The Onalaska Hilltoppers and Central Wisconsin Storm met Saturday afternoon in the WiPH Girls Game of the Week at Greenheck Ice Arena, and boy, was it a doozy.
Both teams were trying their hardest to win the game and Onalaska goalie Skylar Dannhoff was doing her best not to lose it.
The sophomore netminder stopped 45 shots, including several short-handed point-blank chances, to keep the Hilltoppers in the game, which ended in a 1-1 tie before an audience of about 150.
The first period was scoreless and most of the 17 minutes was spent in the Onalaska zone, as the Storm outshot the guests 18-2. Each team had a power play chance but couldn't score, but in what was a recurring theme throughout the contest, the penalty killers shone.
The Storm stole the puck in the neutral zone and came in on a 2-on-1. Katelyn Ramthun passed the puck over to Kelly Knetter, who ripped a shot toward the net. Dannhoff kicked out her right black and white Vaughn pad and calmly sent the puck into the corner.
With time winding down in the period and both teams full strength, it was Jacyn Reeves' turn. The speedy senior defenseman stole the puck and went in on Storm goalie Renee Hosler, but Reeves' shot was blocked by the goalie's left pad and went harmlessly into the corner.
The second period saw lots of skating but not a lot of shooting, as the teams must have been tuckered out from the high-tempo opening stanza, throwing only 14 shots on net (advantage Storm, 8-6).
In the middle of the period, Central WI was on the power play and Knetter came the closest to scoring on the man advantage, but her shot from the right dot clanked off the crossbar and went 'bar-up.'
Less than a minute later, the pesky Reeves was at it again. She tried her luck on the shortie chance but was stoned by Hosler to keep the game scoreless.
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With just over six minutes left in the period, the Hilltoppers had a power play opportunity but couldn't cash in.
The 0-0 game entered the third period and it was the Storm that struck first.
A Storm player shot the puck behind Dannhoff, who had come out to challenge a shot. It was collected by a Storm player who sent the puck behind the net. Emily Bauer grabbed it and snuck it past the scrambling Ona goalie to make it 1-0.
Near the mid-point of the third, Reeves did some good things and a bad thing.
Grabbing the puck in the Ona zone, she set sail down the left side toward the Storm goal. As a defender knocked the puck away, Reeves gave her a little shot, maybe in frustration, and was sent to the box.
Two minutes later, she did a Walter Egan (look it up) impression with the puck, directly honing in on it in the high slot on the Ona end. Like a replay of the previous foray, she put it in overdrive and beat the defender around the corner and sniped the puck into the net for the 'all alone' goal at 12:25.
With over two minutes left, a Storm penalty gave them some short-handed chances. Knetter and Katelynn Schilling were both rudely turned aside by Dannhoff to keep the game knotted at one.
The Storm outshot the Hilltoppers 11-4 in the period, which would lead to a three-minute break before the extra period.
Ramthun almost ended the game less than two minutes in, but the right toe of the talented Dannhoff kicked the puck away from the net.
Then with 3:39 left, the Storm went on the kill, which in this game seemed to be a good thing.
In a one-minute span, Ramthun whiffed on a one-timer, and shots by Knetter and Elizabeth Bauer were denied by Dannhoff to keep the game at 1-1 as the clock ticked down.
Ninety-nine seconds later, the horn sounded on the 1-1 stalemate. Shots were 9-1 in favor of the home team in the final eight minutes.
As mentioned before, Dannhoff earned the number one star with her 45 saves. Hosler played well on the other end, stopping 12 of 13 shots from a talented Hilltopper squad.
