Spartans down Tigers, face Hudson for state tournament berth

The Superior High School boys hockey team took moved one step closer to a WIAA State Tournament berth with a 4-1 win over the New Richmond Tigers Tuesday night at Wessman Arena.

Standing in the way of the Spartans’ 35th trip to state are the Hudson Raiders, who upset No. 2 Somerset 3-0 Tuesday night.

The sectional championship game will be played at 7 p.m. Friday at the Dunn County Arena in Menomonie.

Daniel Burger’s first goal of the season gave the Spartans a 1-0 lead 5:10 into the first period. After taking a pass from Dane Sislo, Burger made a move around a New Richmond defender in the slot, had his initial shot stopped by Tiger goaltender Aaron Chwialkowski, but then poked home his own rebound. Credited with his first assist of the season was Mitch Anderson, along with Aaron Wakefield-Zubiate.

New Richmond tied it up when Tyler Langerstrom skated out from behind the net and back-handed a loose puck past Spartan goaltender Paxton Paine.

The power-play goal came during a SHS too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty.

Superior took a 2-1 lead with its own power-play goal when Trent Olson took passes from Daniel Mikel and Grant Hanson and scored on a slap shot from the top of the left circle.

It went to 3-1 when Miller used a toe drag to get around a New Richmond player and put a shot on net. Chwialkowski made the first save, but Miller put home his own rebound with 3:55 left in the second period. Tyler Nystrom and Olson assisted on Miller’s team-leading 32nd goal of the year.

Superior’s penalty kill took over early in the third period when it successfully killed off back-to-back penalties.

New Richmond eventually used its time out with 2:28 remaining and pulled its goalie with 1:19 remaining. But with a face off in neutral ice forced Chwialkowski back on the ice with 44.4 seconds left.

Goalie or not, Superior made it a 4-1 game when Nystrom’s blast from in front of New Richmond’s bench was mishandled by Chwialkowski and Miller was there to slap home the rebound with 37.2 seconds left.

Paine finished with 20 saves, with half of them coming in the third period.

Chwialkowski had 34 saves, including 14 in the second period and 12 in the third.

New Richmond 0-1-0—1

Superior 1-2-1—4

First Period: 1. SHS, Daniel Burger 1 (Aaron Wakefield-Zubiate 32, Mitch Anderson 1), 5:10.

Penalties: Austin Zywiec, NR (checking from behind, 10-minute misconduct), 7:32.

Second Period: 2. NR, Tyler Lagerstrom (Josh Manske, Michael Bodsberg), 3:03 (pp). 3. SHS, Trent Olson 5 (Grant Hanson 7), 8:25 (pp). 4. SHS, Aaron Miller 32 (Tyler Nystrom 18, Olson 9), 13:05.

Penalties: SHS (too many men), 2:35. Kaleb Kier, NR (hooking), 6:29.

Third Period: 5. SHS, Miller 33 (Nystrom 19), 16:23.

Penalties: Miller, SHS (hooking), 6:43. Olson, SHS (slashing), 7:11. Manske, NR (slashing), 7:11. Hanson, SHS (holding), 8:54.

Saves: Aaron Chwialkowski, NR 8-14-12—34. Paxton Paine, SHS 6-4-10—20. Att: 1,000.

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