If Superior High School boys hockey coach Jason Kalin wanted to know how this year’s Spartans were going to match up against the elite teams in Wisconsin, he got some pretty good news during the opening week of the season.
After losing to No. 6 Wausau West (4-3) and beating No. 8 Eau Claire Memorial (6-2) during the ECM Red Flint Tournament, the Spartans knocked off the top-ranked, and defending state champion Hudson Raiders 3-1 on Saturday, Dec. 1, at Wessman Arena.
While the win over ECM snapped an eight-game winless streak against the Old Abes, the Spartans put an end to a seven-game skid (0-6-1) against the Raiders.
Superior’s last win over the Hudson was 2-1 in the 2015 sectional final. And that win came after losing to the Raiders twice during the regular season.
“Usually, you kind of ease into the schedule, but this year, we started right off playing some of the best teams in Wisconsin,” SHS senior Cayden Laurvick said. “But that’s good. It got us moving our feet right away and now, every game we play the rest of the year, we have to keeping improving.”
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The eighth-ranked Spartans dominated the first period Saturday, including putting five shots on net in the opening 47 seconds.
Superior’s pressure eventually led to Hudson taking back-to-back penalties.
The Raiders killed off the first Spartan power play, but couldn’t kill off the second as Laurvick skated out from the left corner and whipped a wrist shot over Alex Cohen’s shoulder.
The only goal of the first period was assisted by Grant Sorensen and Gunnar Hansen.
“There was a scrum in the corner and it just popped out,” Laurvick said. “I then walked in, shot it and it ended up going in top left. Coach told us to be looking high and if there’s an open spot up there, go for it. I was able to hit that spot.”
The Spartans eventually outshot the Raiders 15-7 in the opening period.
“Our quick start was huge,” Laurvick said. “We were sick of getting beat by these guys so we came out and worked our butts off.”
Hudson outshot Superior 10-3 in the second period but it was the Spartans who took a 2-0 lead on Trevor Dalbec’s wrist shot from between the circles while the teams were skating 4-on-4.
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Hudson got that goal back 43 seconds later on the power play when Bennett Schrank scored after Cole Danielson won a draw in front of Spartan goaltender Dayton Podvin.
Superior sealed its victory 6:35 into the third period when G. Hansen stole the puck near the blue line, skated toward the goal and dropped a pass to Kobe Hansen, who scored on a one-timer from the right side.
“Gunnar is so wicked good with the puck,” Kalin said. “He made a nice play stealing the puck and was unselfish with the pass, I love that.”
Hudson eventually pulled its goaltender for an extra attacker with 2:25 remaining.
“I’m really impressed,” Kalin said. “That last two minutes were fun to watch, I thought we killed off that 6-on-5 perfectly. Our nemesis so far this season has been penalties and the second period was our worst because we were in the box for 11 minutes.
“We have an old enough team and have to be able to control our emotions. But other than that, I thought our boys played a good game. We played with a lot of effort and a lot of heart and we made a lot more good plays than we made mistakes.”
Podvin finished with 24 saves for Superior, while Cohen stopped 19 shots for Hudson (2-2).
“Dayton’s a very athletic goaltender,” Kalin said. “He’s so fast and covers the corner of the net really well. You saw today he stopped a couple of wrap-around attempts.
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“He’s been a shining spot for our team so far this season. We look for him to continue to be steady and not overthink in these type of situations, just treat it as another game.”
Superior hosts Chippewa Falls at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4. The Cardinals are 2-1, which includes a 4-3 win over Hudson.
SPARTAN SPIN: Superior won the JV game 2-0 behind goals by Tristan Brennan and T.J. Sitek. … with its win over ECM. The Spartans’ last defeated the Old Abes 5-1 in Eau Claire on Nov. 24, 2012.
Hudson 0 1 0 - 1
Superior 1 1 1 - 3
First Period - 1. S, Cayden Laurvick (Grant Sorensen, Gunnar Hansen), 8:03 (pp).
Penalties - Kolton Prater, H (interference), 4:50. Carter Mears, H (high sticking), 7:12. Max Curtis, S (interference), 9:48. Alex Hanson, S (tripping), 10:51. James Bronson, S (tripping), 13:27. Harvey Dove, H (interference), 14:15. Payton Hanson, H (tripping), 15:02.
Second Period - 2. S, Trevor Dalbec (Taylor Burger), 5:51 (4-on-4). 3. H, Bennett Schrank (Cole Danielson), 6:34 (pp).
Penalties - Hunter Danielson, H (interference), 4:28. Laurvick, S (holding), 5:19. Dylan Carr, H (rough), 6:23. Derrick Mattson, S (rough), 6:23. Laurvick, S (major boarding), 10:54. Taylor Burger, S (holding), 14:34.
Third Period - 4. S, Kobe Hansen (G. Hansen), 6:35.
Penalties - Dylan Carr, H (tripping), 1:42. Danielson, H (high sticking), 7:04.
Saves - Alex Cohen, H, 14-2-3--19. Dayton Podvin, S, 7-9-8--24.
Superior High School Spartans
2018-19 Boys Hockey Roster
2 Archer Siers F So.
3 Kobe Hansen F Jr.
4 Cayden Laurvick F Sr.
5 Jakob Holmlund D Sr.
6 Keegan Tribbey D So.
7 Jaxon D’Auria D Jr.
8 Gavin Tetzlaff D So.
9 Gunnar Hansen F Jr.
10 Grant Sorensen F Sr.
11 Ethan Welch F So.
12 Ian Johnson F Sr.
13 Tristan Brennan F Fr.
14 Alex Hanson D Sr.
15 Drew DeBruyne D Sr.
16 Taylor Burger F Sr.
17 James Bronson F Sr.
18 Mason Stenberg D Fr.
19 Kaden Olson F So.
20 Logan Leif F Jr.
21 Trevor Dalbec F Sr.
22 Derrick Mattson D Sr.
23 Sean McCoshen D Jr.
24 Max Curtis D Sr.
25 Tiegan Roden F Jr.
26 Andrew Scharte F So.
27 Spencer Gudowski F Jr.
28 T.J. Sitek F Jr.
29 Carter Kalin F Fr.
30 Jamin Durfee G So.
31 Kell Piggott F Fr.
32 George Hansen F Fr.
33 Dayton Podvin G Sr.
34 Austin Ward D Fr.
35 Breckon Lambert G So.
36 Robert Powell F Fr.
37 Drew Nelson D Fr.
Head Coach: Jason Kalin.
Assistant Coaches: Evan Nelson, Ryan Hendry, Dave Dalbec, Josh Noble.
Goalie Coaches: Tom Cook, Bryan Dalbec.
Managers: Rachael Jackman, Berkley Freund, Mackenzie Marthaler, Kaylie Rober.
Stats: Nash Tollers.
Superior High School Spartans
2018-19 Boys Hockey Schedule
Eau Claire Memorial Tournament
Fri., Nov. 23 vs. Wausau West (L, 4-3)
Sat., Nov. 24 vs. ECM (W, 6-3)
Sat., Dec. 1 vs. Hudson (W, 3-1)
Tue., Dec. 4 vs. Chippewa Falls, 7 p.m.
Thur., Dec. 6 at Proctor, 7 p.m.
Tue., Dec. 11 at Hibbing, 7:30 p.m.
Thur., Dec. 13 vs. T.H. at Silver Bay, 7 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 15 at Menomonie, 1 p.m.
Thur., Dec. 20 vs. Duluth Denfeld, 7 p.m.
Fri., Dec. 21 vs. Rice Lake, 7 p.m.
Green Bay Notre Dame Tourney
Thur., Dec. 27 at TBD, 7:30 p.m.
Fri., Dec. 28 vs. TBD
Sat., Dec. 29 vs. TBD
Thur., Jan. 3 at Duluth Marshall, 7:30 p.m.
Tue., Jan. 8 vs. Baldwin-Woodville, 7 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 12 at E.C. North, 2 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 19 at Hudson, 4 p.m.
Tue., Jan. 22 vs. North Branch, 7
Thur., Jan. 24 vs. Cloquet, 7 p.m.
Tue., Jan. 29 vs. New Richmond, 7 p.m.
Thur., Jan. 31 at Duluth East, 5:15 p.m.
Tue., Feb. 5 vs. Hermantown, 7 p.m.
Thur., Feb. 7 vs. Northland Pines, 7 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 9 at E.C. Mem., 2 p.m.
Tue., Feb. 12 WIAA Regional, 7 p.m.
Thur., Feb. 14 WIAA Regional, 7 p.m.
Tue., Feb. 19 WIAA Sectional, 7 p.m.
Feb. 22 or 23 Sectional Final at Wessman, 7 p.m.
Feb. 28 WIAA State Tournament - Madison
March 1-2 WIAA State Tournament - Madison
