By Jim den Hollander
Editor/Publisher
Saukhockey.info
The Baraboo/Portage Thunderbirds rallied all the way back from a 2-0 deficit on the road for a thrilling 3-2 in in overtime against the host Tomah/Sparta hockey team at Sparta Ice Arena on Tuesday (Nov. 30) night.
Heading to the third period, the Thunderbirds had played five periods of varsity hockey this season without counting a goal, but that unfortunate streak came to an end 31 seconds into the final period as sophomore Carson Zick converted a feed from junior Luke Schweda and fired it home to cut the home team’s lead in half.
Junior Kyle Buelow completed the comeback with 9:35 to play, from Zick and senior Oliver Scanlan.
Still even at the end of regulation, teams headed to an eight-minute overtime period which came to a sudden halt when senior Gabe Fitzwilliams gave the Thunderbirds its first and only lead of the contest at the 3:13 mark. Zick picked up his third point of the contest with an assist along with Scanlan.
Tomah/Sparta opened the scoring with a goal scored by freshman Parker Holloway, from sophomore Easton Armstrong and the other goal came in the middle period, scored by senior Charlie Joyce on a feed from sophomore Ethan Wildes.
Senior Andrew Schaetzl evened his record at 1-1 with the overtime win, kicking out 25 of 27 shots while junior Jake Berry made 23 saves for Tomah/Sparta.
Baraboo/Portage will be looking to carry the momentum from this win into its Badger West Conference opener Thursday night at Oregon with a 7 p.m. faceoff against the Panthers.
Tomah/Sparta fell to 1-2 with the tough overtime loss and will also be back in action Thursday, traveling to West Salem to play the Panthers in a 7 p.m. puck drop.
Sauk Hockey 