Thousands lined Stewart Avenue Friday evening to take in the spectacle known as the Wausau Holiday Parade, an annual event that begins in Marathon Park and ends in downtown Wausau, with a Warming Party to follow at the Great Hall.

Little did those folks know that an even bigger event was taking place at the Marathon Park Ice Arena, where Catholic Memorial/Pius visited top-ranked Wausau West.

Less than five minutes into the contest, CM/P held a 2-0 lead in front of a mostly partisan West crowd, silenced by the tally shown on the scoreboard at the south end of the rink.

Just 1:11 into the first period, a West penalty set the stage for the Crusaders, who capitalized when Kyle Fink beat West netminder David Knetter from the right circle to make the score 1-0, with an assist going to Kieran Gilbert at the 2:16 mark.

"They've got a good power play," commented West coach Pete Susens. "They controlled the puck well and got some life from that goal."

Slightly over two minutes later, the guests doubled their lead when Cody Dixon punched home a loose puck following a free-for-all in front of the net. Josh Campbell assisted on the goal.

A lesser team would have folded, but not the Warriors. Living up to their team mascot, the players put on their game faces and began to claw their way back into the contest.

One minute after falling behind by two goals, Ryan Condon knocked in a rebound past CM/P goalie Chris Nelson to cut the lead in half. Anthony Caroselli got an assist on the score.

"That was a big goal from Condon to set the tone for the rest of the game," noted Susens, who is now six wins away from 500 career high school victories.

West then tied the game at the 8:45 mark when Garret Clemment gathered in a loose puck on the low left side and rifled it into the open net following a rebound, with help from Steve Leonhard. 

The home team took the lead for good with a nifty goal from Kyle Lee. The junior raced in on Nelson, deked past him to the right and slid the puck in just past the goalie's outstretched left pad to make the score 3-2 with just under two minutes to play in the period.

West held a 13-8 shot advantage in the period.

The Warriors scored four times in the second to put the game away.

Matt Bautch scored on a re-direct at 3:39 with an assist from Clemment to make it 4-2. Just under three minutes later, Clemment scored his second goal with an assist from Bautch, proving that turnabout is fair play.

The Crusaders cut the lead to 5-3 at the 8:11 mark with Dixon's second goal when he skated through traffic and scored from the slot past Knetter's glove. Fink got an assist on the play.

The hosts quashed the threat with a goal of their own at 10:35. Brad Peterson punched in a rebound following a scrum in front of the net to make it 6-3, with helpers going to Lee and Tom Kilgore.

Robbie Poirier stretched the lead to 7-3 when he deked past two defenders and beat Nelson high on the glove side from the slot at 12:21, with an assist to Caroselli.

 Then things started to get a little crazy.

Shortly after someone commented the game had been pretty clean, five penalties were assessed in the last 3 1/2 minutes of the period. Neither team was able to score, even though CM/P had 1:31 of 5-on-3.

"On a 5-on-3, people say your goalie is your best penalty killer," said Susens. "Knetter stepped up for us at the end of that period."

West held a slight 13-11 shot edge in the period.

The final stanza was a continuation of the second, with five more misdemeanors called in the first four minutes.

West scored on the 5-on-3 power play, but I did not hear the scorer's name.

Nelson prevented further damage when he turned aside a 2-on-1 rush with a nice sliding save to his right with about nine minutes left.

Wilson Fowle came in with just over seven minutes left to take over for Knetter in goal, and stopped all five shots fired on him.

Knetter (20) and Fowle combined for 25 saves, while Nelson steered away 26 shots in the game for CM/P, who dropped to 3-3. The Crusaders will visit D.C. Everest on Saturday.

West improved to 2-0 and will take on University School Saturday afternoon at Marathon Park in a re-match of the 2010 state championship game.