Although Fond du Lac co-op goalie Rebecca Binder came into today's game with the Central Wisconsin Storm ranked in the top 10 with a save percentage of .923, she was a lot like late comedian Rodney Dangerfield in that she wasn't getting a lot of respect.
Her career save percentage of .923 is among the best for goalies in the last five years, but it takes games like today's match with the Storm to turn the heads of the non-believers.
The junior backstop made 33 saves--including stopping a pair of odd-man rushes--in leading the sixth-ranked Warbirds past the host Storm 4-2 Saturday afternoon at Greenheck Fieldhouse.
It looked like the home team was being its usual inhospitable self as they grabbed a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the contest.
Elizabeth Bauer had the puck below the goal line and had plenty of room to operate on the Olympic-sized rink, passing the puck across to Katelyn Ramthun. 'Rammer' sent the puck out front to Emily Bauer, who promptly buried the rubber disc from the slot past Binder. The goal came at 2:36 of the first period.
The score was still 1-0 in the middle of the period when the Storm came blowing in on a 2-on-1 break, but Binder tracked the play well and made a nice blocker save to keep the lead at one.
With just under two minutes left in the stanza, Central Wisconsin repeated that odd-man rush, but this time added a pair of rebounds for good measure. Once again, Binder turned aside the trio of shots to keep Fondy in the game.
That paid dividends when Kendalynn Acheson pounded in a rebound to tie the game at one apiece. The unassisted goal came with 22 seconds left in the period.
The second-ranked Storm held a 16-8 shot edge in the period.
The second period was all Fondy, but with good reason. With a couple minutes off the clock to start the middle period, the Storm's Maggie Plaza collided with a Fondy player and remained on the ice for several seconds before an official blew the play dead.
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Plaza--a tough player in her own right--looked to be in severe pain and after several minutes, skated off with help from a pair of teammates. She appeared to suffer a lower leg injury and did not return to the game.
The injury seemed to affect the Storm, and not in a good way.
The Storm (8-4) took successive penalties in a 30 second span, giving the Warbirds a 5-on-3 advantage with just over ten minutes left in the period.
Twenty-seven seconds later, Fondy had a 2-1 lead on the strength of a Callie Tighe putback to give the visitors a lead they would not relinquish.
After a third consecutive Storm penalty a couple minutes later, Mary Skorupa slid the puck between the right pad of Storm goalie Chloe Westberg and the post to give the Warbirds a 3-1 lead with 6:36 left in the second.
The Storm sophomore netminder made a nice save a minute later when she deflected a shot off the outside of the post to keep the deficit at two.
The period ended with the Storm owning a narrow 10-9 shot edge.
The third period featured a high level of intensity on both sides but with no scoring until late.
With just under three minutes left, the Storm mounted a furious charge on a power play as they bounced the puck off the post, but somehow it didn't go it.
Emelia Edmondson tried mightily to push the puck in the net, but Binder covered it with her glove just before the play was whistled dead and the crease was littered with players from both teams trying to either score or repel the attack.
With just one second left on the PP, CWS got its reward when Ramthun punched in a rebound that Binder was unable to get to. The Bauer twins both earned assists on the play that cut the lead to 3-2 with just 2:06 left in the period.
After the ensuing faceoff, the Storm gained control in their offensive zone and Westberg came out for an extra attacker. That would end up backfiring when Tighe notched an empty-netter with 37 seconds to seal the deal. Acheson was credited with a helper on the play.
The Storm outshot Fondy 9-4 in the final seventeen minutes of play.
Binder made a total of 33 saves on the day for Fond du Lac, who improved to 11-1-1. Westberg stopped 17 shots on her end for the Storm.
