Saturday night, the latest chapter in the rivalry between Superior and St. Norbert was written, and much to the delight of the 'Jackets and their faithful, it came with a happy ending.  A lot was riding on the game for both teams.  For Superior, a win most likely would punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament, as well as take them to the Peters Cup finals for the first time since 2006.  For St. Norbert, they were in a position of playing "must-win" hockey, fighting for their playoff lives and the chance to defend their national championship.

The 'Jackets took the lead early and never looked back, relying on timely goals, solid team defense and great goaltending en route to a 3-0 win over the Green Knights before a crowd of 1,411 "thunderstick smacking" fans at Wessman Arena.

With the victory, the 'Jackets (23-2-3) will advance and host UW-Stout next Saturday night for the Peters Cup title and the NCHA's automatic qualifier into the NCAA tournament.  Stout advanced to the final by way of a 3-2 win over St. Scholastica on Saturday.

The 'Jackets opened the scoring, getting the game-winning goal at 4:53 of the first.  Kevin Huck (Sr. Eden Prairie, Minnesota) knocked down a St. Norbert clearing attempt on the left wing wall and fed a pass into the slot, where Braden Desmet (Jr. Strathmore, Alberta) made no mistake, beating goaltender Blake Bashor low to make it 1-0.  Less than three minutes later, it was again Desmet providing the offense.  With Huck and Seth Reda (Sr. Palmer, Alaska) getting the assists, Desmet picked up a rebound in the left circle and fired it into an empty net to make it 2-0.  Desmet's 15th of the year came at 7:43.

The 2-0 lead was deceiving, however, as St. Norbert was carrying the play for stretches, and was given ample opportunity to get back into the game on the power play.  Through two periods, St. Norbert had four power plays to the Yellowjackets one.  The trend continued into the third.  Just 49 seconds in, Talon Berlando (So. Drumheller, Alberta) received a five-minute major for checking from behind and a game misconduct, meaning St. Norbert now had the chance to score as many times as they could during that five minutes.  But spectacular penalty killing kept the Green Knights off the board.  Minutes after returning to full strength, the 'Jackets gave themselves some insurance.  Jeff Herman (Sr. Cranbrook, British Columbia) picked up loose puck in his own zone and started the other way.  He carried into St. Norbert territory hit the top of the circles and let a wrist shot go that beat Bashor on the stick side to make it 3-0.  Herman's fourth goal of the year was unassisted.

Trailing 3-0, St. Norbert elected to call a timeout and changed their goaltender, hoping to swing the momentum in their favor.  They came after the 'Jackets the rest of the way, but were unable to put anything home.  Part of that can be contributed to the goaltending, but a large portion of the credit goes to the Yellowjacket team defense.  All night long, but particularly late in the game, Superior did an outstanding job of blocking shots, tipping passes and taking away lanes.

And when something did get through, Chad Beiswenger (Sr. Moorhead, Minnesota) was there.  The NCHA Player of the Year played like it.  In one of his most solid efforts of the year, Beiswenger was constantly square to shooters and had outstanding rebound control.  He finished with 32 saves in picking up his fifth shutout of the season.  Bashor and B.J. O'Brien combined to make 16 saves for St. Norbert.

The 'Jackets went 0-2 on the power play, while St. Norbert was 0-6.  The 'Jackets took eight penalties for 27 minutes, while St. Norbert took three for six minutes.

Superior will now host UW-Stout (21-5-2) in the finals for the Peters Cup, in a match-up of the conference's top two teams.  There were two prior meetings between the 'Jackets and the Blue Devils in the regular season.  The 'Jackets won 3-1 in Menomonie on November 14, and the teams tied 2-2 in overtime at Wessman Arena on January 24.  Both teams enter the games on streaks.  The 'Jackets are unbeaten in their last ten games and have won seven straight.  Stout is unbeaten in their last 13 games and has won eight straight.  As was stated earlier, the winner of the game will receive the NCHA's automatic qualifier.  The loser will also likely receive an invitation to the NCAA tournament with one of the at-large selections.

Game time on Saturday, March 7 will be 7:05 p.m. and can be heard live locally on KUWS 91.3 FM, beginning with the pre-game show at 6:45 p.m.  If you are outside the local listening area, you can tune in via the Internet at www.kuws.fm.  Jon Garver will have the call.