First place for sure.

The Wildcats of the University School co-op girls’ hockey team assured themselves first place in Eastern Shores Conference regular season play by defeating the Fox Cities Stars 3-2 Thursday at the Tri-County Ice Arena in Neenah.

The game was close and the tension palpable throughout the evening.  As senior Caitlin McBride, one of the Wildcats’ captains, noted, “the intensity progressed in the game.  Our team continuously overcame mistakes to win.”  McBride scored one of the Wildcats’ goals.  Her line mates, freshman Gaby Turer and junior Nicole Unsworth, scored the other two.  Seniors Ally Fox and Liz Steinmetz scored the goals for Fox Cities.  Senior Hannah Buchman made 16 saves for the home team.  Freshman Marie Detert made 23 saves for the victors.

There was no scoring in the first period.  The shot totals were 9 for the Stars and 6 for the Wildcats as tight checking by both teams kept good scoring opportunities to a minimum.

The Wildcats scored the game’s first goal early in the second period.  Unsworth pulled the puck from a tussle deep in the Wildcats’ zone and chipped it to McBride on a breakout play.  McBride hustled into center ice and forwarded a pass to Turer who was speeding down the left side.  Turer moved into the Stars’ zone and cut toward the slot.  As a defenseman stepped to stop her, she took a shot.  The puck hit the defenseman’s stick and fluttered like a duck heading into a marsh past Buchman at 2:51.

The Wildcats increased their lead at 9:43.  Unsworth grabbed a loose puck along the left boards in center ice.  She skated into the Stars’ end and headed into the slot and toward the net.  She spun away from a check, took another stride then slid the puck to McBride who was heading toward the backdoor.  McBride knocked the puck under Buchman for the score.

The Stars made it two one late in the second period.  Fox stopped a Wildcat skater with a poke check at the Stars blue line.  She hurried past a reaching Wildcat in center ice, maneuvered past a reaching defenseman inside the Wildcat blue line and fired a shot past Detert at 13:41.

The game winning goal was scored at 2:17 of the third period.  Off a face off in the Wildcats’ zone, Unsworth grabbed a loose puck and skated away with the speed of a Verizon Wireless connection with good LTE.  Outskating a defenseman in the Stars’ zone, Unsworth cut sharply in on Buchman, pulled the puck past her and dropped it inside the post.

The action stayed furious and the Stars made the score closer with 3:04 left in the game.  On the play, Steinmetz collected a loose puck at the Stars’ blue line, skated in on a breakaway and gunned a shot into the Wildcats net.

Pressure and tight defense by the Wildcats prevented the Stars from being able to pull Buchman in the final minutes and the tense action finally came to its conclusion.

“Our play was indicative of the fight we have in the locker room,” said Jake Haury, USM’s coach.  “I didn’t think we played our game in the first period, but we made it out with a scoreless tie.  We played better in the second period and got some goals.  We made a couple of mistakes that let them back into the game.  Fox Cities is a good team. We may see them again in the conference tournament.  We’ll have to play better if we want to beat them again.”

USM is 16-3-1 and 6-0-1 in the Eastern Shores Conference.  Fox Cities is now 15-3-1 and 4-2-1 in the conference. The Wildcats play the Central Wisconsin Storm in a non-conference game at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 30th at USM.  The day game will be Senior Night at USM when the Wildcats and their fans pay homage to the team’s three seniors, McBride, Hannah Koniar and Zoe Oskarsson.