The Calumet Wolverines packed three games into three days on their first road trip of the season. The weekend started with two tough losses and ended with a statement. After falling at Fox Cities on Friday and Fond du Lac on Saturday, Calumet beat the expansion Milwaukee Timberwolves 11-0 on Sunday afternoon in Sheboygan for a team shutout.
The Wolverines (2-3-0) scored 21 goals over the weekend. They now lead the Great Lakes Hockey League with 35 goals this season, and four Wolverines hold the top four spots in league scoring.
Friday: Fox Cities 6, Calumet 4
Calumet controlled most of the night at the Community First Champion Center and outshot the Ice Dogs 50-26 in Fox Cities’ regular-season opener.
Drake Niemela opened the scoring, with assists from Sherman Mowery and Logan Rastello. Matt Yeo made it 2-0 before the first intermission, set up by Donnie Nicely and Rastello. The Wolverines led 3-1 and then 4-3 in the second, when Yeo scored his second of the night with 1:03 left in the period, from Rastello and Mowery.
Fox Cities scored three times in the third to win 6-4. Ice Dogs goaltender Davis Nunnally made 46 saves.
Rastello finished with a goal and three assists, and Yeo had two goals and an assist. Mowery added three assists.
Saturday: Fond du Lac 13, Calumet 6
Yeo was the story of the first period at the Blue Line Family Ice Center. He scored a hat trick, and his last two goals came in the final seven minutes of the period to tie the game 3-3 at the first intermission. Landon Goulette and Rastello assisted on his first goal, and Rastello set up the second.
Fond du Lac took over in its home opener, scoring four times in the second and six more in the third. Malachi Buchholz had four goals for the Bears.
Nathan Londo scored twice and had an assist in the third, and Carson Kariniemi also scored. Izaak Avery assisted on all three third-period goals.
Sunday: Calumet 11, Milwaukee 0
The Wolverines saved their best for last. Dan Wroblewski and Jacob Garrow split time in goal and combined to keep Milwaukee off the board for all 60 minutes.
Avery started it with the game’s only first-period goal, from Londo and Seth Coppo. Mowery took over in the second with two goals, both set up by Yeo and Rastello, and Yeo added one of his own as Calumet built a 4-0 lead.
The third period was all Wolverines. Calumet scored seven more times: twice from Avery and once each from Yeo, Kariniemi, Kevin Godemann, Londo, Rastello and Jackson Sintkowski.
It was a weekend of firsts, too. Avery scored his first two goals of the season and added two assists. Godemann scored his first goal as a Wolverine and added an assist on Sintkowski’s goal in the final seconds. Stephen Dudenas recorded his first points of the season with three assists.
Mowery and Yeo each had two goals and three assists. Rastello had a goal and three assists, and Londo had a goal and two assists.
League leaders
After five games, the Wolverines hold the top four spots in GLHL scoring:
Matt Yeo: 14 points (8 goals, 6 assists)
Logan Rastello: 14 points (2 goals, 12 assists)
Sherman Mowery: 13 points (4 goals, 9 assists)
Nathan Londo: 11 points (8 goals, 3 assists)
The next closest players, Milwaukee’s Hunter Kroseberg and Mosinee’s Brad Gicopoulos, have eight points each.
Yeo and Londo are tied for the league lead with eight goals each, twice as many as anyone else. Rastello leads the GLHL with 12 assists, and Mowery is second with nine. Avery has seven points (2 goals, 5 assists) in his first three games after missing the first two games of the season.
What’s next
The Wolverines get four weeks off before a busy December. They return Friday, Dec. 4, against the reigning champion Portage Lake Pioneers at Dee Stadium, with puck drop at 7:30 p.m. Portage Lake (2-1-0) started the season with wins over McFarland and Mosinee before falling at M&M on Nov. 7.
Calumet returns to the Calumet Colosseum on Saturday, Dec. 12, for a rematch with Fond du Lac at 7:30 p.m. December also brings a road trip to De Pere and Marinette on Dec. 18 and 19, and Portage Lake visits the Colosseum on Dec. 26.
The full schedule is at calumetwolverines.com/schedule.
