St. Norbert sweeps UWS

Up until last weekend Wessman Arena was the only venue in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association where the St. Norbert Green Knights held a losing record.

That changed when St. Norbert completed a series sweep of the University of Wisconsin-Superior men’s hockey team with wins of 5-0 Friday night and 3-1 Saturday afternoon.

St. Norbert is now 10-9-9 all-time at Wessman Arena and 33-21-12 all-time against the Yellowjackets, including 20-5-8 since a 2002 loss to UWS in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals in Green Bay.

The Green Knights led Saturday’s game 1-0 after the first period when Superior’s Brett Wold tied the game at 0:51 of the second period.

But St. Norbert scored power-play goals in the second and third periods to improve to 14-2-1 overall and 8-1-1 in the NCHA.

David Jacobson made 24 saves for the Green Knights, while Drew Strandberg stopped 19 shots for the Yellowjackets (10-6-1, 5-4-1).

Joe Perry had two goals and an assist and Johnson stopped 24 shots in his shutout performance Friday night.

The shutout was the first against the Yellowjackets this season, and junior Pat Dalbec had his 15-game scoring streak stopped. The former Superior Spartan had scored at least one point in every game this season.

The Green Knights scored all the goals they needed in a three-goal first period.

Perry redirected a shot past Strandberg at 3:42; Kyle Stroh scored on a power play at 5:17; and Brandon Hoogenboom got behind the UWS defense and beat Strandberg high from the right circle.

UWS played better in the second period and outshot SNC 11-7.

But the Green Knights still managed to increase their lead on Perry’s second goal of the game at 6:56. Stroh assisted on the goal by winning a faceoff in front of Strandberg.

Cody Keefer completed the scoring when he put home a rebound after shots by Cullen Bradshaw and Perry. The goal came with 5:45 remaining and one second after Dalbec’s hooking penalty ended.

Strandberg finished with 19 saves for UWS.

The Yellowjackets play UW-Eau Claire at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Hobbs Ice Arena in Eau Claire.

St. Norbert College 3-1-1—5

UW-Superior 0-0-0—0

First Period: 1. SNC, Joe Perry (Hunter Brown, Erik Cooper), 3:42. 2. SNC, Kyle Stroh (Cullen Bradshaw), 5:17 (pp). 3. SNC, Brandon Hoogenboom (Marian Fiala, Reid Campbell), 11:42.

Penalties: Nick Drill, UWS (slashing), 4:52.

Second Period: 4. SNC, Perry (Stroh), 6:56.

Penalties: Erik Cooper, SNC (tripping), 15:22.

Third Period: 5. SNC, Cody Keefer (Bradshaw, Perry), 16:16.

Penalties: Pat Dalbec, UWS (hooking), 14:15.

Saves: David Jacobson, SNC 8-11-6—25. Drew Strandberg, UWS 10-6-3—19. Att: 503.

Saturday’s Game

St. Norbert 1-1-1—3

UW-Superior 0-1-0—1

First Period: 1. SNC, Sam Dougherty (Chris Rial), 5:32.

Second Period: 2. UWS, Brett Wold (Joey Massingham, Pat Dalbec), 0:51. 3. SNC, Tyler Zepeda (Mason Baptista, Erik Cooper), 4:34 (pp).

Third Period: Baptista (Sam Higgins), 8:57.

Saves: David Jacobson, SNC 10-8-6—24. Drew Strandberg, UWS 11-2-6—19. Att.: 274.

Tags: sports, uws, yellowjackets, hockey, updates