Meeting for the third time this year, the Hayward/Spooner Hurricanes and the Saint Croix Valley Fusion had a little added incentive.

The winner of the Sectional One final would advance to the state tournament in Madison next week.

For the third time, the Hurricanes defeated the Fusion--this time 2-0--to earn their third trip in four years.

The first period was filled with end-to-end action, but few scoring chances. The best save of the period was with just 15 seconds left when Fusion goalie Ellen Coggio denied a point-blank chance to send the game to the first break tied at zero.

Coggio stopped eight shots in the opening stanza, while Hurricanes goalie Lauren Tremblay made three saves.

The middle period was marked by chippy play and six combined penalties. Each team had three power play chances, but it was Hayward/Spooner that would succeed on the penalty kill--and in a big way.

While killing off a 5-on-3 with under a minute left in the period, Alex Grubbs found the puck on her stick in the neutral zone. She skated down the right side and fired a shot from the right circle that beat Coggio on the blocker side for the rare 5x3 shortie with 31 seconds left.

Coggio had a busy period, making 13 saves while Tremblay stopped all eight shots fired at her.

The Fusion threatened to tie the game a couple minutes into the final period.

Maddie Rowe came down the left side on a 3-on-2 rush, cut from left-to-right in front of Tremblay and fired a shot, but the HASP goalie smothered the biscuit to negate the threat.

A minute later Hayward/Spooner had the man advantage, but Coggio kicked out her right pad to stop a shot from the slot area to keep the score at 1-0.

After the penalty expired, Amber Heidenreich skated down the slot and snapped a shot while losing her balance.