GRAND CHUTE - The best part about playing one of your biggest rivals in any sport is you never know what you are going to get. That was exactly what the Fox Cities Stars (14-1) witnessed against the Oshkosh Ice Hawks (5-8) at the Champions Center on Tuesday as the Stars were treated to a rude awakening early on.

Despite allowing two first-period goals before even settling in, it was the Stars not only flipping the script, but flipping it in a big way as they closed out the opening period with three unanswered goals as part of their nine unanswered goals and 14 of 15 as they took care of business 14-3. The win moves the Stars to 5-0 in Badgerland play and sets up the de facto regular-season conference championship against Neenah next Tuesday.

When it comes to fast starts, it’s the Stars who are usually the ones jumping on their opponents, but this was a game where Oshkosh gave the Stars a dose of their own medicine when Andy Toonen needed just 35 seconds to beat Elliott Reichenbacher as Oshkosh surged in front 1-0. That was the start of what wound up being a dominant first nine minutes of play for the Ice Hawks as they came away with several other scoring chances, with one of them clanking off the far post in a bid to make things 2-0.

It was the midway point in the opening period when Oshkosh did in fact extend their lead to 2-0 as another quick counter off an open ice turnover led to Toonen’s second goal of the game and had the Stars searching for answers. This was the moment when things began to flip in the Stars' favor as Kellan Murphy got the Stars on the board less than 20 seconds later, followed by another quick goal from Preston McGinnis, and just like that, this was a 2-2 game. 

Cale Adamovich would get in on the fun with less than a minute to go in the opening period as the Stars closed out the first period with three unanswered goals to take a 3-2 lead, and they never looked back. As impressive as the conclusion of the first period was, it was the final two periods where the Stars began to flex their muscles as they added 11 more goals against Chase Magadanz and Phoenix Landry as part of their offensive onslaught.

Less than two minutes into the second period, it was McGinnis finding the back of the net for a second time, as the floodgates started to open. Two minutes later, and it was more of the same for Fox Cities with Xander Herron and Jack Koller taking on a pair of goals to run the unanswered goals stretch to six as Fox Cities pushed their lead to 6-2. That score would hold until later stages of the period when Herron and Kellan Murphy tacked on their second goals of the night as the Stars closed out the second period with another flurry to push their lead to 8-2.

Already with a comfortable lead in hand, Fox Cities wasn’t about to let up, capitalizing on a Power Play opportunity less than a minute in from Parker Janssen to make this a 9-2 game. Speaking of power plays, the Ice Hawks had their share of Power Play chances in this one, but for whatever reason, were unable to capitalize on most of them. That was until Elijiah Johnston was able to get one past Reichenbacher early in the third, putting an end to the nine-goal run by Fox Cities and making this a 9-3 game. That was it when it came to the goals from Oshkosh, as Reichenbacher stood tall to make 15 saves on 18 shots. 

Even with that goal seeming to give the Ice Hawks a bit of life on the offensive end, it was the Stars sucking the energy back as McGinnis capped off his Hat Trick at the 4:45 mark in the third, with Cale Adamovich tallying his second goal shortly after as part of a six-point night, pushing the Stars' lead to 11-3. Throw in a trio of goals from Andrew Ostermann, Blayke Adamovich, and Connor Vander Velden in the final minutes of the third, and it was the Stars coming away with another dominant showing, 14-3, to stay unbeaten in conference play.

With the win, Fox Cities runs their winning streak to six games as they begin to prepare for what could be their biggest test of the season next week. Prior to that, Fox Cities will have a pair of games over the weekend, welcoming the Arrowhead Warhawks to the Champions Center on Friday before heading to Sheboygan on Saturday to face the Sheboygan Red Raiders.