For the second time in five days, the Onalaska Hilltoppers and the Central Wisconsin Storm faced off in a battle of Top Ten teams.
And for the second time, the Storm skated off victoriously, earning a hard-fought 5-2 win over the visitors at the Greenheck Ice Arena in Schofield Saturday evening in the Wisconsin Prep Hockey Girls Game of the Week.
The tone of the game was set early, as Storm's Ashley Zacho went off for tripping just 23 seconds into the opening period. A total of 14 penalties were whistled in the contest, with the Storm players spending 16 minutes in the box compared to 12 minutes for Onalaska.
The opening goal was scored by Alex Guenther from the outside hashmarks on the left circle. Guenther skated into the zone and slid a shot on net that went past Onalaska goalie Jeanalyn Schindler, who appeared to be off on her angle as the puck slid past her left skate and kissed the right post before crossing the goal line. The unassisted goal came at the 4:40 mark.
About three minutes later the Storm went on the power play, but it was Jacyn Reeves who created the excitement. Reeves grabbed the puck in her defensive zone and flew down the left side and fired a shot on Storm goalie Lisa Fowle, who made the stop and at least one other on a rebound attempt as the guests came oh-so-close to tying the game.
Theresa Knutson would knot the score with just over three minutes left while on the power play. Knutson skated in from the left and fired a shot that beat the Storm netminder to make it 1-1 at the 13:51 mark. Taylor Monroe and Chazlyn Anderson earned helpers on the play.
Not to be outdone, Izzy Uhl-Chmiel, nicknamed 'The Animal' by former summer league coach Greg Vallier, gave the Storm a 2-1 lead just over a minute later. Her shot from the low left circle snuck past the goalie's blocker and earned assists for Savannah Felch and Zacho.
Shots were 12-11 in favor of the Hilltoppers in the period.
The second period was all about penalties, as seven infractions were meted out, and the Storm was able to take advantage of two of them.
It took more than half the period, but the home squad capitalized twice in five minutes. First, Elizabeth Bauer gathered in a cross-ice pass and buried the biscuit from the low left side, with assists to Taylor Treu and Uhl-Chmiel.
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Then with slightly more than one minute remaining, Katelynn Schilling scored from nearly the same area to make it 4-1, this time helped out by Felch and Bauer.
Central Wisconsin outshot Onalaska 8-3 in the period.
Kelly Knetter went off in the middle of the period after a collision with an Onalaska player and did not return.
The third period saw Onalaska on a power play with over ten minutes left, but the Storm got the puck behind the Hilltopper net and one pass later, Felch made it 5-1 with the short-handed goal, courtesy of a nice feed from Zacho.
The guests cut the lead to 5-2 on a goal that the Storm bench protested vehemently. The shot from Knutson pinged off the crossbar and it was not clear from nearly 200 feet away what transpired, but the officials ruled it a goal and Storm coach Jana Wimmer earned a bench minor for her troubles.
The Hilltoppers had two more chances to cut into the lead with power plays as the game wound down, but the horn sounded a few minutes later on a 5-2 Storm victory.
They outshot the Hilltoppers 13-6 in the final period.
Fowle stopped 19 shots in the game for Central Wisconsin (18-4-1), while Schindler kept 27 shots out of the net for Onalaska, who dropped to 14-6.
