Wisconsin jumped out 1-0 lead on a score by Brock Caufield in the first minutes of the opening period. It took Shattuck 10 seconds to answer. Alexander Mella scored the unassisted goal to tie the game 1-1. Shattuck’s Brandon McManus scored two minutes later to put the Sabres up 2-1. The Sabres never relinquished their lead after that goal. Grant Mishmash got the assist on McManus’s goal.
Alexander Mella scored again at the 8 minute mark to put Shattuck up 3-1 and suddenly the flood gates opened for the Sabres. Andrew Lane and John Lyle assisted Mella on his second goal.
The Sabres dominated Team Wisconsin and scored twice more in the last six minutes of the first period. Michael Schumacher scored to put Shattuck up 4-1. Schumacher beat the defense on the right side, got the goalie down and lifted the puck into the open net. With 35 seconds left in the first period, Lyle scored from the top of the crease. The first period ended with the Sabres leading 5-1 and in control of the game.
Team Wisconsin was still reeling at the start of the second period and Shattuck just kept on rolling. The Sabres added four goals in the second period to build a 9-2 lead.
Two minutes into the second period, Lyle made the play of the game. He ended up with the puck along the right crease with his back to the weak side and made a clean pass through his skates while skating away from the Badgers’ net. He hit Connor McMenamin perfectly on the weak side and McMenamin buried the puck to put the Sabres up 6-1.
Thirty seconds later the Sabres scored to make it a 7-1 game. This time, the goal came off a 3-on-2 rush where the puck ended up loose by the left post. The Sabres’ Julian Detmer popped the puck in the net before the Badger goalie could recover.
The Sabres’ Caleb Rule scored off a melee in front of the Badger net to make it an 8-1 game. Team Wisconsin’s Mick Messner scored unassisted when the Shattuck goalie got twisted in some equipment and couldn’t make a save attempt. Messner’s goal cut the Sabre lead to 8-2. The Sabres’ Scott Reedy came back with a goal at the 4 minute mark of the second period to put the Sabres up 9-2 going into the third period.
The Sabres added three more goals in the third to cruise home with a 12-2 win. Mishmash ended the day with 3 assists and was a real force on the ice for Shattuck. Lyle, Mella, and McManus all had a good game for the Sabres.
