Waunakee went into the title match of the Groundhog Tourney looking to upend yet another top team in Wisconsin hockey, the Monona Grove Silver Eagles. The Warriors suffered a 6-3 defeat at the sticks of the Silver Eagles at Hartmeyer in December and were eager to avenge that early season loss.

After a fast-paced first period, Monona held a 2-0 lead, and it looked like their agressive forecheck and stellar goaltending might grind the Warriors into the ice early on. But the Warriors weren't about to roll over and at the 11:51 mark of the second period, junior scoring sensation Jason Ford halved Monona's lead, assisted by Blake Anderson and Derek Straus.

The Silver Eagles took offense to that goal and rammed home two more goals to put them up 4-1 over the Warriors after two periods of play.

Again, the Warriors continued to battle and it was the senior Straus tapping in a nifty pass from Ford to make it 4-2 at the 9:14 mark of the third. Things seemed to be heading for a Warrior comeback, but a mere eight seconds later, Monona tallied their fifth goal of the night halting any kind of Waunakee momentum.

The Warriors had difficulty with Monona's aggressive forecheck all night and were denied time and again by the Silver Eagles' goaltender Christian Burk.

A final Warrior goal by defenseman Connor Sheffler made the final score a repeat of the previous contest between the two teams, 6-3 in favor of Monona Grove.

Warrior goaltender Mitch Horras took the loss after turning away 32 shots.

Waunakee hosts SPASH (Stevens Point) on Tues (2/1) and face off against Reedsburg/Wis Dells on Friday (2/4) for the Badger North title before closing out the regular season against Cedarburg on Sat. 2/12.