Hockey Preview: Stout travels to Superior Monday for first round WIAC tourney game

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THIS WEEK'S GAMES: UW-Stout  (4-6-0, 4-6-0 WIAC) will travel to UW-Superior (5-3-0, 5-3-0 WIAC) to face the Yellowjackets in the first round of the WIAC Championship, presented by Culver's, Monday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. The Blue Devils are the fifth seeded team in the tournament, while the Yellowjackets are the fourth seed. This will be the third consecutive meeting between the two teams. Superior swept the regular season-ending series last week, 6-3, 4-1. The last time Superior won three straight games was i in the midst of a four-game winning streak by the Yellowjackets from Feb. 3, 2007 to Nov. 14, 2008. The winner of the Stout/Superior game will advance to play top-seeded UW-River Falls, Wednesday, March 10. 

UW-Superior will provide complete coverage of the games, including a Live Video stream by iFanTV, a live audio steam by KUWS-FM and live stats. 

THIS SEASON: The COVID-19 pandemic forced all sports to rethink their schedule and WIAC hockey played  10 game scheduled against conference opponents only. The league experienced a few COVID cancellations, but after the schedule concluded Friday, UW-River Falls was awarded the first seed, UW-Eau Claire the second seed, UW-Stevens Point the third seed, UW-Superior fourth, UW-Stout fifth and Northland College sixth. The second round  of the WIAC Championship is scheduled for Wednesday, March 10 and the championship game Friday, March 12. All tournament games are to be played at the high seed. The top two seeded teams get a first round bye. In the other game Monday, Northland will be at Stevens Point. Fans are not allowed during the 2020-21 season. 

2020-21 Blue Devil Hockey Schedule/Results
Wednesday, Feb. 3 - UW-River Falls, W 5-1
Friday, Feb. 5 - at UW-River Falls, L 4-1
Wednesday, Feb. 10 - Northland College, W 1-0
Friday, Feb. 12 - at Northland College, W 4-2
Wednesday, Feb. 17 - at UW-Eau Claire, L 10-2
Friday, Feb. 19 - UW-Eau Claire, L 4-2
Wednesday, Feb. 24 - UW-Stevens Point, W 4-1
Friday, Feb. 26 - at UW-Stevens Point, L 6-3
Wednesday, March 3 - at UW-Superior, L 6-3
Friday, March 5 - UW-Superior, L 4-1
Monday, March 8 - WIAC First Round at UW-Superior, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 10 - WIAC Second Round
Friday, March 12 - WIAC Championship

STOUT vs. SUPERIOR IN THE WIAC CHAMPIONSHIP (presented by Culver's)

• Stout has meet UW-Superior four times in the WIAC Championship, presented by Culver's, since the championship began in the 2013-14 season. The Blue Devils have a 2-4 record in the Championship against the Yellowjackets, all in the first round of the tournament. The first two seasons, the first round was played as a single game, then went to a best-of-two series with a mini-game, if needed. Stout lost 6-3 to Superior in 2013-14, and lost 4-3 in overtime in 2014-15. In 2015-16, the teams split the two games, with Stout winning the opener, 3-2, and Superior the second game, 5-3. Stout won the mini-game, 3-2. In the 2015-16 season, Stout won the first game, 4-3, then lost the second, 4-2, and dropped the mini-game, 1-0. 

A LOOK AT THE BLUE DEVILS:

• The Blue Devils finished the abbreviated 2020-21 season at 4-6 overall, and received the No. 5 seed in the WIAC Championship tournament. UW-Superior is the No. 4 seed. UW-River Falls received the first seed, UW-Eau Claire the second seed, UW-Stevens Point the third seed and Northland College the sixth seed. The winner of the tournament will be declared the regular season champion.
• Raphael Gosselin, Logan Nelson and Kobe Keller have each scored four goals this abbreviated season. Gosselin leads the team in assists with seven, followed by Alex Nagel with six. Nelson has three assists and Keller two. Gosselin has scored at least one point in six of the eight games and four of his assists have come on power plays.  
• Matt Dahlseide, Peter Verstegen, Brandon Connett and Steven Mordini each have two goals. Dahlseide and Verstegen have four assists. Connett's two goals are power play goals.
• Freshman Joey Petronack has one goal and four assists, with all of his points coming on the power play.
• Brennan Kitchen and Zach Cloutier have worked the majority of minutes in the net. Kitchen has played in six games and has played 286 minutes, while Cloutier has appeared in five games with 258 minutes played. Cloutier has a GAA of 1.57 and Kitchen 4.60. 

Game Stats Tracker

SCOUTING UW-SUPERIOR

• Due to COVID-19 protocols, UW-Superior saw two games canceled this season. The Yellowjackets finished last season at 16-10-3 overall, 7-8-0 in the WIAC. The Yellowjackets were eliminated from the WIAC tournament by UW-Eau Claire, 4-1, 2-0. The Yellowjackets' 2021 season has been up and down, starting off with a pair of wins over Northland, then losing single games to both UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stevens Point. Last week, the 'Jackets split with UW-River Falls, with each winning on their opponents' ice.
• The Yellowjackets return all-conference players in Connor Hamonic, Sr., D (2018-Honorable); Dylan Johnson, So., F (2020-First/Newcomer of the Year); Lawson McDonald, Sr., D (2020-Honorable); Oscar Svensson, Sr., G (2019-First) and Troy York, Sr., F (2019-First, 2020-First)
• The Yellowjackets have averaged 3.8 goals per contest, second in the league. They are allowing 2.8 goals, third in the WIAC. Pavel Mikhasenok leads the team in points with 10, on one goal and nine assists. Chad Lopez (5-1-6) has five goals and Dylan Johnson (4-4-8) four. Artur Terchiyev (3-4-7) and Coltyn Bates (3-1-4) each have three goals. Jordan Martin (2-4-6), Levi Cudmore (2-2-4), Will Blake (2-2-4),and Ty Proffitt (2-1-3) each have two goals.
• The Yellowjackets are 6-30 (.200) on the power play and Dylan Johnson Jordan Martin each have two of those goals. The 'Jackets are 5-28 (.821) on the penalty kill. 
• In the goal, Oscar Svensson returns and is posting a 3.10 goals against average with a .896 saves percentage, but did not suit up against Stout. Myles Hektor recorded both wins against the Blue Devils and has a 2.00 GAA and a .931 saves percentage.
• Statistics

LAST WEEK WHEN THEY MET

• The Yellowjackets took both contests last week, winning 6-3 in Superior, Wednesday, and 4-1 in Menomonie, Friday.
• The two teams tallied five total power play goals for the evening, but unfortunately for UW-Stout, UW-Superior punched in three power play goals to Stout's two and Yellowjackets carried a 6-3 win out of Wessman Arena Wednesday. With the victory, the Yellowjackets moved into a tie with the Blue Devils (4-5, 4-5 WIAC), with most teams having eight points. Superior finished the night 3-6 on the power play, including an empty net power play goal with less than a minute left.  Stout was 1-1 on power play opportunities with Kobe Keller scoring his first power play goal of the season and his fourth overall goal, coming at the 13:36 mark in the final period to pull to within 5-3. Keller got assists from freshmen Matt Dahlseide and Joey Petronack.  Coming into the third period, the 'Jackets led 4-2 and Superior's Troy McTavish pushed the lead to 5-2 about midway through the period. Jordan Martin scored the empty net, power play goal - his second power play goal of the night - with 46 seconds left in the game.  The Yellowjackets scored two goals in the first period and two goals in the second period. Stout scored a goal in each of the first and second periods. Superior got on the board first when Troy York scored six minutes into the contest. Stout answered back when Raphael Gosselin scored his fourth goal of the season, notching the marker at the 14:55 mark. Logan Nelson assisted on the goal. The Yellowjackets closed out the period with a Jordan Martin less than two minutes later. The Blue Devils knotted the score six minutes into the second period on Evan Butcher's first goal of the season at the 6:27 mark. Superior scored two goals in the final three minutes of the period. Artur Terchiyev scored on the power play at 17:21 and just over two minutes later Superior made it 4-2 on a Dylan Johnson goal at 19:48. Stout's Brennan Kitchen recorded 30 saves. Superior's Myles Hektor recorded 23 saves. | Game Story and Statistics
• Superior blanked the Blue Devils in the first and third period and scored in each period to take the contest, 4-1.  As the teams took the ice in the first period, both teams were looking to get on the board first. In the first five minutes of the game, it was back and forth action with both teams getting their fair share of shots on net. At 5:58 of the game, UW-Stout (4-6-0) took their first penalty and Superior went on a power play. But the Blue Devils used their defense and goaltending to kill of the penalty.  At 11:51 of the period, Superior found the back of the net on a wrap around goal. David Kaplan of Superior got the Yellowjackets on the board first with the assist coming from Troy York.  At the end of the first period, the Yellowjackets held a 1-0 lead. Shots in the period were in favor of Superior, 10-9.  It didn't take long for the Blue Devils to tie up the game as Steven Mordini went top shelf to beat the Yellowjacket's goalie. The goal was scored only 3:02 into the period. The tying goal was assisted by Logan Nelson and Alex Nagel.  But Superior took the lead only 19 seconds after the Blue Devil goal. Yellowjacket's Coltyn Bates found the back of the net with assists coming from C.J. Walker and Jordan Martin.  After the two quick goals, there was no other scoring in the period. Each team had a power play opportunity. Stout outshot Superior 12-7 in the period.  In the third period, Stout started on a power play, but could not tie the game up. After the killed penalty, Superior went on a power play, but Stout's penalty kill gave up no goals to keep the game at 2-1.  At 5:18 of the period, Yellowjacket's Chad Lopez made it a two goal game. The assists came from Dylan Johnson and Artur Terchiyev.  With eight minutes to go in the game and being down 3-1, the Blue Devils found themselves on a four on three power play. But Stout couldn't find the back of the net.  With only 3:08 left in the game, the Blue Devils took Kitchen off the ice to gain an extra attacker. With opportunities there, Stout couldn't rally back. With 1:36 left in the game, Superior's Chad Lopez scored an empty net goal to make the game out of reach for Stout. Superior's Myles Hektor earns the win and had 31 saves on the night. Brennan Kitchen earns the loss and had 12 saves. Zach Cloutier started the game in net and earned 9 saves in the first period.  |  Game Story and Statistics
   

UW-STOUT COACH MIKE MACDONALD

• The 2020-21 season marks Mike MacDonald's (4-6-0) first season as the Blue Devils' head coach. 
• Before coming to Stout, MacDonald coached four seasons at Curry College, near Boston, Mass. Prior to joining Curry, he spent a year as an assistant coach at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. 
• MacDonald graduated from the SUNY Geneseo with a degree in Business Administration in 2007. During his time at Geneseo, the team posted a record of 67-33-11, winning the SUNYAC Championship in 2005 and 2006. Over his collegiate career, MacDonald appeared in 109 games and is among the school's all-time leaders in goals (61) and points (120).
• MacDonald played six seasons professionally. He began his professional career in the Central Hockey League, spending one season each with the Odessa Jackalopes and New Mexico Scorpions. The following four seasons he played primarily for the Southern Professional Hockey League's Huntsville Havoc. While there he served as the team's captain for three seasons. In 2010 he scored the game-winning goal to give Huntsville its first ever SPHL Championship. Over his career, MacDonald appeared in 338 professional games with 213 points on 84 goals and 129 assists.
• MacDonald is a native of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.

UW-SUPERIOR'S RICH MCKENNA

• The 2020-21 season is the fifth for Rich McKenna (46-59-11) as head coach of the UW-Superior men's hockey program, becoming just the sixth head coach to lead the Yellowjackets since the program was reinstated in 1965. In McKenna's first four seasons at UWS, he has had seven players earn All-WIAC honors and helped six sign professional contracts. He has also coached several current NHL players and draft picks from his time in the USHL and NCAA Division I. McKenna came to the Yellowjackets following a season as the head coach and general manager of the New Jersey Titans of the North American Hockey League (NAHL). He led the Titans to a record of 34-22-4 and a second-place finish in the NAHL's East Division in 2015-16. McKenna began his coaching career as an assistant coach at NCAA Division III Castleton State in Vermont in 2008-09 where he helped the Spartans to a 15-win season and a berth in the ECAC East playoffs. From there, McKenna spent two seasons (2009-11) as an assistant coach at Division III Wesleyan (Middletown, Conn.) before moving to the Division I ranks at UConn. While there, McKenna helped guide the Huskies to the Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals in 2011-12 and then the semifinals in 2012-13. He moved into the junior game as the assistant coach and assistant general manager of the Muskegon (Michigan) Lumberjacks of the United States Hockey League (USHL). There, McKenna worked under head coach and former NHL player Todd Krygier for two seasons, helping the Lumberjacks reach the Clark Cup finals in 2014-15 where they ultimately lost to the Sioux Falls Stampede.

UP NEXT: The winner will travel to UW-River Falls, Wednesday, March 10 to take on the top-seeded Falcons at 7 p.m. The championship game is Friday, March 12 at the highest seeded team.