Tis the season.

In Northwoods hockey action, Webster-Siren overcame a strong Stoughton team by outskating their downstate opponent and drilling the winner on the power play with less than a second left before entering overtime.

The 8-team holiday tournament finally had a competitive game going into the final seconds last night -- which is not to say we haven't seen some good hockey from the boys this round. It's just -- the way these things are seeded, and given the fast-paced nature of the game itself -- the result is usually settled in the first two periods, which team is going to dominate.

Plus, psychology plays a role at this level. My observation? The Madison area teams (Memorial, Stoughton) have a bit of the northwoods/proximity to MN hockey spook to them, whereas the teams from here come in a bit intimidated by the (program) wealth and size of the closer-to-big-market boys. Unfounded speculations all around.

Last night, it played out on the ice, thankfully... a well skated game. Stoughton outshot WS (co-op team, school populations joined to form one team), 34 to 17 last time I looked.

But WS outskated them, and with a clean game and the referees not needing to blow the whistles and slow things down, we had a good third period of excellent view hockey. But Stoughton slipped up and landed a man in the penalty box, the "Blizzard" took advantage and fired hard on goal, poking in the rebound with less than a second left before OT. .6 on the clock.

Wausau East (Dan Bauer's team -- excellent writer) v. Webster Siren for the championship. Rice Lake, defeated by Stoughton in the first game, v. River Falls for consolation champion. Stoughton v. Hayward, knocked out of contention by Wausau yesterday. And Amery v. Madison Memorial, where truth be told, the Madison school district doesn't devote much precious budget money to hockey, of all sports.

(Not that there's anything wrong with that.)