The Brookfield Stars came into the quarterfinal contest with Eau Claire Memorial having won 14 of their last 15 games. Their only blemish during that streak was a 7-6 loss to Verona. In that game, the Stars came back from a 6-1 deficit and made it a one-goal game.

Perhaps they learned something from that game.

The Stars fought back after trailing 2-0 and tied the game with two goals in a five minute span and eventually edged the Old Abes 3-2 in overtime in Thursday's opener at the Alliant Energy Center.

ECM scored first, midway through the first period. Jake Sparger scored for the Old Abes on a shot from the blue line that appeared to hit off the shin pad of a Stars defenseman and sneak through the five hole of Brookfield goalie J.J. Murnane.  The unassisted goal came at 8:34.

That's the way the period would end, with ECM holding a 9-2 shot edge.

The second period would see the Old Abes increasing the lead to a pair, only to have the Stars claw back and tie the game.

After a short flurry of activity, Jake Bresser banged home a rebound for ECM, with assists to Charlie Graaskamp and Brady Burzynski. The goal came at the 3:26 mark.

Things continued to go the Old Abes' way, as defenseman Nate Pientok denied the Stars' diminutive (5-5, 155)  Drew Owen on a bust-out about four minutes later.

Owen got his revenge as he used an ECM defenseman as a screen and bounced a puck off the left post to cut the lead to 2-1 at 9:45. Tommy Porkka and Carter Jenkins earned helpers on the play.

On a delayed penalty, the Stars tied the game. They worked the puck around with an extra attacker, and found Patrick O'Brien open in the slot and he buried it to make it 2-2. Matt Fosdick got the assist at 14:43.

ECM doubled up on shots in the period, holding a 12-6 advantage.

The third period was scoreless, but the Stars outshot the Abes 10-8, which was perhaps a portent of things to come.

Just over two minutes into the OT, the Stars scored to pull the upset.

O'Brien and P.J. Corbett muscled through the defense and somehow after grabbing the puck with his glove, Corbett dropped it and made a deke on ECM goalie Dan Hanna and put the shot over Hanna's right shoulder for the game-winner at the 2:07 mark. 

 Shots were even at one.

Murnane played very well in the win, stopping 28 shots. Hanna stopped 16 of 19 for ECM.

Brookfield improves to 20-8, while the Old Abes end their fine season at 21-5-2.