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Wausau West returns to the Championship game with 6-3 win over Madison Memorial

By Bill Berg,WiPH Staff, 03/07/15, 8:00AM CST

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Warriors will open and close the season with games against Superior

The Wausau West Warriors jumped out to an early lead and then survived a furious Madison Memorial comeback to earn a spot in the Championship game, downing the Spartans 6-3 in the second semifinal game on Friday night.

Quick transitions generated lots of end-to-end action to start the game. No team was really able to establish any sustained pressure.

Midway through the first period, Andrew Lee brought the puck into the Spartans zone, went behind the net, and then passed the puck out front. Kellen Tharaldson grabbed it, and passed it on to Cale Bowman, who dished it off to Sheldon Oja who buried it.

With two minutes left in the first period, West got a shot on net that handcuffed Kenney and fell to the ice in front of him. After a brief scramble, the puck came out of the pack to Lee, who found an opening to give the Warriors a two goal lead

Saves in the frame were five for Paul Weise of Wausau, and four for Ryan Kenny of Madison Memorial.

The Warriors increased their lead to three with the only goal in the second period. Nate Newman threw the puck in front of the Spartans net from the bottom of the left circle. Alex Osness put his stick on the ice right at the top of the crease and deflected the puck over Kenny into the top of the net.

With only about a minute to go in the second period, Ty Pelton-Byce took off on a short-handed breakaway opportunity. He made a move to his left to get around Weise, but Weise lunged toward the post and laid the paddle of his stick on the ice to deny Pelton-Byce the goal.

The Warriors controlled play in the second, out-shooting the Spartans 17-10.

Just 27 seconds into the third period, while short-handed, Memorial rushed up the ice on a three on one break. Ty Pelton-Byce had the puck on the right. He fired a shot that Weise kicked to Riley Karns, who put it into a wide-open net to make it a 3-1 game.

Six minutes later, Memorial cut the lead to one. Cory Dennis took a wrist shot from the top of the circle that just scraped the crossbar on its way in the goal.

The Spartans nearly tied the game shortly after, getting the puck to the front of the Wausau net and hammering away with several shots before Weise was able to smother the puck. West coach Brian Brandt used his time out to settle down his team.

Wausau was able to regroup and pad their lead with two goals just 15 seconds apart after the timeout. The first came when Andrew Lee drove the puck in deep and around the net. He passed it out front into the slot where it to Cale Bowman who got a stick on it and followed the puck into the Memorial net. Seconds later, Sam Radenz passed in front to Alex Gessler for a one-timer and a three goal lead.

Memorial cut it back down to two with three and a half minutes left in the game when Riley Karns scored from the low slot. But that is as close as the Spartans could get

Nick Techel sealed the win for the Warriors with an empty net goal in the closing minutes.

WiPH Game Summaries