The Waupaca Comets remain unbeaten and tied for first place in the Great Northern Conference after a 6-1 win in Antigo on Thursday night. A four-goal third period by the Comets handed the Red Robins their first conference loss of the season.

A quiet first period was disrupted at the 12:40 mark when Comet defenseman Beau Ash fired a shot on net from the right point. The puck somehow found its way through Robin goalie Ryan Schmidt's leg pads and into the back of the net for a 1-0 Waupaca lead.

That was the only scoring in the first period, as Schmidt turned away the other 8 Comet shots. Waupaca goalie Walker Smith stopped all 8 of the Red Robin shots on him.

Waupaca added to their lead at 9:14 in the second period. Jared Erickson took a pass from Alex Librande and moved up the right boards. A quick burst of speed got him around the Robin defender and he moved in on Schmidt and fired a clean shot past him.

Schmidt stopped 11 shots in the second period, while Smith once again stopped all 8 shots put on the Comet net.

Justin Wegter pulled the Robins within one goal early in the third period. Dan Will and Joe Kubacki were working the puck down below the Comet goal line and Will slid a pass into the slot where Wegter was waiting to fire it home.

Antigo was not able to gain any momentum from that goal, and things soon started to slip away for the Robins. Just two minutes later the puck was flipped into the Robin zone. Schmidt started to move out of the net to play the puck, but saw Caleb Kiesow chasing hard, so he moved back into the net. At the last instant, Schmidt went out to bat the puck away, but Kiesow was too close and the puck hit him and flipped up into the air, over Schmidt, and landed in the Robin goal.

Minutes later, Zach Smith threw the puck up the right boards toward the Robin zone. Jared Erickson took the puck away from the Antigo defender at the blue line and once again walked in on Schmidt and beat him with a clean shot, increasing the Comet lead to 4-1. Austin Erickson added a fifth goal with a one-timer from the slot off a pass from Ash, and Aaron Dahle added an empty net goal to close out the scoring.

Schmidt finished the night with 26 saves, while Smith stopped 32 for Waupaca.

The Comets are now tied with Northland Pines at 3-0 each in the GNC, and the two leaders will face off for the top spot on Saturday night in Eagle River. The Robins next game is also a trip up to the Dome on Tuesday night.