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Bay Area Ice Bears win their first State Championship

By Bill Berg, 03/08/14, 2:30PM CST

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Furious Onalaska come-back attempt falls just short

The Bay Area Icebears earned their first WIAA State Championship on Saturday with a thrilling 6-5 win over the Onalaska Hilltoppers. The Icebears built up a seemingly comfortable 5-1 lead with 5 minutes left in the game. Then Onalaska decided to stage a comeback like they did the night before, coming up just short as time ran out.

The early action was primarily in the Onalaska end of the rink, with the Icebears outshooting the Hilltoppers 18-7 in the first period. The first goal was scored on that end, just 2:40 into the game. Kelsey Rafferty got the puck in the left corner and passed it out to Courtney Wittig at the face off dot. Onalaska goalie Jeanalyn Schindler dropped down and Wittig shot high.

Five minutes later Theresa Knutson brought the puck into the Icebears end, pushed it between a defender’s skates, and stepped around her. Knutson put the shot on goal, but Bay Area goalie Lindsey Strainis stopped it. Chazlyn Anderson picked up the rebound, took two steps to her right, and fired a shot into the open net.

The Icebears answered back when Paige Goodwin carried the puck in on the Onalaska defense and fired a shot from the top of the face off circle. Schindler made the stop, but Goodwin followed her shot, picked up the rebound and backhanded it into the net.

Bay Area made it 3-1 a minute and a half later when Rafferty pulled off the same feat, shooting from the top of the circle and following her shot. She got to the rebound and flipped puck over Schindler just before getting pushed from behind and following the puck into the net.
 
The teams settled down in the second period, and the scoring slowed. The ice leveled off with the shot count being closer in that frame, 13 for Bay Area and 10 for Onalaska.

With just 14 seconds left in the frame, Rafferty attempted a wrap around. Schindler kept the puck out of the net, but it slid behind her across the crease. Johanna Cano was parked on the back door and poked the loose puck into the goal.

Five minutes into the third period there was a face off in the right circle in Onalaska’s end. Wittig won the draw back to Tanya Niemi at the point. She fired a shot on goal and Rafferty was there to pick up the rebound and fire it in to make it 5-1.

With 4:42 left in the third, Kianna Kalmas circled the Bay Area net and attempted a wrap around. Strainis got over to block the shot but the puck trickled between her pads and slowly rolled across the goal line, cutting the Iceberg’s lead to 3.

A pair of penalties on Bay Area gave the Hilltoppers a 5 on 3 advantage. They wasted no time, winning the draw back to Jacyn Reeves, who fired a shot just inside pipe on Strainis stick side. With 1:37 left on the second penalty, Bay Area got called again for tripping, giving Onalaska another 5 on 3. Again they won the draw  back to Knutson who fired high glove side this time. Suddenly it was 5-4 and Onalaska still had over a minute and half of power play time.

Bay Area managed to kill off the penalty and got the puck down into the Onalaska end. Rafferty got the puck along the side and passed to Wittig behind the net. Wittig stepped out and tucked the puck between the pipe and the goalie with 42 seconds left.

Onalaska took the ensuing face off down and got it right back when Reeves put in a rebound off a Knutson shot with 21 seconds left. They took the next face off right back down, but shot wide. The Icebears managed to clear the zone and time ran out on the Hilltoppers.

WiPH Game Summaries