Brandon McGill’s overtime goal gave the University School boys’ hockey team a 3-2 victory over Mosinee in the championship game of the Pines Classic Tournament played Saturday afternoon at the Eagle River Sports Arena in Eagle River.

The Wildcats brought the Pines Classic Tournament trophy back to Milwaukee for the fourth straight year thanks to McGill’s winning goal.  The senior tipped in a shot from the point by his classmate Jake Kandel 1:28 into the overtime period to give USM the victory.  Kandel scored USM’s first goal and junior Nick Epperson scored the Wildcats’ second goal.

Mosinee opened the scoring with a goal in the first period. Landon Sepan intercepted a USM clearing attempt inside the USM blue line.  He skated toward the right corner and dropped the puck to Zeth Pyan who sent it back immediately.  Stepan moved it behind the net to Bryce Graveen and headed toward the net.  Graveen sent it out front to Stepan who bopped it past USM’s senior goaltender Mac Schmidt  at 11:09 of the first period.

USM tied it later in the period on a power play.  Kandel got the puck in center ice and passed it across ice to Epperson.  He stepped across the Mosinee blue line and passed it to the far side of the line to Kandel. Kandel moved a step or two in and lined a shot past Zach Bednar, the Indians’ goalie at 16:32.

USM took the lead at 12:24 of the second period.  Taking a face off in the right corner of the Indians’ zone, McGill pulled the puck to the boards to junior Logan Geisness.  Geisness skated across the lower part of the circle then dropped the puck to Epperson. He drilled a shot into the net.

Mosinee tied the game at 2-2 in the waning seconds of the second period.  Stepan swiped the puck from a USM player’s stick in the right corner of the USM zone and tipped it to Pyan.  Pyan skated across the low slot and backhanded the puck past Schmidt at 16:21.

There was no scoring in the third period, causing the game to go into overtime and setting up McGill’s tournament winning goal.

After the tournament win, Jason Woods, USM’s head coach said, “It was a great weekend for us.  It’s nice to play two solid teams in a building that really doesn't play to our style and still find a way to take home a championship.  It’s a big week for us next week; I am looking forward to it."

USM is 12-4-2 and 3-0-1 in the Classic Eight Conference.  Mosinee is 10-7-1 and 8-7-1 in the Great Northern Conference.  The Wildcats return home to play Arrowhead for first place in the Classic Eight Conference in a game at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 26th at USM.