It took the Team Wisconsin girls most of the first period to get warmed up, but once they did they took control of the contest and the scoreboard, posting a 5-1 win over North Dakota Friday morning in the CCM NIT held at Braemar Ice Arena in Edina, MN.

Scrappy Amber Heidenreich drew first blood with her rebound goal at the 13:25 mark, with an assist to Samantha Young.

A little over a minute later, Katelyn Ramthun scored from the low left side to double the margin to 2-0, with helpers to her CW Storm teammates Emily and Elizabeth Bauer.

North Dakota fought back and cut the lead to 2-1 with 35 seconds left on Kaitlyn Page's shot from the high slot area.

Shots were 14-6 in favor of TW in the period.

TW had a couple power play chances early in the second but could not capitalize, but they did manage to kill off a penalty before putting another puck in the net.

Jada Ward made it 3-1 with just under four minutes left with her on-ice shot from the right point. Jane Ann Drill earned a helper on the play.

This time, it was TW's turn to score a last-minute goal in the period.

Maddie Rowe put the puck in the net with help from Emma Peterson with 53 ticks left on the clock to make it 4-1.

TW held a 14-5 shot edge in the period.

The final period was quiet—on the scoresheet at least—until the last few minutes of the game.

North Dakota called time out with 4:36 left to discuss its strategy, which included removing the netminder in favor of an extra skater. 

The good news?

North Dakota managed four shots on TW goalie Lauren Tremblay, but was unable to get the puck past the Hayward goalie.

The bad news?

Ramthun scored an empty-netter for her second goal with just under three minutes left to account for the 5-1 final.

TW doubled up on shots, 18-9 in the the final period.

Tremblay earned the win and stopped 19 shots, while freshman Quinn Kuntz made 41 saves for North Dakota.

TW will face Michigan at 5:45 tonight in Game Two.