While many of us were still recovering from overindulging on the Friday after Thanksgiving, six girls hockey teams; Waupaca, Northern Edge, Rock County Fury, Middleton Metro Lynx, Western Wisconsin Stars (New Richmond Co-op) and Black River Falls, were gathering for a two day tournament.

The Metro Lynx took on the host team, Black River Falls, in the first game Friday morning.  The Lynx held a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period courtesy of a goal by Lizzy Conybear.  They increased their lead to three at the end of two as Jordann Herrling collected two goals and Samantha Dingle assisting on the first goal.  Middleton added three more goals, Taylor Ostad (unassisted), Lizzy Conybear (assisted by Julia Dragoo) and Emma Vincent, in the final period to win 6-0.  Hunter Kurbel played the first two period in net making 8 saves, while Taylor Colin had 5 saves in the third for the Lynx.  Miranda Jessie stopped 41 of 47 shots for Black River Falls.

The Western Wisconsin Stars (New Richmond) played the Rock County Fury in the second game of the day.  The Stars held the lead at the end of one on a goal by Kaylin Gamache.

The Fury tied the game at 1:51 of the second period on a power play goal by Chelsea Gusk.  Rock County took the lead 1 minute 10 seconds later, when captain Ellie Woodman scored.  Bailey Erickson tied the game for the Stars with Emma Lepper and Brie Larkowski assisting on the goal at 6:44 of the second.  The Fury’s Chelsea Gusk scored the final goal of the game at 10:52 of the second period resulting in a 3-2 victory for Rock County.  Tina Montpetit stopped 33 of 36 shots for the Stars, while Molly Gross had 31 saves for the Fury.

Middleton Metro Lynx played their second game of the day against Waupaca and cruised to an 8-1 victory.  Mandy Tomlinson scored the first goal of the game for Waupaca, but the Comets couldn’t tally anymore during the game.  Five different Lynx players scored (Lizzy Conybear (2), Siera Petet, Jordann Herrling (2), Amanda Holmen (2) and Anna Buna), while the following players had assists:  McKenzie Imhoff; Bethany Russell (2); Siera Petet (2); Emma Vincent; Amanda Holmen; Taylor Olstad and Anna Buna.  Cassie Rasmussen had 20 saves for Waupaca, while Taylor Colin had 10 saves for Middleton.

The fourth game of the day found the Northern Edge playing the Western Wisconsin Stars.  This game was practically three games in one.  The first period was one game won by the Stars 4-0.  The Edge won the second game/period 3-0 and the teams battled to a 0-0 tie in the third.  Stars earned a nail-biting victory 4-3.  Katie Detert had 2 goals and 1 assist for the Edge, while Lindsey Steger had the other goal.  Bailey Erickson tallied two goals, with Ali Wielinski assisting on one.  The Stars other two goals were scored by Brie Larkowski and Ashley Dusek.  Montpetit collected 33 saves for the second straight game, while Shea Petersen had 25 saves for the Northern Edge.

Eight o’clock Saturday morning found the Waupaca Comets taking on Black River Falls.  Destiny Muir gave the Tigers the early lead at 6:10 of the first period giving Black River Falls a 1-0 lead after one.

Megan Engebretson assisted on Muir’s second goal at 6:53 of the second period.  Karly Tennant scored an unassisted goal at the 9:07 mark to put the Tigers up 3-0.  Brianne Huettner scored for the Comets with Mandy Tomlinson and Katarina Otter assisting on the play with 3:43 left in the second.  Tigers 3 Comets 1 at the end of two.

Black River Falls came out and scored the first two goals of the third period.  Kacie Suchanek found the back of the net with an assist from Destiny Muir with 10:06 left in the third period.  Miranda Hizer put the Tigers up by a score of 5-1 with an assist from Amanda Stoewsand at 15:38 of the third.  Huettner assisted on a Tomlinson goal for the Comets with 43 seconds left in the game, while the Tigers’ Muir completed the scoring with 18 seconds remaining.  Black River Falls won 6-2.  Rasmussen had 23 saves for Waupaca, while Jessie had 39 saves for the Tigers.

The final game of pool play pitted the Northern Edge against the Rock County Fury.  Ellie Woodman scored the first goal of the game at the 12:51 mark of the first period.  The score would remain 1-0 until 8:01 of the third period as Chelsea Gusk converted a power play opportunity with an assist from Morgan Jones.  The Fury’s Jessica Jerome put Rock County up 3-0 as Kayla Kaufman assisted on the play with 4:08 remaining in the game.  Diane Meason assisted on Gusk’s second goal of the game at 16:46 of the third.  Rock County won the game 4-0.  Petersen had 17 saves for the Northern Edge.  Madison Lewis had 26 saves for the Fury.

The Western Wisconsin Stars defeated Waupaca 8-2 in their third game.  Bailey Erickson led the way for the Stars with 3 goals, while Ashley Dusek had 1 goal and 2 assists.  Mandy Tomlinson and Brianne Huettner each had a goal for the Comets.

The Northern Edge defeated Black River Falls 5-1.  The Edge were led by Katie Detert with 2 goals and 1 assist.  Hana Ledebuhr had the lone goal for Black River Falls.

The championship game was a match-up of Badger Conference foes, Rock County Fury vs Middleton Metro Lynx.  The teams played each other on Tuesday, November 26, and the Lynx came out on top 3-1.

The first period came to a conclusion with the score still tied at zero.  Hunter Kurbel had 5 saves for the Lynx.  Molly Gross had 10 saves for the Fury.

Marci Mitchell-Hallett put the Fury on top with an assist from Meghan McCarthy at 9:25 of the second period.  The Lynx capitalized on costly mistakes by converting on 3 of 4 power play opportunities in the second period.  The Fury were able to kill off the first penalty, but couldn’t kill off the second.  McKenzie Imhoff scored a power play goal to tie the game at 2 at 12:27.  Rock County was called for a hooking penalty with 58 seconds remaining in the second.  Seventeen seconds later the Fury were called for tripping creating a 5-on-3 power play for Middleton.  The Lynx’s Carly Pschorr scored a power play goal at 16:21 with Samantha Dingle assisting on the play.  Samantha Dingle converted the third power play goal of the period with 10 seconds remaining putting the Lynx up 3-1 at the end of two. 

Ellie Woodman put the Fury back into the game scoring at 3:05 of the third and cutting the Lynx lead to one.  However, Taylor Olstad scored with an assist from Jordann Herrling at 5:42.  The Lynx put the game away for good with a goal by Katie Moe and Anna Buna assisting on the play with 2:31 left in the game.  Middleton won 5-2.  Gross finished the game with 32 saves for the Fury, while Kurbel had 13 saves for Middleton.