UouMi: Davis Hamilton posts hat trick as Sun Prairie defeats Madison Memorial

Sun Prairie's Davis Hamilton, left, celebrates his first-period score with Noah Wilk on Thursday night at Madison Ice Arena.

Madison Memorial goalie Tyler Kreft blocks a shot in the first period.

Jon Masson | Wisconsin State Journal

Sun Prairie senior Davis Hamilton is a college baseball commit as a shortstop and was a standout inside linebacker and tight end this past football season.

Hamilton, a 6-foot, 200-pound forward in hockey, demonstrated Thursday night he also has a knack for putting the puck in the back of the net.

Hamilton’s three-goal performance lifted Sun Prairie to a 4-2 victory over host Madison Memorial in a Big Eight Conference game at Madison Ice Arena.

“It feels like a huge breakthrough for everyone,” said Hamilton, who’s had hat tricks in youth hockey but said it was his first in a high school game. “We’ve been struggling to score a bit this season. We’ve had a tough couple weeks, but this gives us some momentum going into the Christmas break. … It feels pretty special (to record a hat trick). We have a close group of guys. We have a lot of room to grow. We are getting better every day.”

Hamilton, the Cardinals’ leading scorer, scored two power-play goals late in the first period, erasing a 1-0 deficit for Sun Prairie (3-4-0 overall, 3-3-0 Big Eight).

Senior forward Aaron Jungers opened the scoring for Memorial (4-6-0, 3-3-0) with a goal 6 minutes, 17 seconds into the first period, redirecting senior defenseman Sam Knight’s shot past Cardinals senior goaltender Noah McCrary and into the net. Knight and junior forward Elijah Elmer were credited with assists.

The Cardinals answered, taking advantage of two Memorial penalties that provided Sun Prairie with a two-player advantage.

Hamilton, a North Dakota State baseball commit, tied the game 1-1 during the two-man, power-play opportunity with 1:29 left in the first period.

Hamilton — the son of Sun Prairie baseball coach Rob Hamilton — cleaned up to the left of the net, following a shot by Cardinals junior forward Adrien Kreitlow.

Only 29 seconds later, with Sun Prairie still with a one-man advantage, Hamilton blasted in a shot from the right wing — giving the Cardinals a 2-1 lead. Junior forward Evan Luxford and junior forward Tyler Rauls had assists on the goal.

“They were late in the first period and that put a catapult in us,” Sun Prairie coach Troy Giesegh said. “We were playing strong five-on-five, but those two power plays late really were big. We finally took advantage of our opportunities.”

Said Hamiton: “We moved the puck well. And I was able to make a couple easy tap-ins for the goals.”

McCrary, under pressure from the Spartans’ offense, made 12 saves in the first period. He finished with 33 overall.

“That’s an excellent outing,” Giesegh said. “That’s outstanding to see.”

Hamilton, with an assist from junior defenseman Andrew Zielsdorf, scored his third consecutive goal 1:42 into the second period. Hamilton now has seven goals this season.

The Cardinals extended their lead to 4-1 when junior defenseman Aiden White scored with 4:17 elapsed in the second period. Zielsdorf picked up another assist.

The Spartans closed within 4-2 on junior forward Elijah Elmer’s goal 55 seconds into the third period. Sophomore defenseman Riley Boyle had the assist.

“We don’t have the high-end scorers that some of the other teams in the area have,” Memorial coach Peter Brenner said. “We have to get to the front of the net and we have to get pucks and bodies to the front of the net and we seem to have trouble doing that. When we do, we seem to be able to cash in. But we tend to play on the outside quite a bit. We need to fix that and when we do, I think the cover will start coming off the net.”

Memorial entered the game in third place in the conference standings, behind league leader Verona (ranked sixth in Division 1 by Wisconsinprephockey.net) and Janesville Craig/Janesville Parker.

“I’m happy with overall how we played,” Brenner said. “Special teams hurt us again tonight. We gave up two power-play goals right away.”

Memorial came off a 2-1 victory over Janesville on Tuesday, while Sun Prairie dropped a 3-0 decision to Hartland Arrowhead on Tuesday.(tncms-asset)a36c617e-587e-11ec-bdce-00163ec2aa77[0](/tncms-asset)