On a snowy, blustery evening, Wausau West travelled to the K.B. Willett Arena to challenge the SPASH Panthers for the Wisconsin Valley Conference title.
West was the defending WVC champ, having won the last five banners and was looking for number six.
It was not to be, as SPASH stole the crown and goalie Nathan Siclovan stole the show, making 32 saves in earning his fifth shutout of the year in a 2-0 victory over the visiting Warriors in Wisconsin Prep Hockey's Game of the Week.
After the SPASH team finished celebrating its five seniors on Senior Night, it was time to drop the puck.
The first period was scoreless, with most of the play in the home team's d-zone, but Siclovan and cohorts played well, blocking shots out high and down low, with the talented netminder stopping all 11 shots fired at him in the stanza. SPASH took five shots, and West goalie Sam Wiegert turned all those aside as well.
The Panthers had a power play chance early in the second period and did not capitalize, instead preferring to score while playing even strength.
Twenty seconds after the penalty expired, Tyler McHugh found himself with the puck behind West's net. While surveying the icescape, he saw Austin Haas open in the slot, fired a pass and watched the sophomore sneak it through Wiegert's five-hole to give SPASH a 1-0 lead at the 5:27 mark. Nick Larson also earned an assist on the play.
West had a couple power play opportunities in the middle of the period, but could not score.
Minutes later, a West forward put the puck just wide right on a good scoring chance and then with slightly less than four minutes left in the period, Kevin Conley and Zach Peterson just missed on a cross-ice, backdoor pass.
West again held the shot edge, 11-6.
The final period featured good back-and-forth action, but it took over five minutes to see the puck go into the net.