It was a banner weekend for the University of Wisconsin-Superior athletic department as the men’s hockey team and the men’s and women’s basketball teams went a combined 6-0 at home.
The men’s hockey team made the most of its first home games in 42 days with wins of 5-3 over Gustavus Adolphus Friday and 4-1 over Bethel Saturday.
The basketball teams were equally successful with wins over Minnesota Morris and Crown.
The UWS men’s basketball team rallied from an 11-point first-half deficit to defeat Crown College 84-74 Saturday afternoon at Mertz Mortorelli Gym. The victory followed Friday night’s 85-76 win over Minnesota Morris.
The Yellowjacket women took over sole possession of first place in league play after defeating Minnesota Morris 81-72 Friday evening, then cruised past Crown 74-40 Saturday afternoon.
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Men’s hockey
Former Superior Spartan Daniel Litchke scored a pair of goals in the Yellowjackets’ win Friday night, giving him 14 on the season, which not only leads UWS but ties him for third in goals scored in the nation among NCAA Division III players.
UWS also got goals from Hayden Dawes, Anton Svensson and Jared Dedenbach.
Evan Erickson scored twice for the Gusties with native Jake Bushey assisting on both goals.
Kyle Miller played in goal both nights for UWS, finishing with 18 saves Friday and 22 Saturday.
UWS outshot Bethel 14-3 in the first period of Saturday’s game and in the process took a 2-0 lead.
The Yellowjackets’ first goal came when Eric Shand picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and fed it to Tanner Skaja, who put a wrist shot through Joe Sheppard’s pads from the right circle. Skaja’s first collegiate goal came 5:29 into the game.
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It went to 2-0 less than three minutes later when Svensson scored his seventh goal of the season with assists from Dedenbach and Viktor Sallhag.
The Yellowjackets doubled their lead with two more goals in the second period.
Svensson’s second goal of the night came with an assist from Dedenback at 11:33, then just as arena announcer Mark Fleischer finished announcing Svensson’s goal, UWS made it 4-0 when Jacob Hamilton scored.
Skaja picked up his first assist of the season and Jordan Neduzak his 10th on Hamilton’s goal, which came at 11:58.
Bethel spoiled Miller’s shutout bid with Jeff Flicker’s power-play goal just seven seconds into a UWS penalty and with 1:30 left in the second period.
“The guys came and played hard for a solid 120 minutes this weekend,” UWS coach Rich McKenna said. “Saturday could have been a little prettier, but at the end of the day we took over 40 shots, so we clearly had the puck for a decent amount of time.”
UWS now has 10 days off before hosting UW-Stevens Point on Jan. 24.
“We’re still a little banged up from the first half (of the season), so we’re going to use this time off to get a bit healthier,” McKenna said. “It will also allow us to shore up a couple of points in our game that aren’t up to our par yet. All seven games down the stretch are conference games, so we’re going to have to be playing good hockey.”
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Dawes, who scored a goal on Friday, joined the Yellowajckets at the semester break, transferring from Utica College.
“We added a little meat and potatoes to our game with somebody that can put the puck into the net,” McKenna said. “He’s a big kid that will help when we play some of the heavier teams in our conference.”
Friday’s Game
Gust. Adolphus ....... 1 2 0 - 3
UW-Superior............. 2 1 2 - 5
First Period - 1. UWS, Hayden Dawes (Jordan Neduzak, Eric Shand), 5:38 (pp). 2. UWS, Daniel Litchke 13 (Bruno Birzitis), 18:54. 3. GA, Evan Erickson (Nick Greene, Jake Bushey), 19:27 (pp).
Second Period - 4. UWS, Anton Svensson (Owen Stauber, Liam Blais), 7:22. 5. GA, Erickson (Bushey, Ross Kovacs), 10:34. 6. GA, Sam Majka (Colin Hernon, Van Sullivan), 13:32.
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Third Period - 7. UWS, Litchke 14 (Svensson), 5:27 (pp). 8. UWS, Jared Dedenbach, 19:17.
Saves - Chris Amsden, GA, 7-8-11-26. Kyle Miller, UWS, 10-5-3-18. Att-142.
Saturday’s Game
Bethel......................... 0 1 0 - 1
UW-Superior............. 2 2 0 - 4
First Period – 1. UWS, Tanner Skaja 1 (Eric Shand 11), 5:29. 2. UWS, Anton Svensson 7 (Jared Dedenbach 2, Viktor Sallhag 9), 8:10.
Second Period – 3. UWS, Svensson 8 (Dedenbach), 11:33. 4. UWS, Jacob Hamilton 2 (Skaja 1, Jordan Neduzak 10), 11:58. 5. BU, Jeff Flicker 3 (Tyler Mros 2, Dallas Marvin 5), 18:30 (pp).
Saves – Joe Sheppard, BU, 12-11-15-38. Kyle Miller, UWS, 3-13-6-22.
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Men’s basketball
Four players scored in double figures and nine Yellowjackets who hit the floor contributed to the stat sheet in Friday night’s win over Morris.
UWS knocked down 10 3-pointers in the game that saw seven lead changes and six tie scores.
Sophomore guard Trevor Oswald came off the bench to hit four 3-pointers among his 18 points. Shaq Coleman had a game-high 23 points, while Montroy Scott had 13, and Rafael Monteiro scored 10 points with a team-best nine rebounds.
C.D. Douglas led Morris with 21 points and five assists.
Saturday’s win over Crown gave UWS its first winning streak of the season and records of 4-12 overall and 3-5 in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.
Scott led the way with 18 points, 14 of which came in the second half. Monteiro added 17 points and 17 rebounds.
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The Storm led by 11 points at 45-34 with 1:18 remaining in the first half, and the Yellowjackets opened the second half with seven-straight points after trailing 47-38 at the half.
Coleman eventually scored the go-ahead basket off a missed three, giving the Yellowjackets a 55-54 edge to cap off an 21-9 run.
The two teams traded the lead 10 times, but UWS pulled away late, holding the Storm without a score from the floor for the final 1:18.
Austin VanDerHeyden had a game-high 22 points for Crown (4-11, 3-5), while grabbing nine rebounds.
UWS hosts North Central at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Northwestern at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Saturday’s Game
Crown (4-11, 3-5 UMAC)
Austin VanDerHeyden 7-14 7-9 22; Timothy Wendel 8-13 0-0 17; Josh Volness 5-13 2-2 16; James Brown 3-11 1-3 8; Garrett Bigej 2-7 1-2 7; Breier Sanders 1-1 0-0 3; Matt Grady 0-0 1-2 1; Trey Peace 0-2 0-0 0; Mika Allison 0-0 0-0 0; Jordan Whitcomb 0-1 0-0 0; Kole Jusczak 0-0 0-0 0; Tom Messner 0-1 0-0 0; Terrell Thomas 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-64 12-18 74.
UWS (4-12, 3-5 UMAC)
Montroy Scott 5-7 8-8 18; Rafael Monteiro 5-12 6-8 17; Shaq Coleman 7-13 3-4 17; Christian Sellers 3-5 3-4 9; Andreas Preisler 2-8 4-7 8; Nate Kalien 3-8 0-0 8; Rob Lander 1-1 1-2 4; Andrew McGill 1-2 0-0 2; Trevor Oswald 0-4 1-2 1; Kevin Gutter 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-61 26-35 84.
Crown...................... 47 27 - 74
UW-Superior........... 38 46 - 84
3-point goals-Crown 10-30 (Volness 4-10; Bigej 2-6; VanDerHeyden 1-2; Sanders 1-1; Brown 1-4; Wendel 1-4; Whitcomb 0-1; Messner 0-1; Peace 0-1), UWS 4-12 (Kalien 2-4; Monteiro 1-4; Lander 1-1; Preisler 0-1; Oswald 0-2). Fouled out-Crown-Wendel. Rebounds-Crown 34 (VanDerHeyden 9), UWS 46 (Monteiro 17). Assists-Crown 12 (Brown 3), UWS 7 (Gutter 2; Monteiro 2). Total fouls-Crown 25, UWS 23. Technical fouls-None. A-389.
Friday’s Game
Minn. Morris (8-6, 4-3 UMAC)
CD Douglas 6-12 9-11 21; Noah Grove 5-12 0-0 14; Anthony Fisher 5-8 3-6 13; John Haseman 5-9 0-0 10; Tyler Ukkelberg 4-8 1-1 10; Jeremy Halverson 1-3 0-0 3; Nick Peterson 1-1 0-0 3; Jeffrey Halverson 1-1 0-2 2. Totals 28-54 13-20 76.
UWS (3-12, 2-5 UMAC)
Shaq Coleman 9-16 4-5 23; Trevor Oswald 6-10 2-2 18; Montroy Scott 4-10 4-4 13; Rafael Monteiro 4-18 2-4 10; Nate Kalien 3-6 0-0 8; Rob Lander 2-4 1-2 6; Christian Sellers 2-3 0-0 4; Andreas Preisler 1-2 0-0 3; Kevin Gutter 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-70 13-17 85.
Minn. Morris............ 34 42 - 76
UW-Superior........... 38 47 - 85
3-point goals-Minn. Morris 7-20 (Grove 4-10; Ukkelberg 1-4; Peterson 1-1; Halverson 1-3; Haseman 0-1; Fisher 0-1), UWS 10-20 (Oswald 4-5; Kalien 2-4; Coleman 1-1; Preisler 1-1; Lander 1-1; Scott 1-3; Monteiro 0-5). Fouled out- None. Rebounds-Minn. Morris 32 (Ukkelberg 9), UWS 36 (Monteiro 9). Assists-Minn. Morris 12 (Douglas 5), UWS 17 (Monteiro 3; Kalien 3; Sellers 3). Total fouls-Minn. Morris 14, UWS 17. Technical fouls-None. A-308.
UMAC - Men’s Basketball
Northwestern (11-4)............................... 8-0
Bethany Lutheran (9-7).......................... 5-3
Northland (8-8)....................................... 5-3
St. Scholastica (8-8)............................. 5-3
Minn. Morris (8-7).................................. 4-4
North Central (5-8)................................. 3-5
Crown (4-11).......................................... 3-5
UW-Superior (4-12)................................ 3-5
Martin Luther (1-14)............................... 0-8
UMAC - Women’s Basketball
UW-Superior (12-4)................................ 8-0
Minn. Morris (10-5)................................ 7-1
Northwestern (9-6)................................. 6-2
Bethany Lutheran (7-8).......................... 5-3
Martin Luther (5-10)............................... 4-4
St. Scholastica (4-11)........................... 3-5
Northland (6-10)..................................... 2-6
North Central (3-11)............................... 1-7
Crown (0-16).......................................... 0-8
WIAC - Men’s Hockey
UW-Stevens Point (12-3-3)....... 2-0-0 4
UW-Eau Claire (12-3-3)............. 2-0-0 4
UW-Stout (8-8-1)....................... 1-1-0 2
UW-River Falls (8-9-1).............. 0-2-0 0
UW-Superior (6-11-1)..................... 0-2-0 0
Friday, Jan. 13
St. Mary’s 4, UW-Stevens Point 1
Augsburg 5, UW-Eau Claire 1
UW-River Falls 7, Bethel 2
UW-Superior 5, Gustavus Adolphus 3
St. Thomas 3, UW-Stout 1
Saturday, Jan. 14
UW-Eau Claire 5, St. Thomas 1
UW-Stevens Point 5, Augsburg 2
UW-River Falls 4, Gustavus Adolphus 1
UW-Superior 4, Bethel 1
UW-Stout 6, St. Mary’s 5
WIAC - Women
UW-River Falls (15-1)............... 2-1-0 4
UW-Eau Claire (12-5-1)............. 1-1-0 2
UW-Stevens Point (7-5-3)......... 1-1-0 2
UW-Superior (7-8)......................... 1-2-0 2
Tuesday, Jan. 17
UW-Superior at UW-Stevens Point, 7 p.m.
