Although it took a while for the home team to warm up, they finally did late in the first period as the Mosinee Indians defeated the Pacelli Cardinals 6-0 on a balmy Tuesday evening at the Mosinee Rec Center in the opening round of the WIAA playoffs.

Sixth-seeded Mosinee had a couple of power play chances in the opening stanza but were unable to capitalize on them, instead preferring to play 5-on-5.

Nick Bush took advantage of a Cardinal turnover and skated in from the right dot and roofed one from the low right side past Pacelli sophomore goalie Brady Huettner for an unassisted goal at the 13:57 mark.

Less than a minute later, Jevret Giese skated with the puck down the right wall from his point position to below the goal line and then slid a pass through the crease to Justin Edwards, who was charging through the slot. The freshman buried the puck for a 2-0 lead at 14:47 of the first.

Mosinee outshot the guests by a margin of 20-6 in the period.

The second period was more even, but Mosinee was able to add one goal even though they were outshot by Pacelli 14-11 in the period.

The Cardinals missed on a golden opportunity to cut into the lead, but were not able to take advantage of three Mosinee penalties in the first 13 minutes of play in the period.

When a Pacelli infraction left the teams skating 4-on-4, Mosinee added to its lead when Jacob Hrebik skated in from the left boards and slid a pass across the crease to Giese at the back door. The senior d-man knocked the puck home for a 3-0 lead at the 14:46 mark.

That's how the period would end.

The Indians would take control of the game in the first four minutes of the third, sending the match into run-time in the process.

Hladovcak scored on an assist from Hrebik at 1:40 of the period to make it 4-0.

Then defenseman Matt Sann ripped a shot through heavy traffic from the right point that Huettner never saw for a 5-0 lead at 3:33.

At that point Pacelli coach Rusty Mitch took a time-out to try and settle his troups, but that back-fired when Hladovcak and Hrebik combined again just 12 seconds later to account for the final margin.

Wade Michalski made 28 stops and notched his fifth shutout of the year and first win since January 25 as his team advances to the next round, when they will visit #3 seed Tomahawk Thursday night at SARA Park.

Huettner played well, stopping 34 shots fired at him for #11 seed Pacelli, who finish the season at 8-14.