Yellowjackets report: UWS men's hockey keeps winning

Good times kept rolling for the Wisconsin-Superior men’s hockey team, which swept a weekend series from Wisconsin-Eau Claire 4-1 Friday, Jan. 31 and 2-0 Saturday, Feb. 1 at Hobbs Ice Center in Eau Claire.

Saturday’s win was a 26-save shutout for UWS goalie Jan Skorpik, and the Yellowjackets needed him to be sharp, as the contest was a defensive struggle and scoreless deep into the third period.

Collin Pederson broke the deadlock with just 6:41 left in regulation. About five minutes later, he assisted Carson Riddle for an empty-netter to finish off the sweep.

The UWS defensive effort was almost as good on Friday night, as only a single power play goal beat goaltender Jack Boschert, who made 41 saves.

The offense flowed more freely in both directions on Friday as Ikki Kogawa got the game going with a power play goal 5:01 in. Justin Dauphinais scored the eventual game-winner 2:57 into the second period, to be followed by a second Kogawa power play goal 59 seconds later. Dauphinais added an empty-netter for his second goal of the night.

UWS (16-3-2, 9-1-1) leads the WIAC regular season standings by four points with four games to play, starting with a two-game weekend series at Wisconsin-Stout on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 7-8.

Wisconsin-River Falls proved to be just as tough to tame as when the teams met two weeks ago, as the Falcons thumped the Yellowjackets 7-2 at Wessman Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Kaylin Garner’s first-period goal for the Yellowjackets made it a 2-1 game, but UWS had one more in the first period and three more in the second, including a natural hat trick from Madison Kadrlik. Molly Black finished with 47 saves for UWS.

Emma Booth scored a consolation goal shorthanded for UWS (9-9-2, 1-6-0 WIAC), which plays its last home game of the season on Tuesday, Feb. 4 vs. Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Wisconsin-Superior’s first Upper Midwest Athletic Conference meeting with North Central was a close 89-87 win so it may not have been surprising that the second one was, too, but this time the Rams came out on top on Saturday, Feb. 1, 79-76 in Minneapolis.

UWS trailed 39-33 at halftime but led by as many as five with 6:45 remaining. North Central took the lead for good with 2:32 left and got enough stops and free throws to see out the win, as T.J. Moberg’s desperate 3 at the horn was off the mark.

J’Vaun Walker led the Yellowjackets with 22points, while Reid Johnson added 19.

UWS had a modest 26-for-58 performance from the floor and made only four 3-pointers to the Rams’ 11.

On Wednesday, UWS got off to a great start and dumped Crown 70-56 in St. Bonifacius, Minnesota.

The ‘Jackets held Crown to 9-for-28 (32.1%) shooting in the first half and just one trey on 15 attempts, holding a 37-21 halftime lead. The Polars never got closer than nine points after the break.

Johnson scored 26 points, while Walker had an excellent all-around game with six assists, five steals and five rebounds to go with his 18 points.

UWS (8-11, 5-3 UMAC) returns home for four of its next five games including a Wednesday, Feb. 5 visit from Northwestern.

Faced with an overtime game against a North Central squad in the bottom half of the league standings, Wisconsin-Superior got out of trouble quickly in the extra session to pick up a 60-53 win on Saturday in Minneapolis.

The ‘Jackets found themselves down 32-24 after three quarters thanks to a rough (10-for-31) shooting performance but picked it up by making six baskets in the fourth frame. UWS held a 48-45 lead with 26 seconds to go but the Rams made a 3 on the other end to tie and with 14 seconds to run a play, Elsa Olson was off the mark at the buzzer.

UWS recovered nicely, scoring the first nine points of OT and holding the Rams to 0-for-3 with three turnovers in the first 3 ½ minutes, by which the win was all but in the bag.

Olson led the ‘Jackets with 17 points. Elise Besonen added 14 and Katie Dobson had seven of her 13 in OT.

On Wednesday, the win streak continued with a 56-42 decision over Crown in St. Bonifacius, Minnesota.

UWS held a 32-23 halftime lead and gritted its way through a rough second half on both sides in which neither team shot better than 27% from the floor.

Besonen led UWS with 13 points, while Dobson had 10.

The Yellowjackets (11-8, 7-1 UMAC) will host Northwestern on Wednesday night.