Shayne McLaughlin was slightly bummed on Saturday. Being a perfectionist, he was not completely satisfied with his play during the first three games of the Minnesota National Invitational Tournament held in Plymouth, MN.

Twenty-four hours later, McLaughlin’s disposition turned 180 degrees as he scored two goals and helped lead Team Wisconsin to a 4-1 win over North Dakota and the inaugural NIT title.

Casey Nelson got TW on the board with his laser from the top of the right circle that beat ND goalie Scott Buchholz between the wickets to give TW a 1-0 lead at 6:38 of the first.

Just over five minutes later, McLaughlin snuck down low on the left side and took a pass from Max McCormick and converted to make it 2-0 in favor of TW at the 11:39 mark. Team Wisconsin held a 19-5 shot edge in the period.

McLaughlin scored almost from the same spot on the other end of the ice at 7:12 of the second to make the tally 3-0 while on the man advantage. Alex Tesensky and McCormick received assists on the play.

North Dakota defensemen started pinching in hopes of adding some offense, and it almost cost them as TW sprung forwards on three breakaways in a two minute span, but Buchholz was up to task and swept aside all attempts to negate the scoring opportunities.

North Dakota finally got on the board when Matt Andre scored on a nice pass to the backdoor from Dustin Jonasson to make it 3-1 at the 14:14 mark of the second.

TW outshot ND 17-8 in the period.

The score stayed 3-1 until McCormick knocked home a rebound at 15:03 of the final period to account for the 4-1 final. Tesensky and Nelson were credited with helpers. TW held a 20-5 shot edge in the final period for a game total of 56-18.

McLaughlin’s twin brother Aarin played very well in net, steering aside 17 of 18 shots while earning the win. On the other end, ND’s Buchholz had a great game, stopping 52 of 56 shots while spending most of the game standing on his head.

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