The University School boys’ hockey team won the championship of the Pines Classic Tournament in Eagle River by defeating Northland Pines 3-1 Saturday afternoon.

After the Eagles scored the game's first goal on a power play, the Wildcats got great goaltending from junior Bryan Botcher, played stellar defensive hockey, and roared back with two goals in the first period and another in the second period to win the game against the tournament's host school.

"It's great to win this trophy again." USM's head coach Cal Roadhouse told his team.  "We did the little things right and beat a team ranked in the top ten in the state.  It was a great team effort.  I'm proud of this team and the way we're playing now."

Pines opened the scoring on a power play.  The Eagles got the puck under control in USM's zone.  It went to senior Dylan Weber, who moved it to sophomore Steven Spencer in the left corner.  Spencer stepped into the near circle and winged a pass across the crease to freshman Noah Weber on the right post. He pushed it past Botcher who was sliding across the crease at 9:38.

The Wildcats responded immediately with a goal of their own.  After the face off at center ice, the puck went to USM sophomore Chris Keliher in the USM zone.  He passed it into center ice to junior Vadim Sukhanov who sent it to senior Robby Schmidt on a give-and-go play.  Schmidt returned the puck to Sukhanov in the slot. Sukhanov ripped a hard shot over the glove of Northland Pines' junior goalie, Jacob Stephan at 9:48.

The Wildcats scored what proved to be the winning goal just over two minutes later while on a 5-on-3 power play.  They methodically moved the puck around the Eagles' zone.  Eventually it went to senior Ben Walker in the left corner.  Walker passed it up the boards to senior Joey Judge.  Judge moved into the circle and crossed the puck to junior Duncan Brown in the opposite circle.  With the precision of a brain surgeon, Brown one-timed the puck past Stephan to make the score 2-1 USM at 11:43.

The Wildcats' power play also increased USM's lead late in the second period.  Once again they gained control of the Eagles' zone and moved the puck around, seeking an opportunity to score.  They found it at 13:51 when Judge got the puck at the blue line and rifled a shot off Stephan's pads.  The rebound went to Brown in the right circle, and he immediately put another shot on net.  The second rebound went to Walker in the low slot. Walker finished the play by knocking the puck into the net like he was pounding in a nail to complete a coffin.

The Eagles gave it all they got in the third period, but Roadhouse and his coaching staff instructed the Wildcats to tighten their defense and fine-tune their forechecking.  The Wildcats listened, and like good students of the game of hockey, they applied the advice, keeping Northland Pines off the scoreboard. As a result, they triumphantly carried the tournament trophy home.

The victory improved USM's record to 12-7-2.  The Wildcats take on Onalaska in a 7:00 p.m. game on Friday. February 8th at USM.

The Mosinee Indians beat the Hayward Hurricanes 3-2 in the consolation game of the 2013 Pines Classic hockey tournament in Eagle river on Saturday afternoon.

The Indians got two goals in the first period, from Brodey Pecha and Chris Tomski. Hayward countered with two goals in the second period from Nick Eytcheson and Tyler Hamalainen.

Matthew Sprink scored the game winning power play goal with 4:08 to go in the third period. He was able to find the loose puck during a mad scramble in front of the Hurricanes goal, and tuck it behind goalie Jon Cadotte.

Cadotte stopped 21 shots in the game, while Jimmy Rogers and AJ Fuls combined for 23 saves for the Indians.