The Wisconsin Rapids Red Raiders survived two minutes of 5-on-3 penalty kill time and lost a top player for a ten-minute misconduct call, but still weathered the storm in a 5-3 victory over Waunakee on a chilly Friday night at the South Wood County Rec Center in Rapids.

The game was the second contest in the so-called 'W Tournament,' featuring Waukesha and Waupaca in addition to the combatants in this match-up. Waukesha and Waupaca fought to a 1-1 tie in the first game of the day.

The battle between the Red Raiders and the Warriors was scoreless until Gage Simon scored from the slot on a nice pass from Luc Kreuser at the 11:31 mark of the first period. Caleb Schroer also got an assist on the play.

Just when it looked like the buzzer would sound on a 1-0 game, Rapids scored again just before the end of the period to increase the lead to two goals.

Schroer and Logan Zimmerman worked a 2-on-1 to perfection, with Zimmerman putting the puck into a nearly vacant net caused by the nice move by Schroer.

Rapids held a 13-8 shot edge in the period.

The Raiders (1-0) increased the lead to 3-0 just under four minutes into the middle period.

Defenseman Jacob Morman's shot from the right point was re-directed by Kreuser and ended up in the net over Waunakee goalie Nick Fellows' right shoulder. Schroer's assist gave him a playmaker in the first 19 minutes of play.

Midway through the period, Waunakee (1-2) scored to cut the lead to 3-1. Adam Carlson scored from the slot off Alec Semandel's pass from the right circle. Parker Elvy also earned a helper on the scoring play.

Late in the period, Waunakee had 38 seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage, but was unable to score. Rapids outshot the visitors by a tally of 11-9 in the stanza.

The home team took a penalty just twenty seconds into the final period and killed that off, but wasn't so lucky a few minutes later. The Rapids squad found itself with two players in the sin bin again, including a ten-minute misconduct for Schroer.

Midway through the 5-on-3, Rapids coach Pat McDonald called a time-out to chat about the dire situation that his team found itself in. Nine seconds after that, Waunakee scored to cut into the lead. 

Chevy Ford--brother of stars Jason and Keegan Ford--scored on a rebound at the 5:33 mark to make it a 3-2 game in favor of the hosts.

Rapids pulled away, scoring twice in a span of 19 seconds late in the period to increase the margin to 5-2. Simon scored his second goal of the game on a rebound (assist to Dan Overfelt) and then Lucas Gause knocked in a rebound at 13:37 with an assist from Zimmerman.

The Red Raiders once again made it difficult on themselves, taking two penalties in a span of 18 seconds late in the period. And once again, the Warriors took advantage of it, getting its final goal from Jacob Hudecek on a rebound at the 15:23 mark. Semandel and Blake Ripley earned helpers on the play.

Fellows came out of the game with just under a minute left and although his team had a 6-on-4 advantage, time ran out as the Red Raiders escaped with the 5-3 win.

Rapids outshot Waunakee 9-6 in the period.

Red Raiders goalie Tyler Gilbert stopped 20 shots in the winning effort, while Fellows made 28 saves on the other end of the ice for Waunakee.

In Saturday's games, Waunakee battles Waupaca at 11am, and then Rapids and Waukesha will meet in a 3:30pm contest.