Mark Twain once said, “There are lies, damned lies and statistics.” On a Friday night in Tomah, there was truth in that statement about lies and statistics. It was an uncharacteristic evening for the Black River Falls Tigers statistically speaking, but when the final horn sounded, they had secured their eleventh win of the season with a 5-4 decision over the Spartans from Superior.
Early in the opening period it looked like a typical Tiger game, with their patent smothering defense and reliable scoring from their blue line as they jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a goal by Cam Steele at 8:50. Steele’s shot from above and outside the left circle found its way through the five-hole of Spartan netminder Peyton Benoit. The shots on goal were 9-2 in favor of the Tigers and the Spartans up to this point seemed AWL. From that point on it was anything but a routine Tiger contest.
Tiger’s head coach Brady Mathison explanation for the statistical anomaly of the evening was simply, “Crazy game sometimes. We came out with the start we wanted and controlled the game early and got up 2-0. Then, full credit to Superior, their bounce back put us on our heels, and we never recovered. We just survived.”
The Spartans, who had been averaging 24 shots on goal per game, proceeded to outshoot the Tigers 43-13 over the game’s last forty-two minutes and 45-22 for the game. Black River meanwhile had allowed only over 30 shots to two teams all season and were averaging 19 shots per game against. They also had the state’s fourth stingiest defense allowing a miniscule 1.38 goals per game.
Piper Mathison scored her sixth goal of the year on the powerplay with 1:46 remaining in the first period to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Mathison circled from the side of the net up the wall, across the blue line and back down the opposite wall before sniping Benoit over the shoulder from just above the goal line.
“The first nine minutes of the first period we came out flat-footed,” said Spartan head coach Doug Trentor. “I think once the bus legs wore off the girls looked at each other and said let’s get going here.”
While Spartan shots on goal total were growing, Tiger goalie Lexi Moore was keeping her net clean. Chloe Noth made it 3-0 Tigers whipping a loose puck top-shelf past Benoit. The Spartan sophomore who has taken over for injured junior Evie Jenkins, seemed to be having one of those nights. After back-to-back wins over Rock Ridge and Hayward, Benoit saw 50 shots in a loss to Grand Rapids, MN on Tuesday.
The Spartans climb back into the game started when Adalyn Benson stickhandled past the Tiger’s defense and got in alone on Moore where she slipped to her backhand and put Superior in the game at 3-1. Just over a minute later Superior took a pair of penalties at 5:06 putting the Tigers on a 5-3 advantage. Black River tallied their second powerplay goal when Marah Noth’s shot went through the legs of a Spartan, and past Benoit to make it 4-1 Tigers.
Superior took advantage of one of their three second period powerplays on backdoor goal by Aaliyah Haroldson on a nice pass from Gianna Geissler. The Spartan powerplay is as impressive in person as on the stat sheet where they own the state’s top unit scoring at a lofty 47% clip. Ironically, they were facing the state’s top penalty kill, and the goal was only the second allowed by the Tiger’s shorthanded unit this season. “Lexi (Moore) was our best penalty killer today,” admitted Mathison.
Kaia Moore set up the third period with a goal from the left dot sending the Tigers to the lockeroom with a 5-2 lead after two periods. Benoit, head down, stayed motionless on her knees after the goal.
Benson pulled her team to within two, at 5-3, with a shot right off a face-off win by PaisLee Lystig at 4:49. Benson who will play for Gustavus next fall was a threat every time she stepped on the ice for Superior. “Benson played great,” said Mathison, “and I felt she sparked their resilience after we had both a 3-0 and 4-1 leads.” Trentor agreed, “27 (Benson) was in a groove tonight,” he offered. “Once we got playing the way we know how to play, I felt we held a good amount of the play.”
One minute and twenty-eight seconds later things got really interesting as freshman Gianna Geissler found a poor clearing attempt right on her tape in the high slot. Geissler fired a low shot that appeared to hit a defenseman’s skate and got past Moore.
With 10:43 to play it was suddenly a one goal game. The Spartans pushed hard deep into the final period, but the depth of the Black River Falls bench finally took its toll on the Spartans. “We do play three lines on purpose, hoping to wear teams down, and I do feel that doing that throughout the game, it helped close in the final five minutes,” said Mathison. Superior generated several great chances, including a point blank save on Lystig with about three minutes to play. Moore answered with 41 saves in all, her highest single game total of the season, securing the 5-4 win.
“The name of the game tonight and that I used with the girls in a locker room was resolve. I thought they showed a lot of resolve tonight. “The Spartan’s lost defenseman Paige Lindberg during the game and Gianna Geissler, who left, but returned. “We battled really hard against a very quality opponent,” Trentor continued. “We had chances, but at times we just could not find the back of the net. When you play against a team like Black River Falls, you have to take advantage of any small opportunity you get.”
“That is a very good team, and they gave us some things to work on. We like to say we win, and we learn. Today we did both,” Mathison remarked.
Trentor had the same plan in mind, “Time to look at film and go back to work.”
Superior (7-7) has a huge week ahead with Tuesday and Thursday games against Minnesota teams, Duluth (12-6-1) and Hibbing/Chisholm (7-11-2) and a section one showdown with the Storm (9-5-1) on Friday in the Twin Ports. The Tigers (11-5-1) opened the season 0-3, have won 11 of 14 since. They will host the ECA Stars (10-5-1) on Tuesday and the CFM Sabers (7-6-1) on Saturday.
Three Stars of the Game: 1-L.Moore, 2-Benson, 3-G.Geissler
Blue Collar: BRF-Janowski, SUP-Lystig
