The first day of the 44th Annual State Boys Hockey Tournament produced four teams advancing to Friday's semifinals at Veterans Memorial Coliseum at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis.
In the first quarterfinal Thursday, Verona (24-2-2) shutout Superior (14-12-1) 3-0 to advance to the semifinals Friday evening. Phillippe Fromberger scored on the Wildcats power-play at the 10:43 mark of the first period, assisted by Brogan Baker and Charlie Parker.
Parker scored within the first minute of the second period to give the Wildcats a 2-0 advantage. Fromberger assisted on the goal. Baker added a goal of his own on an assist from Pat Stevens added at 10:59 in the period to cap the scoring.
Alex Jones made 24 saves for the Wildcats, and Paxton Paine stopped 12 shots for the Spartans, who were outshot in the game, 24-15.
Notre Dame (27-1) dealt defending champion Eau Claire Memorial (23-5-1)a fatal blow to its title defense by blanking the Old Abes 7-0 in the second quarterfinal of the day.
Collin Appleton and Sam McCormick each scored a pair of goals to lead the Tritons net assault. Appleton opened the scoring with a goal at 8:06 in the first period. His cousin, Mason Appleton, and Jett Jaraczewski assisted on the goal. That was all the Tritons would need, but there was much more to come. At 10:04 in the period, Mason Appleton scored with an assist from Collin Appleton.
The Tritons added four goals in the second period put take control of the game. McCormick scored twice within of minute of each other, both assisted by Brett Gruber. Collin Appleton extended the lead to 5-0 with a goal at 7:53, again assisted by Mason Appleton.
Gruber scored an unassisted, short-handed goal with 59 seconds remaining in the third period, and Anton Brix closed the scoring with an unassisted, third-period goal at 8:40.
Aaron Campbell made14 saves in goal for the Tritons, and Nick Schreiter made 22 saves for the Old Abes, before being relieved by Alex Geving, who made two stops.
Nick Epperson netted a goal 22 seconds into the second overtime to give University School (21-4-3) a 2-1 double-overtime win over Wausau West (20-7) in their quarterfinal.
Epperson provided the winning score, but it was goalie Bryan Botcher that put the Wildcats in a position to advance to the semifinal. His 43 saves were just five short of a State Tournament record.
The Wildcats were out-shot by the Warriors 44-17, but Duncan Brown’s goal with 5:35 remaining in the second period tied the game at 1-1. Hayden Brown assisted on the goal.
Wausau West scored just 40 seconds into the game on a Cale Bowman goal, assisted by Ale Gessler and Jaco Evans. However, Botcher held the Warriors scoreless the rest of the way.
On the game-winning goal, Epperson took the center pass from Hayden Brown in front of the net pushed it passed Sam Wiegert, who made 15 saves for the Warriors.
In the final quarterfinal of the day, Onalaska (22-3-1) skated past the Kettle Moraine Co-op 4-3 to advance to play University School in the semifinals Friday evening.
Kettle Moraine (15-9-4) scored first as Jeff Johnson took an assist from Andy Behling and found the net just 48 seconds into the game. Onalaska converted a power play at the 10:30 mark of the first period to tie the game. Jason Havlicek assisted on the goal by Bryce Bingham.
The Hilltoppers opened a two-goal lead at 3-1 in the second period. Tyler Ebner scored with an assist going to Caleb Blank at 3:38, and Ian Earp added a tally at 6:49 off a pass from Bingham.
A pair of Onalaska penalties led to a pair of Allan Moutvic power-play goals to tie the game at 3-3. The first came on assists from Jonathan Carfagna and Alex Manske at 13:01 in the second period. The second came unassisted at 6:38 in the third period.
With just under four minutes to play in the game, Luke Tepp scored the unassisted game-winner for the Hilltoppers.
The Lasers out-shot the Hilltoppers 35-24 in the game. Joe Witz had 35 saves for Onalaska, and Max LeClaire stopped 24 shots for the Kettle Moraine Co-op.