In a wild and wooly game Jan. 4, it was the visiting Brandon hockey team that ringed in the new year with a win.
The Blackhawks defeated Kearsley 9-6, scoring four goals each in the first and second periods on their way to the win. With the win, the Blackhawks improved to 7-1 on the season.
Kyle Jackson notched a hat trick for the Blackhawks, while Mike Ross and Mike Cybulski each added two goals. Ross and Brandon Newman also assisted on three goals.
Brandon opened the scoring early with two goals in the first period, as Troy Nuccio scored on assists from Chris Nuccio and goalie David Hughes at 7:11 of the first. About a minute later, Ross scored his first goal of the game on assists from Cybulski and Alex Hockey.
The two teams then alternated goals for the remainder of the first, with each team scoring twice. Brandon scored twice in the final minute of the third to take a 4-2 lead at the end of the first.
Jackson scored his first goal of the game on assists from Newman and Brendon Moquin with 59 seconds left, while Cybulski scored his first goal of the game on an assist from Ross with 40 seconds left in the period.
After Kearsley scored with 10:38 left in the second period to pull within 4-3, Brandon ripped off five straight goals to take command of the game. Steve Tallman, Jackson, Cybulski, and Ross scored in the second period, and Jackson completed his hat trick with 10:21 left in the third to put Brandon up 9-3.
Kearsley scored three goals in the third period, as Ladislav Revay pulled off a natural hat trick (scoring three unanswered goals), but it was too little, too late to stop the Blackhawks.
Brandon had 44 shots on goal for the game, while Hughes stopped 43-of-49 Kearsley shots for the Blackhawks.