SPOONER, Wis. – Wisconsin Lumberjacks goaltender Nathan Mueller turned aside all 26 shots he faced to register his Superior International Junior Hockey League-leading third shutout of the season to blank the visiting Dryden GM Ice Dogs 5-0 Friday night at the Spooner Civic Center.
After a scoreless opening frame, Wisconsin broke it open in the second stanza, scoring three times on special teams, including a pair of shorthanded markers, as part of a four-goal outburst to send them on their way to victory.
Down a man early in the frame, Ryley Cardinal put Austin his twin brother Austin in alone on a breakaway where he beat Dryden starter Knute Loe at 3:03.
Up a skater a couple of shifts later, Dalton Garcia pushed the puck through the crease where a waiting Lukas Lundgren stuffed in his seventh of the season to put the hosts ahead by two.
The Lumberjacks then went up by three at 12:06 when Cade Moreland went in untouched and snapped one home from the slot to extended the cushion.
Shorthanded once more, Wisconsin’s Tyler Shetland took advantage as a Dryden defender fell allowing him to go in all alone and beat Loe for his club’s second man-down effort of the night.
Ryan Green then capped off the triumph by going top shelf with a wrist shot at 12:12 of the third to round out the scoring.
Mueller did the rest helping his team improve to 7-0-1 in their past eight outings in collecting the win while Loe faced 24 attempts in the loss for the GM Ice Dogs.
The two clubs will meet again Saturday by in Spooner at 7:45 p.m.
Photo credit: Katrina Schafer