GRAND CHUTE - It has been a long time since the Fox Cities Stars (16-2) were competitive against the Neenah Rockets (15-3), let alone beat them, as the two rivals faced off in a huge Badgerland Conference matchup at the Champion Center. In what was pegged as the game of the year in the Fox Valley Area, these teams entered the game tied atop the Conference Standings with a perfect 5-0 mark.

While the winner of this game wouldn’t be crowned Conference Champions, at least not yet, they would be in the driver seat the rest of way which is all you can ask for. With so much anticipation leading up to the game, it not only delivered, but delivered in a big way as this will go down as one of those instant classics in the long history between the teams.

Facing an early 2-0 deficit, it was the Rockets racking up four unanswered goals to seize control 4-2 in the final period. Fox Cities managed to battle back, as they pulled Elliott Reichenbacher from goal to get an extra skater as they pulled within one with just over a minute to go. Knowing that would be the same situation again, the Stars had an opportunity to tie things up, but it was the Rockets coming away with an empty net goal from Cartyr Simonson with 12 seconds to go as the Rockets seize control of the Badgerland conference with a hard-fought 5-3 win.

In what was a dominant first period by the Rockets, it was Reichenbacher standing tall as his effort between the pipes kept the Stars in the game. The net minder came away with countless tough saves early in the period en route to a 12 save opening period to keep the Rockets off the scoreboard early. Fox Cities needed nearly 11 minutes to get their first shot on goal before coming away with a few solid chances of their own only to be turned away by Matthew Nelson in what was a scoreless first.

It was in the second period when the action started picking up as it was the Stars who suddenly flipped the script as they were the ones dominating the ice early on. At some point you knew something had to give and it was the Stars never give up mentality that paid off as Quinn Murphy crashed the net and put one home to put the Stars in front 1-0 just over five minutes into the second period.

That score would hold for a majority of the period up until the Stars found a way to pick up their second goal. Approaching the four minute mark in the second, the Stars pressured the Rockets into a turnover on their own end of the ice, leading to Parker Janssen finding the back of the net to make this a 2-0 game. Considering how the Stars hadn’t scored a single goal in the past two seasons against the Rockets, this was a win in itself, but Fox Cities had even bigger goals in mind with a multi-goal lead.

If there is one thing to be said about Neenah, it would be that no deficit is too large for them to overcome as that goal by the Stars seemed to awaken the entire Neenah roster as they pulled within 2-1 as Captain Mark Sutton took the ensuing face off and skated right past the Stars defense to bury one top shelf past the shoulder of Reichenbacher. Not even 30 seconds later, it was the Rockets again finding a way to get the job done, as Reichenbacher made the initial stop in the crease, only to have Gus Weinholzer come crashing in for the follow-up goal, and just like that, we had a 2-2. That massive shift in momentum clearly favored the Rockets, as they dominated the final three minutes of the second, and the game would come down to the final period.

As if allowing two quick goals late in the second period wasn’t bad enough, the Stars continued to make things difficult for themselves as Neenah tacked on their third goal in eight minutes, as Sutton picked up his second goal of the night to make this a 3-2 Rockets lead. Neenah would never look back as they managed to capitalize on a Power Play goal later in the period with Vinny Scholl pushing the Rockets' lead to 4-2 with less than four minutes to go.

Still trailing by that score in the final minutes, the Stars knew they needed offense in a hurry, so to accommodate for that, it was time to pull their goalie to gain an extra skater on the ice. That worked to perfection out of the gates with Blayke Adamovich putting another one past Nelson to make this a 4-3 game with one minute to play. Faced with the same scenario yet again following the faceoff, it was the Stars pulling their goalie once more as the extra attacker was back out on the ice.

Despite getting several shots on Nelson late, including a couple of quality chances, the net minder stood tall as a series of saves resulted in an empty net goal from Simonson with 12 seconds to go to close out an impressive 5-3 win for the Rockets. With the win, Neenah secures the top seed in the Badgerland Conference tournament, with Fox Cities locking in the No.2 seed. Both teams will be in action on Friday, with Neenah traveling to Stevens Point and the Stars hosting Kenosha.