Team Wisconsin allowed Team Massachusetts to get within one goal late in the second period, but then got serious and scored the game's final five goals to grab an 8-2 win in the fifth place Minnesota NIT contest played Sunday morning at the Plymouth Ice Center.

TW scored twice in the first 12 minutes and it looked ripe for a runaway, but Team Mass had other ideas.

Jason Ford scored the first goal for TW, sending a laser into the upper right corner from the top of the right circle at the 3:05 mark. Alec Vanko and Kyle Lee earned assists on the play.

At 11:46, Lee scored from the slot with help from linemates Ford and Jesse Tredinnick to make it 2-0, which is how the first period ended. Shots favored TW, 20-7.

Team Wisconsin came through on a power play with just over six minutes left to start out the second period onslaught.

Alex Shuchuk banged a rebound off the left post and into the net to give TW a three-goal lead. Logan Murphy and Vanko were given helpers on the play.

Mass took advantage on a power play two minutes later to cut the lead to 3-1, when Chris Maguire scored on assists from Kyle Carlson and Jake McKinnon at the 13:51 mark.

Thirty-three seconds later, Maguire scored again on a nice cross-ice pass to the back door that beat TW goalie Scott Sibik to slice the deficit to 3-2 with just over three and one-half minutes left in the second.

TW responded with two killer goals in the last 32 seconds that in reality, put the contest away. First, Brady Burzynski (son of WiPH videographer Kevin Burzynski) grabbed a long rebound and slid it past Mass goalie Derek Kwok to make it 4-2, with an assist to Keaton Bronston.

The absolute back-breaker came with one second left with Shuchuk's second goal, this one a rebound from the low right side. Eddie Matsushima and Olaf Jurenko were given helpers on the play.

The period ended with TW holding a 13-8 margin in shots on goal in the period.

The wild and wooly third period began with Drew Otto's goal just 15 seconds in, assisted by Peter Schmitz and Vanko, to boost the lead to 6-2.

Otto scored again on a nifty cross-ice pass that he buried from the low left side. Jay Routheau and Bronston earned assists on the score that made it 7-2 at the 9:39 mark.

Just under three minutes later, Lee spanked a rebound of a Vanko shot past the Mass netminder to close out the scoring.

The last few minutes of the game were chippy, with two separate instances of matching roughing minors. The Mass coaching staff was chirping at the TW bench, and coaches Tim Ebner and Eric Fenton got involved, but even though tempers flared, nothing further came of the incident.

TW outblasted Team Mass, 21-2 in the final period.

Sibik showed a solid effort and finished with 15 saves. For Team Mass, Shane Barry (19) and Kwok (27) combined for 46 saves.