SUPERIOR, Wis. – The University of Dubuque men's hockey team defeated Lawrence University 5-1 in the UW-Superior Showdown Championship on Saturday night. The victory marks the first-ever tournament championship for the Spartans, who have won three of their last four.

Lawrence started the game with a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct foul, giving the Spartans (4-6-0) an extended power play. Matt Downie took passes from Jack Paweski and Max Erstad to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute. Nikita Borodaenko extended the Spartans' lead with his fifth goal of the season later in the period. The Vikings (2-8-0) scored late in the period and the Spartans led 2-1 going into the first intermission. Brock Weimer and Tyler Dale found Paweski early in the second period to stretch the lead back to two. Both goalkeepers stuffed several shots, and the Spartans killed a penalty and the score remained 3-1 after two periods. The same three Spartans combined for another goal in the third period as Weimer found the back of the net, making the score 4-1 in favor of the Spartans. Weimer added an empty net goal with a minute left and the Spartans clinched the UW-Superior Championship by a score of 5-1.

Weimer scored twice and added an assist on five shots for a plus/minus of three. He also won 10 of his 18 face-offs. Paweski scored three points on a goal and two assists as he tallied four shots on goal. He also finished with a plus/minus of three. Borodaenko found the net on his only shot of the contest while Downie scored once on his two shots. Dale and Aleksey Zielinksi each earned two assists, and both players finished with positives in the plus/minus margin. Erstad, Zach Burfoot, and Jesse English also added assists in the rout. English led the Spartans with three blocked shots. In goal, Dazza Mitchell made 23 saves in 24 chances across 60 minutes.

Borodaenko received Tournament MVP honors after a record-breaking performance on Friday and another goal on Saturday. Mitchell allowed two goals across two games and was also named to the All-Tournament team. Paweski scored four points across two games and was also named to the All-Tournament team.

Up Next

The Spartans will return to conference play in a road trip to Concordia-Wisconsin this upcoming weekend on December 5-6. Friday's game is set for 7:00 p.m., while Saturday's match will begin at 4:00 p.m. The Falcons (3-5-0) dropped both games to Trine and split with MSOE earlier this season. This weekend, the Falcons split with Lake Forest.