PEORIA, Ill. — What a difference a day makes.
Less than 24 hours after surrendering six unanswered goals in dropping a 6-5 overtime decision
to Peoria, the Wisconsin Woodsmen improved on their offensive output — and clamped down
on their defensive effort — dumping the Mustangs 7-3 in Saturday’s rematch at the Owens
Center.
For the second game in a row, the Woodsmen grabbed the upper hand early. After a scoreless
first period, Wisconsin got back-to-back tallies from Jackson Haupt and Ty Paulios in the first
1:29 of the middle frame to grab a 2-0 advantage.
Peoria would sandwich goals by Braden Hillebrand and Brendan Miller around a Parker
Holloway tally for the Woodsmen, to cut Wisconsin’s lead to 3-2 after 20 minutes of play.
Haupt netted his second of the game 42 seconds into the third period to extend Wisconsin’s
lead to 4-2, only to have Breyon Maroney answer less than three minutes later to get the
Mustangs back within one, 4-3.
That would be as close as the Mustangs would get, however, as the Woodsmen got goals from
Dayne Wafle, Holloway, and Ozbej Muzan over the game’s final 15 minutes to seal win No. 1 of
the 2027-27 season.
Dominic Seligman picked up his first win as a Woodsmen between the pipes, finishing with 18
saves, while Jaemeson Keith kicked out 20 shots in goal for the Mustangs.
The Woodsmen (1-0-1-0 overall) are back in action next weekend, when they kick off the home
portion of their schedule with a pair of 7:15 NA3HL games against the St. Louis Jr. Blues at the
Tomah Ice Center.
