On perhaps the coldest evening of the year to date, two western Wisconsin teams met in the chilly Mose Lamb Ice Arena in Tomah Tuesday night for the Wisconsin Prep Hockey Game of the Week. 

(The temperature gauge in Trasher's trusty Mountaineer showed -1 before the contest, and -12 afterwards on an unseasonably cold mid-December evening.)

The hosts held a 3-2 lead going into the third period, but the upset was not to be, as Onalaska scored twice in the final stanza to steal a 4-3 victory away from the Tomah Timberwolves.

Each team had a couple chances in the early going, but pucks trickled off the stick of the shooter or rang off the post and into the corner before a tally was registered on the scoreboard.

While on the power play, Onalaska's Jesse Tredinnick made it 1-0 when he converted on a back-door chance courtesy of passes from Gabe Flood and Randy Burkhardt at the 10:16 mark of the first.

That's how the period would end, with Tomah holding a slight 7-6 shot edge in the period.

The guests almost added to their lead just 20 seconds into the second when they moved up-ice on a 3-on-1, but the Tomah defenseman stepped up perfectly and swatted the puck away from the Hilltopper forward in the slot area to negate the threat.

On the other end, Hilltopper stopper Scott Sibik was tested, but made three key saves in the first two minutes of play in the middle period to keep the score at 1-0.

Tomah junior forward Cliff Bartholomew had different ideas.

With just over 13 minutes left in the second, Bartholomew beat two Onalaska defenders to the puck at center ice and whipped a hard shot past Sibik from the high slot to tie the contest at one. Jordy Pierce and Jacob Waddell earned saves on the high-octane effort of Bartholomew.

Onalaska coach Tim Ebner--unhappy with his team's effort at this point--took an unusually early time-out after the goal in an attempt to fire up his club.

"The message (I sent to the players) was that we weren't working hard," said Ebner. "We wanted the time-out just to get (the player's) attentions a little bit, and it helped a little."

It must have worked, as Burkhardt gave the visitors a lead three minutes later when he grabbed a cross-ice pass from Flood and converted from the back porch to give Ona a 2-1 lead.

Not to be outdone, Bartholomew made his second spectacular play, and as a result, earned his second goal when he once again used his speed to beat Hilltopper defenders and then squeezed off a shot from the right circle that trickled between Sibik's pads to make it a 2-2 game at 9:39 of the period. Waddell notched his second helper on the play.

Burkhardt had a great opportunity for Onalaska when he raced in alone on a 1-on-goalie, only to have Tomah netminder Derek Moser make a great stop with about 5 1/2 minutes left in the stanza.

That missed chance would be magnified when senior forward Erik Egstad scored on the power play just 22 seconds later to give Tomah a 3-2 lead. Pierce earned an assist on the score.

The Hilltoppers showed what their PK was made of, killing off 1:45 of a 5-on-3 advantage late in the period. Not surprisingly, the home team held a 18-7 shot margin in the period.

"Scottie (Sibik) got a little nervous in the second period, but he was able to weather the storm," said Ebner. "But he played well in the third and that was a good way for him to finish the game."

"In the second period we came out and things were going our way," stated Tomah coach Todd Kirschbaum. "The kids were hustling and Cliff Bartholomew kind of lit a fire underneath us, out-hustling people and putting the puck in the net."

Tomah almost added to its lead when senior forward Zach Paulis went off on a breakaway, only to be discouraged from scoring by Sibik just over three minutes into the third.

A couple minutes later, Onalaska junior defenseman Keaton Bronston showed how to make second chances count when he fired a shot from the point that was blocked. The puck bounced right back to him, and he sent a laser that scorched the back of the net at the 5:48 mark for a power play goal to tie the game at three. Tredinnick was credited with an assist.

Tredinnick earned the game-winner with just 2:15 left. Burkhardt motored down the left side, trailed by Tredinnick. Just before crossing the goal line, Burkhardt took a shot on goal, but the rebound bounced back to Tredinnick, who cashed in on the chance to make it 4-3 in favor of the guests.

"Whoever gets fortunate enough to put the puck in the net at the end of the game is gonna win," said Ebner. "It's the way it is every year we play here."

Tomah would take a time-out and pull Moser for an extra attacker with 47 seconds left, and despite a wild scramble in the Onalaska goal area, was unable to score, giving the Hilltoppers a hard-fought one-goal victory.

"In the third period we had a lot of guys play well," noted Ebner. 

"It's unfortunate that we lost, but that was our best game of the year," said Kirschbaum.

In net, Sibik stopped 28 shots in the winning effort, while Moser had 18 saves for Tomah.

RECORDS:
Onalaska (5-0, 2-0 MVC)
Tomah (4-3, 1-1 MVC)