UWS, Dalbec breakaway from St. Scholastica

DULUTH -- Tanner Dion's misfortune turned out to be a blessing for the University of Wisconsin-Superior men's hockey team and senior captain Pat Dalbec in Saturday night's 3-2 win over the St. Scholastica Saints before 834 fans at Mars Lakeview Arena.

Trailing the Saints 2-1 early in the second period, Dion lost his stick and was forced to the Yellowjacket bench.

That's when Dalbec jumped on the ice, took a long pass from defenseman Jeff Forsythe and scored on the breakaway to pull UWS into a 2-2 tie.

Seven minutes later Brad Phenow scored to give the Yellowjackets a 3-2 lead, which would be the final score.

"When Tanner lost his stick and came to the bench, their defenseman decided to also make a change," Dalbec said. "I just hopped on the ice, stretched for the blue line, Jeff hit me with a good pass and I put it home."

While there was clear sailing between Dalbec and Saints goaltender Colin Rundell, one thing that almost stopped the play was Dion's stick, which was on the ice near the blue line.

"I was a little worried about that," Dalbec said. "As soon as I turned around I saw the stick in my way, but it worked out."

After the puck hopped over Dion's stick, Dalbec scored his third goal of the season by putting the puck over Rundell's left shoulder and off the right pipe.

"It happens so fast that you really don't know what you're going to do," Dalbec said. "Then I saw him make a move, so I put it over his glove.

"This was a huge win for us as a team. We didn't play that well Friday night, but Saturday we played well both on offense and defense. We played a full 60 minutes. This was probably our best game of the season."

The Yellowjackets began the weekend with a 7-3 loss to Marian Friday night at Wessman Arena.

"The score indicates we got waxed, but I'm not sure we played all that bad," UWS coach Dan Stauber said. "We gave up too many odd-man rushes and they capitalized, but I thought overall we started to see some things we liked.

"Tonight (Saturday), we knew it would be more difficult, so we changed some things a bit and the guys played it to a 'T.' It's nice to see that success."

The loss was the first of the season for the Saints (5-1-2), who have not beaten UWS in a regular season game at Mars since Dec. 12, 2009. During the stretch UWS is 4-0-1 in Duluth.

The Saints scored first with a Josh Hansen goal from Brandon Nowakowski 12:05 into the first period.

UWS tied it up 26 seconds later when Dion put a slap shot over Rundell's left shoulder.

Seconds later the Yellowjackets were called for a penalty, and 12 seconds after that CSS took a 2-1 lead when Keegan Bruce's shot from the point made it through a crowed crease and got past Strandberg.

After Dalbec's goal tied the game, Phenow's game-winner came on a back-hander during a scramble in front of Rundell. The goal also came during a delayed penalty on the Saints.

Strandberg had 16 saves for UWS, including just one in the first period. Rundell finished with 25 saves for the Saints.

'JACKET JOTTINGS: Phenow's goal and assist were both firsts of the season. Dion's goal was also his first as was an assist by Nick Stoskopf. ... CSS entered the game ranked No. 10 in the country. ... It was Military Appreciation Night at Mars and the Saints were wearing special camo jerseys to commemorate the event. ... The Saints play St. Norbert College in a non-conference game Saturday in Wausau,. The game is being dubbed "College Hockey Night" and is sponsored by the Marathon County Youth Hockey Association. ... UWS leads the all-time series with CSS 85-38-9.

Friday's Game

Former Yellowjacket Tyler Klein scored three goals and dished out an assist to lead Marian past UWS Friday night before a Wessman Arena crowd of 407.

Jordan Neduzak, Dalbec and Nick Stoskopf scored for the Yellowjackets.

Brodie Jamieson also scored three goals for Marian and Mike Baldwin stopped 40 shots.

Dayne Belfour had 19 saves for UWS before being replaced in the third period by Zach Thompson, who had four saves.

Trip to New York

Up next for UWS is the 16h annual Primelink Great Northern Shootout at The Stafford Arena, home of the Plattsburgh State Cardinals. The Yellowjackets and Cardinals will play in one semifinal game at 6 p.m. Friday. The first game is Norwich vs. Middlebury at 3 p.m.

The third-place game is at 3 p.m. Saturday, followed by the title game at 6 p.m.

Live action of the tournament may be found at www.primelink1.com .

At least one of the four teams competing had made it to the Final Four 14 of the past 15 years. The tournament also includes eight national champions in the last 15 years.

Both Yellowjacket games will also be carried live on the radio at KUWS 91.3 FM.

Saturday's Game

UW-Superior 1 2 0 -- 3

St. Scholastica 2 0 0 -- 2

First Period: 1. CSS, Josh Hanson 1 (Brandon Nowakowski 7), 12:05. 2. UWS, Tanner Dion 1 (Brad Phenow 1, Jeff Forsythe 2), 12:31. 3. CSS, Keegan Bruce 2 (Derek Hills 3, Alex Valenti 3), 12:43 (pp).

Second Period: 4. UWS, Pat Dalbec 3 (Forsythe 3, Brad Phenow 3), 5:25. 5. UWS, Phenow 1 (Nick Stoskopf 1, Dion 2), 12:52.

Saves: Drew Strandberg, UWS 1-7-8--16. Colin Rundell, CSS 8-11-6--25.

Friday's Game

Marian 0 3 4 -- 7

UW-Superior 0 1 2 -- 3

First Period: No scoring.

Second Period: 1. UWS, Jordan Neduzak (Pat Dalbec, Eric Shand), 3:51. 2. Marian (Brodie Jamieson (Ashland Reinboldt, Tanner Burton), 10:18. 3. Jamieson (Reinboldt), 12:38. 4. Marian, Brian Berger (Reinboldt), 19:44.

Third Period: 5. Marian, Jamieson (Tyler Klein, Derek Perl), 1:16 (pp).

6. Marian, Klein (Jamieson, Ben Morgan), 8:28. 7. Marian, Klein (Berger, Thomas Nosella), 9:54 (sh). 8. UWS, Nick Stoskopf (Tanner Dion, Derek Stauber), 11:59. 9. UWS, Dalbec (Shand, Neduzak), 15:01. 10. Marian, Klein (Derek Perl), 15:49.

Saves: Mike Baldwin, Marian 13-12-15--40. Dayn Belfour, UWS 5-8-6--19. Zach Thompson, UWS x-x-4--4. Att: 407.