Spartan hockey team wins in OT

MENOMONIE —Trent Olson delivered a hearty speech to the Superior High School hockey team on the bench between the third period and overtime of Friday night’ WIAA sectional championship game with the Hudson Raiders at the Dunn County Arena.

Then the senior captain went out and delivered on the ice when he scored the game-winning goal to give the Spartans a 2-1 victory over the Raiders and their record-setting 35th WIAA state tournament berth.

“It’s definitely the biggest goal of my life, especially during my senior year, winning in overtime and going to state,” Olson said. “It’s pretty cool.

As for the speech, Olson just wanted to fire up his teammates.

“I told them to not give up and there was no doubt we were going to do this because we’ve worked so hard,” Olson said. “We just kept a positive attitude and kept grinding away.”

The Spartans (18-8-1) will play the Fond du Lac Cardinals in the final quarterfinal game at 8:15 p.m. Thursday at the Allient Energy Center in Madison.

Aaron Miller also scored for the Spartans had Paxton Paine had 24 saves.

“Paxton played awesome,” SHS coach Jason Kalin said. “Hudson had about seven shots on a power play in the first period and he was making saves when he wasn’t even facing the play. His nerves were tested, but he came through with flying colors.”

Parker Shefveland scored Hudson’s goal and Mac Alboreo had 22 saves.

After a scoreless first period, Superior took a 1-0 lead with 10:27 left in the second period on Miller’s team-leading 34th goal of the season.

The junior picked up the puck in the neutral zone, put on a couple of nifty moves to get around two Hudson players then let go with a wrist shot from the left circle where his shot snuck between the left post and Alboreo.

The Spartans, who were getting outshot 13-7 at the time of their goal, went on a power play three minutes later when Parker Shefveland was called for cross checking.

The Raiders successfully killed off the penalty, then tied the game up when Shefveland left the penalty box, received a pass behind the SHS defense and beat Paine on a break-away.

Paine came up big late in the second period when Miller was penalized for boarding. The junior netminder came up with back-to-back saves, including the second while lying on his back, with 36 seconds. Hudson was so sure it scored on the play that one player raised his stick to celebrate.

Paine was at it again when he made a save on a tipped shot at the buzzer.

“I just did whatever I could to stop the puck,” Paine said.

The best scoring chance in the third period came when a Hudson player put the puck off Paine’s arm and then the right post.

“I didn’t know where the puck was, so it was kind of a desperation save to get over there,” Paine said.

Superior dominated overtime, which included a Hudson too-many-men penalty, outshooting the Raiders 7-1.

Dane Sislo, also a senior captain, started the game-winning play when he passed the puck to Olson from the left boards. Olson faked a shot, then with a Hudson player diving in front of him, his low shot from the top of the left circle made it through traffic and then through Alboreo’s legs.

“I got the puck from Dane, saw a guy come out to me so I moved over,” Olson said. “Then I saw a lane and just took a slap shot. There was a screen, so I was lucky it got through.”

SPARTAN SPIN: Superior leads in most State championships won with 12. Madison Memorial has won eight, and Madison East has won four titles. ... The Spartans also lead in state tournament appearances with 34. Madison Memorial is next with 29. Northland Pines is third on the list of appearances with 18, and Stevens Point has been to State 17 times. Madison East has made 14 appearances, and Eau Claire Memorial, Fond du Lac, Madison West and Wausau West have made 12. ... Superior has an all-time record of 56-22 in the state tournament. ... Seventeen different schools have won State championships. Superior is the only program to win three consecutive state titles (1994-96). ... Superior and Madison Memorial are the only programs to win back-to-back titles. Superior has done it twice including its string of three championships (1981-82) and Madison Memorial has accomplished this feat twice (1976-77, 1979-80). ... The WIAA began sponsoring a tournament program in boys hockey in 1971. Superior won the first championship, defeating Madison West, 7-3, in the championship game. ... Prior to official WIAA involvement in hockey, the Madison schools conducted an invitational from 1964 to 1970 (except for 1966). Eagle River (now Northland Pines) won the first championship, Madison East won the next three, and Superior won the last two.

Hudson 0-1-0-0—1

Superior 0-1-0-1—2

First period — No scoring.

Penalties: Dane Sislo, SHS (hooking), 13:00.

Second period — 1. SHS, Aaron Miller, 6:38; 2. H, Parker Shefveland, 11:55.

Penalties: Parker Shefveland, H (cross checking), 9:45. Miller, SHS (boarding), 15:02.

Third period — No scoring.

Overtime — 3. SHS, Trent Olson (Dane Sislo), 4:15.

Penalties: Hudson (too many men on ice).

Saves — Mac Alboreo, H 4-8-4-6—22. Paxton Paine, SHS 11-7-5-1—24.

Tags: sports, updates, superior, spartans, hockey