SPOONER, Wis. – Dalton Garcia scored once and helped set-up two others to lead the Wisconsin Lumberjacks to a 7-3 decision over the Dryden GM Ice Dogs Wednesday evening in the finale of the Superior International Junior Hockey League Showcase at the Spooner Civic Center.
Wisconsin began the night’s scoring seven and a half minutes into the match-up as Ryan Green knocked in a rebound from close range off a goal-mouth scramble as he collected his 14th tally of the season.
Coming right back, the Lumberjacks added another off a draw that saw Dryden netminder Knute Loe could not corral and resulted in Cade Moreland jamming the puck into the open side at 8:34.
Skating four-on-four late in the first, the GM Ice Dogs’ forecheck helped them cut into the deficit with Justin Pitari notching his 22nd to make it 2-1 after one.
Wisconsin restored their two-tally cushion 3:22 into the second as Matt Turnbull completed an odd-man rush with Jack Jones.
They then broke it open with markers less than a minute apart as they went up by four in rapid succession.
Their fourth effort came as Ryan Green lifted a cross-ice pass to Kayle Bocken, which spelled the end of Loe’s night in favour of back-up Jacob Anthony.
However, Wisconsin greeted him after forcing a turnover that resulted in Tyler Hunt firing a shot that clipped off Anthony’s glove and slid into the net to make it 5-1 with still half a game to play.
Dryden did get one back beginning in the neutral zone that was finished off by Malcolm Huemmert who buried the rebound of a Curtis Magas attempt from the left side.
A nice individual effort while shorthanded by Garcia added to the Lumberjacks cushion before Josh Weber countered for Dryden, via the power play, at 8:29.
Parker Brakebill then capped off the win in the late going as he snapped in 10th from the slot to wrap things up.
Wisconsin starter Hunter Adams made 38 saves to pick up the win.
The GM Ice Dogs Low suffered the defeat, allowing four on 20 chances while Anthony handled 11 of 14 in nearly 35 minutes of relief.
Photo credit: Karina Schafer