Sports : Monday, 2/6/17

High School Sports News:

In case you missed it over the weekend, the Fond du Lac area had two high school hockey teams win conference championships.

In boys hockey, St. Mary’s Springs won the Badgerland Conference Championship with a 4-3 overtime win over Fox Cities. Mitchell Grebe scored the game winning goal in overtime to give Springs the title.

In girls hockey, the Fond du Lac Warbirds co-op won the Eastern Shores Conference Tournament with a 3-1 win over Appleton United.

Playoff brackets for both boys and girls hockey were released by the WIAA yesterday.

In boys hockey, St. Mary’s Springs earned a #4 seed and will play #5 seed Waupun in a regional final game on Thursday, February 16th at the Blue Line in Fond du Lac. The Fond du Lac boys hockey team earned a #10 seed and will travel to #7 seeded Brookfield East for a Regional Semifinal game on February 14th.

In girls hockey, Fond du Lac earned the #1 seed in their sectional, and will host #8 seed Beaver Dam in a regional championship game on February 17th at the Blue Line in Fond du Lac

Men’s College Hockey:

Marian 7, Finlandia 1

Men’s College Basketball:

Big Ten:

Wisconsin 65, Indiana 60

–Ethan Happ scored 20 points and Nigel Hayes added 15 as the Badgers held off the Hoosiers in Madison. Wisconsin improved to 9-1 in the Big Ten and 20-3 overall with the win, their 7th straight win. Wisconsin travels to Nebraska on Thursday.

Iowa 81, Nebraska 70

Super Bowl 51:

Tom Brady’s record fifth Super Bowl win was his finest.

New England’s star quarterback earned game MVP honors after leading a comeback from a record 25-point deficit for a 34-28 win over Atlanta in the first Super Bowl that went to overtime.

Former Badger James White scored the game winner from two yards out on the only possession of the extra period as New England scored the final 31 points of the game.

Brady led the charge going 43 of 62 for 466 yards and two scores. His passing attempts and passing yardage set Super Bowl records. His fourth Super Bowl MVP award is also a record for the title game.

Brady shook off five sacks to lead New England to its fifth Super Bowl title in seven attempts, all under coach Bill Belichick. He becomes the winningest coach in Super Bowl history.

Brady started the comeback by hitting White for a five-yard pass for the running back’s first of three scores. White had a Super Bowl record 14 receptions for 110 yards.

Brady also connected on a touchdown pass to Danny Amendola before a White touchdown run with 57 seconds left. Both were followed by two-point conversion — one by White, one by Amendola — that sent the game to overtime.

Atlanta appeared to be on the way to its first Super Bowl win after Matt Ryan threw a six-yard scoring pass to Tevin Coleman in the third quarter for a 28-3 lead.

But New England’s defense took over, forcing a Ryan fumble that led to a touchdown and coming up with a key sack that took the Falcons out of field goal range while they held a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan was 17 of 23 for 284 yards and two scores a day after being named the NFL MVP.

Robert Alford returned a Brady interception 82 yards for a touchdown for the Falcons

From Golf:

Hideki Matsuyama has successfully defended his Phoenix Open title by winning the PGA event in a playoff.

Matsuyama took the tournament on the fourth extra hole, sinking a 10-foot birdie putt on the short par-4 17th to beat Webb Simpson. It was the same hole where the Japanese star closed out Rickie Fowler a year ago.

Matsuyama closed with a 5-under 66, parring the final three holes to match Simpson at 17-under.