.

Third Period: 3. UWS, Cody Hotchkin 2 (Brett Meyers), 1:16. 4. UWS, Dalbec 12 (Tanner Dion), 8:11. 5. UWS, Forsythe 4 (Dalbec), 9:40 (5-on-3). 6. UWS, Dion 4 (Ryan Hill, Meyers), 11:10. 7. NC, Joe Sposit 5 (Brett Jackson), 14:40. 8. NC, Zach Kohn 3 (Tyler Beasley, Sposit), 15:03 (pp).

Penalties: Kyle Shapiro, NC (hooking), 8:11. Chris Gularte, NC (tripping), 9:03. Brett Wold, UWS (hooking), 14:40. Tyler Beasley, NC (roughing), 17:47.

Saves: Alex Larson, NC 9-13-2—24. Patrick Salkind, NC x-x-7—7. Drew Strandberg, UWS 10-4-3—17. Att: 703.

Curry 3, Finlandia 0

The Curry College Colonels defeated the Finlandia Lions 3-0 in the opening game of the Yellowjacket Tournament Friday afternoon at Wessman Arena.

Casey Brugman scored twice and Brad Devereaux once for Curry.

Derek Mohney finished with 17 saves for the Colonels and Troy Chandler had 18 for the Lions.

Curry College 1-2-0—3

Finlandia 0-0-0—0

First Period: 1. CC, Casey Brugman (Brett Kaneshiro, Shane Harrington), 19:14.

Second Period: 2. CC, Brad Devereaux (Michael Lopez, Dominic Puntillo), 6:59. 3. CC, Brugman (Chris Mason), 11:53.

Saves: Derek Mohney, CC 5-4-8—17. Troy Chandler, FU 6-7-5—18. Att: 102.

NCHA – Men

W L T Pts

UW-Eau Claire (12-2-1) 7 2 1 15

St. Norbert (11-2-1) 6 1 1 13

UW-Superior (10-3-1) 5 2 1 11

UW-Stevens Point (9-6-1) 4 5 1 9

UW-Stout (7-5-2) 3 5 0 6

UW-River Falls (7-5-2) 1 5 2 4

St. Scholastica (4-9) 1 7 0 2

Friday, Jan. 4

UW-Stout 5, Bethel 1

UW-Eau Claire 5, St. John’s 1

UW-Stevens Point 5, St. Olaf 2

St. Norbert 12, St. Mary’s 2

St. Scholastica 4, Augsburg 2

UW-River Falls 5, Concordia-Moorhead 3

Yellowjacket Tournament

Curry 3, Finlandia 0

UW-Superior 6, Nichols 2

Saturday, Jan. 5

St. Olaf at St. Norbert, 2 p.m.

St. Mary’s at UW-Stevens Point, 7 p.m.

Gust. Adolphus at St. Scholastica, 7 p.m.

St. John’s (Minn.) at UW-River Falls, 7:05 p.m.

Concordia-M’head at UW-Eau Claire, 7:30 p.m.

Hamline at UW-Stout, 7:30 p.m.

Yellowjacket Tournament

Nichols vs. Finlandia, 4 p.m.

Curry at UW-Superior, 7 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 8

Northland at St. Scholastica, 7 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 11

St. Norbert at UW-Superior, 7 p.m.

UW-Stevens Point at St. Scholastica, 7 p.m.

UW-River Falls at UW-Stout, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 12

St. Norbert at UW-Superior, 4 p.m.

UW-Stevens Point at St. Scholastica, 7 p.m.

UW-Eau Claire at St. Olaf, 7:30 p.m.

UW-River Falls at UW-Stout, 7:30 p.m.

Tags: sports, hockey, uws, yellowjackets, updates