Mia Sutch shines with two goals, but Ace Hardware stays perfect with 7-4 victory.

The second game of Thursday night's Celly League action at Braemar Arena featured league-leading Pelicci's Ace Hardware taking on Tradition Black. While Ace entered the night unbeaten, Tradition Black showed from the opening shift they had no intention of simply hanging around.

One thing became immediately apparent from the opening faceoff. The pace of play ramped up noticeably from game one, and Tradition Black was more than willing to skate with the league's top team. Ace has forced opponents to play at its relentless tempo all season, but Tradition matched it stride for stride through much of the night.

Despite being outshot 6-1 early, Tradition struck first.

Avery Achterkirch (Bemidji) opened the scoring after Autumn Cooper battled to win her own faceoff, chased the puck down along the boards and found Ruby Rauk (Bemidji) in the slot. Rauk's shot was stopped by Sedona Blair (New Hampshire), but Achterkirch crashed the crease and buried the rebound for the 1-0 lead.

Ace answered just 1:04 later. Defenseman Alexa Van Straaten (Assumption) jumped into the rush and finished a beautiful setup from Cate McCoy (Dartmouth) to even the game at one.

Tradition answered again thanks to one of the night's breakout performers.

Mia Sutch, a junior from Centennial/Spring Lake Park, looked completely comfortable against a lineup loaded with NCAA talent. Sutch forced a turnover at the blue line against Maeve Kelly (Boston Fleet), raced away from the defense, and beat Blair low on the glove side to restore Tradition's lead at 2-1.

Ace refused to let the momentum swing and with just 17 seconds remaining in the opening half, McCoy finished off her own zone entry, slipping a shot through the legs of Kaitlin Groess (Bemidji) after another outstanding play by Van Straaten, who picked up her second point of the period.

Groess was outstanding despite the score, stopping 20 of 22 shots in a busy opening half.

Ace entered the night having won each of its first three games by three goals while averaging only one goal against in each contest. Goaltender Janie McGawan (Dartmouth) had yet to allow a goal this season, but Tradition proved to be the biggest offensive challenge Ace has faced.

The defending league leaders finally grabbed their first lead early in the second half when McCoy scored her second of the night off assists from Masyn Mullin (Stonehill) and Grace Delmonico (Hamline).

Moments later, Sydney Leonard (New Hampshire) blasted home a one-timer after Dylan Berman (Providence) found her from below the goal line, extending Ace's advantage to 4-2.

Tradition Black answered again and Cooper collected her second point of the night, but once again it was Sutch who drove the play. Using her strength and determination around the crease, she outmuscled the defense to create space for Cooper to cut the deficit to 4-3.

The teams traded goals as Olivia Paidosh (Dartmouth) restored Ace's two-goal cushion before Sutch delivered perhaps the highlight of the night.

The speedy forward ripped a short-side, bar-down laser past McGawan for her second goal of the game, trimming the margin to 5-4 with under 10 minutes remaining. Every shift Sutch seemed to showcase another element of her game, combining speed, strength, compete level and finishing ability against one of the league's deepest rosters.

That would be as close as Tradition would get tonight.

Delmonico finished off a feed from Leonard before McCoy completed her hat trick off a setup from Kelly, sealing the 7-4 victory.

Ace Hardware outshot Tradition Black 36-26, improved to 4-0-0, and now sits atop the Celly League standings with 12 points, maintaining a five-point cushion over second-place Lake Cowboy.

Although Tradition Black slipped to 0-3-0, the final score hardly told the story. The young squad went toe-to-toe with the league's measuring stick for much of the night and, led by the impressive two-goal performance from Sutch, looked every bit like a team capable of climbing the standings as the season progresses.