High School hockey players representing five teams present a ceremonial Hockey Against Hunger check for $12,044.05 to Captain Brian Goodwill of The Salvation Army of Marathon County. Players Spencer Shupe-Mosinee (left to right), AJ Mussfeldt-Wausau East, Derek Knetter-Wausau West, Paul Merchant-DC Everest and Sarah Hull-Central Wisconsin Storm.

 Five Wausau area high school hockey teams combined their efforts this season to raise funds for The Salvation Army of Marathon County in the “Hockey Against Hunger� event and raised over $12,000 in monetary and food donations.

DC Everest, Mosinee, Wausau East, Wausau West high school boys teams and the Central Wisconsin Storm girls hockey team began the fundraiser in November with it  culminating at the Marathon Cup Tournament championship game December 19. The Marathon Cup is an annual tournament between on-ice rivals DC Everest, Mosinee, Wausau East and Wausau West high school boys teams.

Events for the fundraiser included team bell ringing, t-shirt sales, food drives, prize raffles, 50/50 raffles and online red kettle donations.

All five teams plan to continue the Hockey Against Hunger fundraiser again next season.

Stevens Point took advantage of seven third period penalties on Notre Dame, and scored on two of them to help send the home team past the top-ranked Tritons 5-2 Tuesday night at KB Willett Arena.

The game was one of the opening round games of the “Showdown in Titletown,” involving eight of the state’s best teams, including NDA, SPASH, Madison Edgewood, Catholic Memorial/Pius, Appleton United, Fond du Lac, Eau Claire Memorial, and Wausau West.

The Tritons (16-1) took early control of the game, moving up the ice with quick, smooth passes and although they had some chances, were unable to convert.

The hosts grabbed the lead slightly more than halfway through the first when Matt Dufresne launched a shot from the left circle that trickled off NDA goalie Tony Kujava’s blocker for a 1-0 lead at the 9:42 mark. Max Seiter was given an assist on the play.

“We knew they were going to come out hot,” said Point coach Mikhail Salienko. “We just needed to weather the storm, and we did, and then momentum shifted.”
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Wisconsin Valley Conference foes Wausau West and Wisconsin Rapids met Thursday night at the South Wood County Rec Center and for the first period, the home team gave the state’s second-ranked team a run for its money.

West–down 2-1 going into the first intermission–scored eight unanswered goals for a convincing 9-2 win as fourteen Warriors scored at least one point to raise the team’s record to 15-0-1.

“Starting in the second period, we did the little things right,” said West coach Pete Susens.

Boy, did they ever.
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On January 16th, the Fox Cities Stars and Appleton United WIAA Hockey teams will be facing off at Appleton Family Ice Center while raising money for Cancer Awareness/Prevention. 

T-shirts are for sale at $10 each with 100% of the profits going towards Cancer Awareness non profit group, The Cutting Edge Health Team. 

Cutting Edge is a tax deductible 501(c)(3) charity organization. Cutting Edge’s mission is to raise awareness on health issues affecting men, women and their families today so they can take a proactive approach to their health and overall well-being.  If you would like to make a donation please go directly to the Cutting Edge Website (http://www.cehealthteam.org/) and click on the donate button.

Hockey Fights Breast Cancer Logo for the t-shirts was created by Appleton North Senior Victoria LeBeau.

Waupaca fought back from a three-goal deficit, scoring five unanswered goals to defeat Mosinee 5-3 in the opening game of the Point Classic hockey tournament held at KB Willett Arena on a frigid Friday evening.

In the nightcap, Green Bay United opened the scoring twenty-two seconds into the contest and built a 4-1 lead by the end of the first period, never looking back in a 9-3 beating of host Stevens Point.

Waupaca 5, Mosinee 3
Brad Navin scored three goals–including an empty-netter–and added two assists as Honorable Mention Waupaca overcame a three-goal deficit by scoring four goals in the final period. Bjorn Asher added a goal and an assist, while Nick Groth notched a goal as the Comets tallied on three power play scores.

Mosinee (5-5) took a 3-0 lead in the second on goals by Bryce Hladovcak, Nick Bush, and Mitch Dye before Waupaca got started. Navin scored at 10:28 of the second to make it 3-1 before the Comets would mount a serious rally.

Groth and Navin scored midway through the third to tie the game at 3, and then Asher earned the game-winner when he scored at 11:30 to make the score 4-3, Comets.

Navin added an empty-netter with 13 seconds left to account for the final score.

Eli Martens had 30 stops for Waupaca (12-2), while Wade Michalski also had 30 saves for Mosinee.

Green Bay United 9, Stevens Point 3
The visitors got an early goal from Luke Karakas to make it 1-0 just 22 seconds into the game.

Joey Haydock evened the score with his power play goal at the 4:38 mark. Karakas added another (short-hander) just 34 seconds later to make it 2-1. Ethan Hyden scored on the power play at 13:09, and then Erik Moore scored his first of three–this one a shorty–to make it 4-1 just before the first period ended.

Hunter Routheau and Moore each scored in the second to make it 6-1 going into the final period.

Midway through the final period, Jay Routheau and Moore scored 32 seconds apart to stretch the lead to 8-1.
Max Seiter scored for SPASH (5-4-1) at 12:25 to cut the lead to 8-2, but Evan Janssen scored for GBU at 14:18 before Derek Molski scored for SPASH at 15:38 to end the scoring.

Gunnar Eastman had four assists and Janssen had three assists for Green Bay United, who improved to 7-4.

Matt Larson had two helpers for the Panthers.

Matt Tushaus stopped 25 shots for GBU, while Isaac Gorell (10) and Trevor Koziczkowski (7) combined for 17 saves for Point.

Waupaca will meet GBU for the championship on Saturday, while Point and Mosinee play in the consolation game.

Among the 21 players named to the 2010 U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team yesterday at Mall of America are Jinelle Zaugg-Siergiej, Jesse Vetter, and Molly Engstrom from Wisconsin. All three played their college hockey at the University of Wisconsin.

The U.S. team, which includes three goaltenders, six defensemen and 12 forwards, will continue competing in the Qwest Tour until departing for the Olympics on Feb. 7. The opening ceremonies are slated for Feb. 12, with Team USA’s first game taking place on Feb. 14 against China.

Jinelle Zaugg-Siergiej is from Eagle River and played boys high school hockey for Northland Pines before receiving a scholarship to play at UW. She played on two NCAA National Championship teams at UW.

Jesse Vetter is from Cottage Grove and was an all conference goaltender for the Monona Grove boys high school team before joining the University of Wisconsin.

Molly Engstrom is from Siren and played college hockey at UW. She is a veteran of the 2006 US Olympic team as well.

Top-ranked Wausau West scored seven unanswered goals–including six in the middle period–to knock off Mosinee 8-2 in the opening game of the Marathon Cup.

DC Everest did not have such an easy time, going to an overtime plus two shootouts to edge Wausau East 2-1 in the finale on Thursday night at Greenheck Fieldhouse in Schofield.

GAME ONE 
Mosinee grabbed the early lead when Jared Sprink got the puck at the blue line, cut to the right before ripping a wrister past West goalie David Knetter’s stick side at 2:59 of the first.

Less than a minute later, West got an equalizer from Robbie Poirier when he scored on a rebound of a Mitch Borneman shot while on a delayed penalty call at 3:45 of the period.

West held a slight edge in the play during the middle of the stanza, but Mosinee would get the lead at the 9:21 mark. Sprink scored his second goal of the night when he deflected a point shot by Bryce Hladovcak to give the Indians a 2-1 lead that they would take into the locker room during the first break.
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The battle of the birds was in Janesville Thursday night as the Fondy Cards traveled to Janesville to play the Bluebirds. The game got started rather quickly for Fondy as Ben Jones scored 21 seconds into the contest.

Fondy, who lost a tough game on Tuesday against Waupun, tallied again at the 9:11 mark on a Joe Blagoue shot that went thru a screen in front to give the Cards a 2-0 lead after the first period.

Both teams set a real up and down tempo in the second period. Janesville cut into the lead with a power play tally from Sean Mac Dougall. He tipped a shot past Fondy netminder Joe Rebedew.

Fondy regained their two goal margin and more in a span of 56 seconds. A power play goal by Blagoue, and even strength goals by Brent Martin and Mitch Hansen made it a 5-1 lead.

Janesville showed some life with Aaron Jacobson scoring 19 seconds after the Cards 5th goal but trailed by four again on a Brian Kemp tally.  Janesville managed only 13 shots while Fondy racked up 35.

For the players on the University School Co-op girls ice hockey team, cooperation extends beyond the hockey rink.

Talking together in the locker room, the girls on the team developed a plan to help others. The girls are now in the midst of a six-school effort to raise money to help children at Penfield Children’s Center in Milwaukee.  According to its mission statement Penfield Children’s Center is a non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to help infants and young children with and without disabilities to reach their full potential through education, therapy services and family programs. 

Katie Swain, a senior at Divine Savior Holy Angels and a forward on the hockey team, is the leader of the team project.  She commented, “We are especially fortunate to be healthy and be able to play hockey together. We decided to do a service project to bond together and serve our community.  We want to do something for kids who may not have the opportunities we do.�
   
The girls have a two-tiered plan.  First, the girls from each school: University School, Divine Savior Holy Angels, Homestead High School, Nicolet High School, Whitefish Bay High School and Shorewood High School, will work with the administrators of their schools to raise money on their campuses, either through bake sales, candy sales, or some other sort of money drive.  Secondly, later in the month, the girls plan to gather together and sing Christmas carols at a local mall for donations.  They plan to have head coach Jason Woods dress as Santa Claus and ring bells while they sing.

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Former Madison Capitol and Middleton high school star Kathy Waldo passed away in Boston on December 9. She was 33 years old.

Ms. Waldo was the first girl to play on the Middleton boys high school team in the early 1990s and went on to star at Northeastern University.

Says former coach Dave Kunelius, “Kathy was an absolute treasure to know and to coach. She was an inspiration and always hustled full speed–backchecking or forechecking, and had a tremendous spirit and an upbeat attitude.

“She was a real sweetheart.”

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