HUDSON, N.H. — Niklas Bretschneider’s hat trick was the icing on the cake, but it was Brendan Schulte’s goal late in the third period that lifted the Northern Cyclones to a 6-4 victory over the Twin City Thunder in a USPHL Premier league game on Sunday.

Bretschneider’s first goal gave the host Cyclones a 2-0 lead midway through the first period, after Tyler Vezina had opened the scoring just 76 seconds prior. Rease Hubert got the Thunder on the board late in the opening period to cut the deficit in half.

A Matt Hanlon goal for the Thunder with just over five minutes left in the second tied the game 3-3. Guillaume Bose scored 1:13 into the middle period for the Cyclones before Derrik Trudeau restored the one-goal deficit 11 minutes in. Bretschneider broke the tie with 37 seconds left in the period.

Jacob Dubay tied the game back up 3:06 into the third, but Schulte scored the game-winner with 4:04 left.

Dubay and Trudeau added assists to their output, while Joe Clark, Aleksi Petrow, Zachary Desmarais and Cody Doyon also provided helpers for the Thunder, which was 1 for 4 on the power play. The Cyclones were 1 for 3 with the man-advantage.

Jaxon Friedman stopped 46 of 51 shots he faced, which didn’t include Bretschneider’s empty-net goal that completed his hat trick with one second left in the game. Nick Howard made 36 saves for the win.