The Superior Spartans team defense stifled the visiting Tomahawk Hatchets for a surprising 7-1 win at Wessman Arena in Superior on Saturday afternoon. Surprising because the Spartans have only scored more than 4 goals one time this season, and the Hatchets have averaged almost 6 per game.

Superior’s first goal came on a power play at 3:29 in the first period. Maverick Milroy deked around a Hatchet defenseman and came in alone on goalie Hudson Seymour. Miroy roofed a shot from the top of the crease. Defense took over then until just 2:43 were left in the first frame. That is when Brady Haroldson and Ryan Nelson came into the Tomahawk zone in a two on one. Nelson had the puck and went wide, drawing the defender over. Nelson timed his pass perfectly to Haroldson, who had a lot of net to shoot at.

The Spartans out-shot the Hatchets 8 to 5 in the first. However Spartan head coach Rob Downs said,”I think the score doesn’t quite tell the entire story of that game.  I thought they outplayed us the first period for sure.  We capitalized on a PP and a turnover. Dewey (Reilley, Tomahawk coach) had them firing right out the gate.  They took it to us physically the first period. We had to make that adjustment coming out for the rest of the game.”

Superior goalie Hunter Sidorowicz stopping all five. Said Downs, “A lot of it starts with our goalies.  There is a lot of confidence in either one we play.  We have been alternating them and they both have played great this year.”

The Spartans adjusted and just shut down the Hatchets attack in the second, frustrating the usually high-flying Tomahawk offense, and keeping the score at 2-0 until 4:08 left in the period. That’s when Henry Haugen fired a shot off the crossbar, with the rebound coming right to the stick of Thor Netland who fired into the net before Seymour could recover.

Then the wheels fell off. A couple of frustration penalties on the Hatchets gave the Spartans a five on three advantage. Haroldson scored after 15 seconds of five on three, then Milroy scored again on remaining time of five on four. Haugen added a fourth goal with just 42 seconds left in the second to make it suddenly a 6-0 game after two perods.

Downs talked about his teams’ power play, “we have had struggles this year.  We are fairly depleted with injuries, so there has been some jumbling of people on our second power play.  As for the first PP, we made one personnel change last week and it has helped that group be more effective.  Hopefully with more time and practice, we can keep it rolling.”

Milroy scored again for Superior, and Tomahawk got on the board at 4:17 with a power play goal by Jake Albert, to spoil Sidorowicz’ chance at a shuout.

Talking about the defensive effort that so frustrated the Hatchets, Downs said “We talked as a team about taking away the first lines time and space.  That line can do some damage if they are able to have free will in their offensive zone. Just wanted to make sure we had stick on puck and reduce the amount of good looks for them.”

The leader of that defensive effort was “Number 26 - Rylan Davis has been stellar this year.  He has great reach, size and tremendous speed.  We are typically pairing him up on first lines.  His length and speed help neutralize other lines.  He has been in the scoring mix and is not afraid to block shots,” said Downs