The top rated D1 team took down the top rated D2 squad on Saturday as the SPASH Panthers beat the Tomahawk Hatchets to win the Championship Game of the 2024 Rockets Red Nose Classic at the Community First Champion Center.

WiPH was there on Friday, for the semi-final action.

On Thursday Middleton fell to Bay Port 4-2, and Eau Claire North was beaten 5-1 by Tomahawk, sending the Cardinals and Huskies to the consolation bracket.

On Friday the Cardinals got on the board just 32 seconds into the game when Taylor Park dumped the puck into the Huskies zone. The shot was on net, so ECN goalie Landon Ivey had to play the puck. Unfortunately for Ivey and the Huskies, the rebound went right back to Park, who promptly put it into the net.

With 24 seconds left in first period, the Huskies tied the score as Ty Haats scored off a pass from Carson Koller to finish off a well executed 3 on 2 rush.

ECN took the lead in the second period on a power play goal by Cam Moseler. Middleton tied it with a shorty from Wyatt Ehrhardt, but the Huskies took the lead for good on an even strength goal by Cole Gronemus.

Ivey finished the game with 36 saves on 38 shots, while Cardinals goalie Heuer Stuts stopped 22 out of 25.

The Huskies fell to USM on Saturday 4-0, while the Cardinals beat New Richmond.

In Thursday’s first round action, University School fell to SPASH 5-2, while New Richmond took NHM into overtime before falling 4-3, sending the Wildcats and Tigers to the consolation bracket.

Similar to the other games, USM scored on their first shot on goal, although it took nearly two minutes for Christian Doll to get it. Max Kretovics tied it up for NR just two minutes later, and the first period ended with a one all tie.

There were only five penalties called in the second period, but four of them resulted in special teams goals. The Wildcats got Power play goals from Davie Moalusi and Tyler Cook. The Tigers got a Power play goal from Brody Jackson and a shorty from Steven Chapman. The difference in the second was three even strength by University School, by Henry Bechthold, Austin Jarmuz, and Moalusi.

The teams traded goals in the third, but New Richmond was not able to close the gap. Tigers goalie Drake Bowman ended the night with 25 saves on 31 shots, while Brady Farrow stopped 24 of 28 for the wildcats.

USM beat ECN on Saturday to claim the Consolation Championship, while New Richmond fell 4-1 to Middleton.

Bay Port and Tomahawk each won on Thursday, as mentioned above, sending the Pirates and Hatchets to a face off in the championship bracket.

Similar to the game above, Bay Port scored on their first shot on goal, just 12 seconds in, on their way to building a 3-0 first period lead. Tyler Wempe had a pair of even strength goals, while Cash Ebeling added one on a power play.

The Hatchets out-shot the Pirates 17 to 6 in the first, but were unable to get anything past BP netminder Benjamin Knutson.

Tomahawk got second period goals from Sawyer Hanna and Austin Lamer to get within a goal at 3 to 2, but then Marek Stefik put a backhand shot from the goal line off a Hatchet defenseman and into the net to make the score 4-2 after two periods.

Bay Port dropped the third place game to the host Rockets on Saturday, and Tomahawk fell to SPASH in the Championship game.

In opening round action, SPASH beat USM, and the Neenah/Hortonville/Menasha Rockets downed New Richmond to set up the much anticipated match-up of the top-ranked Panthers and the number four Rockets.

Sticking with the theme for Friday, Grant Molski scored for SPASH just 41 seconds into the first period.

That was the only scoring in the first, as Rockets goalie Owen Debbert stopped the other 8 shots he faced, while Panthers goalie Eric Cisewski recorded 5 saves.

Molski scored again early in the second to put SPASH up by 2. But then the Rockets came back, with an even strength goal by Cartyr Simonson and a power play tally from Cooper Zinda tied it up at two goals each to end the second period.

The score remained tied at twos until midway through the third period, when Cooper Zinda got called for hooking. On the way to the penalty box, a ten minute unsportsmanlike conduct was added on, essentially ruling Zinda out for the remainder of the contest.

This action appeared to unsettle the Rockets, as it took the Panthers Carter Drexler just 30 seconds to score on the power play, and then just 30 more seconds for Grady Miller to tack on an insurance goal.

The Rockets regrouped after that, but were not able to score again on Cisewski, who ended the night with 17 saves. Debbert finished with 20 saves on 24 shots.

Stevens Point beat Tomahawk on Saturday to take the Championship. Neenah downed Bay Port capture Third Place.