The Superior High School boys hockey team put the finishing touches on a busy week with a an 8-2 win over the Eau Claire North Huskies Saturday afternoon at Wessman Arena.
The Spartans, playing their fourth game in six days, got two goals apiece from Chris Bishop and Taylor Leuthner to improve to 7-3 on the season.
Kellen McCoshen, Dan Kolenda, Tyler Plunkett and Nate Miner also scored for the Spartans, who finished third in the Duluth Marshall Hilltopper Holiday Classic earlier in the week.
Matt Miller picked up the win in goal for Superior, finishing with 25 saves. Ben Brenizer and Spencer Gregerson combined on 34 saves for the Huskies.
Bishop's third goal of the season gave the Spartans a 1-0 lead 2:55 into the game. Pat Dalbec assisted on the power-play goal with behind-the-goal pass to Bishop, who beat ECN goalie Ben Brenizer with a one-timer from the slot.
ADVERTISEMENT
North tied it up with a power-play goal of its own at 5:20 when Derrick Dillon put the puck on net from the corner and Tony Menard redirected it past SHS goaltender Matt Miller.
Superior regained a 2-1 lead at 11:32 when Kellen McCoshen redirected Jake Tollas' shot from the point between the pads of Brenizer. The assist was Tollas' first point of the season.
Two Taylor Leuthner power-play goals in the second period gave Superior a 4-1 lead. The first came on a rebound after a Bishop shot from the point and the second after a pass from Dablec.
Bishop made it 5-1 at 15:27 of the second period with a hard hot off the glove of Brenizer with an assist from Nate Miner.
North made it 5-1 on Dillon's goal with 12 seconds left in the second period.
In the third period, Kolenda scored unassisted, Plunkett scored with help from Leuthner and Miner was helped out by Caleb Dushkin and Brandon Burd, who registered his first point of his high school career.
The Spartans have three more games this coming week. After playing at Proctor Tuesday, Superior will host Duluth Central Thursday and Hudson next Saturday.
SPARTAN SPIN: ECN falls to 4-3 on the season. ... The Spartans skated again without senior winger John LeDoux (appendix), who is expected to begin skating with the team again on Monday. ... The SHS junior varsity won 8-0. Kyle Wilander scored three goals and dished out an assists. Kyle Halom added two goals and Branden Viklun, Andrew Dalbec and Justin Cannon had a goal apiece. Taylor Olson and Cannon dished out two assists apiece and Andrew Bronson, Brandon Burd, Viklun, Eric Quam and Joel Broberg had an assist each. Scott Crawford had 10 saves for Superior while Spencer Gregerson had 51 for North.
ADVERTISEMENT
Eau Claire North 1 1 0 -- 2
Superior 2 3 1 -- 6
First Period: 1. Chris Bishop 3 (Pat Dalbec 10), (pp). 2. ECN, Tony Menard (Derrick Dillon), 5:20 (pp). 3. SHS, Kellen McCoshen 5 (Jake Tollas 1), 11:32.
Penalties: Scott Roscoe, ECN (interference), 2:10. Tollas, SHS (interference), 4:18. T.J. Meyer, ECN (cross checking), 6:28. Tollas, SHS (cross checking), 13:15. Menard, ECN (tripping), 16:32.
Second Period: 4. SHS, Taylor Leuthner 8 (Bishop 8, Dan Kolenda 6), 9:54 (pp). 5. SHS, Leuthner 9 (Dalbec 11), 12:47 (pp). 6. SHS, Bishop 4 (Nate Miner 4), 15:27. 7. ECN, Dillon (Austin Rieder, Derek Lund), 16:48.
Penalties: Tyler Plunkett, SHS (holding), 1:31. Bishop, SHS (tripping), 3:01. Ethan Dillon, ECN (head contact), 4:51. Menard, ECN (tripping), 8:57. Francis Okonmah, ECN (holding), 11:29.
Third Period: 8. SHS, Kolenda (unassisted), 14:01. 9. SHS, Plunkett 3 (Leuthner 6), 16:04. 10. SHS, Miner 3 (Caleb Dushkin 3, Brandon Burd 1), 16:45.
Penalties: Cory Bostrom, ECN (tripping), 6:18. Tollas, SHS (hooking), 10:00.
ADVERTISEMENT
Saves: Ben Brenizer ECN 12-10-12--34. Matt Miller, SHS 3-10-11--25.
