The University School hockey team gave itself a present to start the Christmas holiday weekend by shutting out St. Mary Springs 4-0 in Fond du Lac Friday evening.

Like a clueless bus driver without a map, the Wildcats seemed directionless in the beginning of the game.  Although the first period was scoreless, Springs dominated the play.  "We were rusty,” said USM's head coach Cal Roadhouse, referring to the fact that his players had not played in almost two weeks due to semester exams.  Consequently, the Ledgers out shot USM 15-5 in the opening 17 minutes.  Springs had several odd-man rushes and some point blank shots from the slot.  Only the fine goaltending of USM sophomore Bryan Botcher, some timely back checking, and the ability to tie up sticks and clear the puck quickly by the Wildcats kept marks out of the Ledgers' side of the scorebook.

The Wildcats recouped and regrouped between periods and played like a rejuvenated squad in the second period.  The Ledgers still out shot the Wildcats in the second period, 16-13. ‚ "But," Roadhouse told the USM  players, “we had better quality shots.”  Two of those shots led to goals for USM.

USM's first goal came early in the period. Senior Ashton Wackym sent a pass to his classmate Corey Roadhouse along the boards in the USM end.  Roadhouse skated the puck out of the zone and lined a cross ice pass to senior Kenny Servis. Servis skated down the left boards into the Ledgers' zone.  At the top of the circle, he swerved into the middle and whipped a wrist shot past Springs' sophomore goalie Andrew Riehl at 2:06.

The goal gave the Wildcats the lead, and they waited until the final nine seconds of the second period to increase it.  Skating into the Ledgers' end, Wackym dropped a pass to junior defenseman Joey Judge at the Springs' blue line.   Judge gunned a shot at Riehl.  The rebound dropped toward the left post.  Roadhouse was there and took a swipe at it.  Riehl tried to stop it with his catching glove, but the puck trickled away, and Wackym, rushing to the crease, knocked it across the goal line.

The Wildcats had taken the momentum away from the Ledgers, and they used it to their advantage in the game's final period.  The Wildcats skated with confidence and eventually scored their third goal. In the USM zone, junior Milton Padway knocked the puck to his classmate Ben Walker on the right boards.  Walker forwarded it to sophomore Duncan Brown.  Brown skated through center ice and into the Ledgers' end.  From the right circle he blazed a shot past Riehl at 8:46.

USM culminated the scoring a few minutes later.  Off a face off on the left side of center ice, Walker chipped the puck into the Ledgers' zone.  It bounced off a defender's stick. Walker grabbed it, skated into the middle and rifled a quick off-angle shot at Riehl. The rebound popped out to Brown in the slot, and Brown fired it into the net at 12:13.

In the game Botcher made 39 saves to record his second shutout of the season.  Riehl made 22 saves for St. Mary Springs.

St. Mary Springs now has a 6-2-1 record.  The victory gave USM a 5-4 record.  The Wildcats will try to improve their record in the Joe Raymond Memorial Tournament hosted by Catholic Memorial at the Nagawaukee ice Arena in Delafield on December 27th, 28th and 29th.  The Wildcats first game in the tournament is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Tuesday against Waterloo High School from Iowa.