Prep report: Superior girls cap regular season with victory

Feb. 9—SUPERIOR — Superior comfortably snapped out of its only losing streak of 2023 and put a solid signature on the regular season with an 8-1 home rout of Western Wisconsin on Thursday, Feb. 9 at Superior Ice Arena.

The Spartans got two goals apiece from Autumn Cooper, Bella Thompson and Makaela Reinke. Cooper's goals, less than three minutes apart, opened the scoring as Superior took an insurmountable 4-0 lead after a period. Western Wisconsin scored near the midway point of the game only for Hailey Olby to bury the Spartans' fifth goal of the night 1:10 later, to be followed by three for the hosts in the third period.

Kaylie Nault made 14 saves on 15 shots for Superior, which finishes the regular season 17-5.

The Spartans are the top seed in Sectional 1, which gives them a bye until Feb. 21, when they'll meet the winner of No. 4 Wisconsin Valley Union (Marshfield) or No. 5 Northern Edge (Rhinelander).

Mercury Bischoff finished with a hat trick as the third-seeded Lightning overcame an early goal on Thursday to advance to a Section 7AA semifinal this weekend.

Maddy Monette put Forest Lake up at 10:39 of the first period, but Bischoff opened her scoring six seconds before the end of the frame. Bischoff scored on a power play in the second period and Grand Rapids/Greenway nursed the one-goal lead until the last two minutes, in which both Molly Pierce and Bischoff scored into the empty net.

Allie LeClaire and Kylie DeBay had two assists apiece for Grand Rapids/Greenway, which got 16 saves from Riley Toivonen.

The Lightning will face Blaine in Saturday's semifinals. The second-seeded Bengals' game with No. 7 Anoka went to six overtimes and set a Minnesota State High School League record for longevity before Kayla Shaffer's goal ended it at 10:29 of the sixth overtime, or after 119 minutes, 29 seconds of gameplay and despite 89 saves from Anoka goaltender Gretchen Paaverud.

Jake Feiro was the hero of the night at Mars Lakeview Arena, as he came up with the puck off a draw and shot it home to win the game for the Hunters in overtime, just 36 seconds from the end of the night.

Kaden Postal and Andy Larson had goals for Denfeld (13-10-1), while Brendan Friday and Mason Musel scored for the Hilltoppers (8-15), who tied it on Musel's goal two minutes into the third period.

Connor Doyle made 48 saves for Denfeld. Sam Pollard stopped 61 shots for Marshall.

The Rails spoiled the re-naming of the former Lake County Arena to Sonju Arena on Thursday night in Two Harbors with their fifth shutout victory of the season.

A.J. Reyelts only needed to made seven saves for the honor, while the Proctor skaters in front of him scored three times in each of the first two periods. Brett Barlam and Ethan Carter had two goals apiece for the Rails (12-11).

Chase Mallory (five) and Zach Bentler (24) combined to make 29 saves for North Shore (5-16-1).

The Thunderhawks had too much for the Hawks in Hermantown on Thursday night, with a balanced offensive effort featuring six different players with at least six points and five players with at least one 3-pointer.

Jessika Lofstrom led the Thunderhawks (21-2) with 17 points and Taryn Hamling added 14.

Liv Birkeland led all scorers with 20 points for Hermantown (6-16).

The Lumberjacks cruised to victory on their Senior Night behind 18 points from Alexa Snesrud.

Ava Carlson added 11 and Quinn Danielson 10 for Cloquet (15-7), which won back-to-back games for the first time in a month.

Emery Maki had seven points to lead Hibbing (7-14).

Karly Holm's 29 points proved more than enough for Two Harbors to collect their 10th win of the season.

The Agates (10-11) led 32-17 at the half.

Eliza Decaigny led Carlton (5-15) with 21.

The Hawks overturned a seven-point halftime deficit but couldn't respond to the Spartans' counter on Thursday in Orono, Minnesota.

Full-court pressure allowed Hermantown to take the lead with an 8-0 run but Orono responded and saw out the victory. Orono entered the game No. 6 in the state in Class AAA, Hermantown is No. 15.

Blake Schmitz led Hermantown (15-5) with 18 points. Abe Soumis added 15 and Peyton Menzel 14.

Isaiah Hagen's 23 points for Orono led all scorers.

Four Spartans scored in double figures as Superior put an end to a three-game losing streak.

The Spartans led 36-20 at halftime and retained that lead through a fast-paced second half in which the teams scored 88 points.

Calvin Anderson led all scorers with 18 for Superior (11-9), while Tre Sanigar finished with 17 and Carter Lambert 15.

For Rapids (4-13), Joe Sutherland and Wylee Dauenbaugh scored 12 points apiece.

A 43-point first half proved to be enough output for the Agates to hold on for a key Polar League win on the road.

Trent Gomez scored 27 points for the Agates (16-3), while Ethan Bopp and Isiah Hietala scored 12 apiece.

For the Cardinals (9-9), Brady Dahl scored 17 points and Noah Foster 14.

A troika of top Tigers set the tone as Northwestern had enough offense to get a road win at Barron on Thursday, Feb. 9

Cole Lahti scored 28, Jase Nelson 23 and Boden Teal 20 for Northwestern (17-1, 14-0 Heart O'North).

Barron got 27 from Cole Laliberty, including his 1,000th career point.

The Tigers will host Ladysmith on Saturday in a game that will all but settle the Heart O'North Conference title.

The Spartans prevailed in a close one in this battle of northern neighbors behind 21 points from London Roe.

Connor Perryman kicked in 13 for Nashwauk-Keewatin (7-12).

Four scored in double figures for Greenway (3-19) led by Stephen McGee's 13.

This story was edited at 12:10 a.m. on Feb. 10 to correct the following items in the Denfeld-Marshall boys hockey game recap: the spelling of Jacob Feiro's last name, the timing of Marshall's tying goal and final goalie saves. The News Tribune regrets the errors.