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USM Co-op takes Eastern Shores Crown

By Tom Geilfuss, USM Assistant Coach, 02/07/16, 9:30AM CST

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Wildcats score early and score late to down the Icebears

Winners and still champions – barely.

Junior Nicole Unsworth’s short-handed goal in the third period gave the University School co-op girls’ hockey team a 2-1 victory over the Bay Area Ice Bears in the Eastern Shores Conference Tournament Championship game played at the Blue Line Center in Fond du Lac.

For the second straight year, the Wildcats captured the conference championship by defeating Bay Area. As usual in the intense rivalry between the two teams, Saturday’s contest was dramatic, hard fought, and oh so close.

It was an arduous task for the Wildcats to hold on and win.  The Ice Bears nearly doubled the Wildcats in shots.  Freshman goaltender, Marie Detert had an outstanding game as she stymied the Ice Bears by making 38 saves.  Ana Holzbach, Bay Area’s sophomore goalie, made 20 saves.

“What a great hockey game,” said Jake Haury, USM’s head coach.  “And what a win for us. Marie played out of her mind tonight.  What an effort.  Our defense was also great.  I can’t believe it. The Ice Bears are a great team.  Our games against them are always tough. They out shot us in every period. But we held on.  Before the game, I told the girls it was time for us to be great.  We were tonight.  Everyone worked hard on the ice.  It was definitely a team win.”

The Wildcats scored the first goal in the opening minute of the first period.  The Wildcats quickly moved into the Ice Bears’ zone as the game began. Unsworth got the puck in the left corner and passed it back to the point to freshman Michaela Fritz.  Fritz fired a bullet at Holzbach.  The puck rebounded to the stick of freshman Gaby Turer who gunned a rising shot past Holzbach at 0:20.

The lead hardly gave the Wildcats breathing room.  The quick score may have stunned the Ice Bears, but only momentarily.  They gave the Wildcats everything they could for the remaining 16:40 of the first period, out shooting the Wildcats 13-8.  The Ice Bears had a power play late in the period, but the Wildcats’ penalty killers confidently handled the situation.

The second period was scoreless.  The action was clean, aggressive, and non-stop.  Once again the Ice Bears applied pressure; once again the Wildcats withstood it, thanks to Detert and tough defensive work by the Wildcats who blocked shots and moved the puck away from their goalie as quickly as they could.  The shots in the period were 14-10 in favor of Bay Area.

The Ice Bears finally made one of their shots count at 4:09 of the third period.  Junior defenseman Morgan Zirbel got the puck in the Bay Area zone and raced out down the left side.  She sped past checkers in center ice, and skated wide of a defenseman at the Wildcats’ blue line.  As she moved into the left circle, Zirbel unleashed a shot that clanged off a goal pipe and ricocheted behind Detert to tie the score.

The Ice Bears stayed determined, and they out shot the Wildcats 17-4 in the final period.  They were given a golden opportunity to win the game when the Wildcats were assessed a penalty at 7:35 of the period.  But a small mistake made a big difference.

Unsworth cut off an errant Ice Bear’s pass to the point and broke past the Bay Area defensemen.  Unsworth dashed away like an unbridled colt. As the Ice Bears’ pursued her, she streaked into their zone and closed in on Holzbach.  Fending off a backchecker, Unsworth stickhandled adroitly to distract the goalie as she neared the crease.  She jammed a puck toward the net, pushing it under Holzbach at 8:33.

The Ice Bears continued to press, but the Wildcats continued to stand firm.  As the period neared its end, the Ice Bears pulled Holzbach.  The Wildcats nearly scored two empty net goals, but twice their long shots banged off the goalpost and fluttered away.  Still, the victory was finally the Wildcats’.

USM is 18-3-2 and 8-0-1 in Eastern Shores Conference games.  The Ice Bears concluded their regular season with a 16-7-1 record overall and 6-2-1 record in the conference.

WiPH Game Summaries