There was a difference of one shot, but that one was all that mattered.  Playing in the second round of the girls’ hockey portion of the annual Culvers’ Cup Tournament in Madison, the University School co-op team and the Point Rapids/Marshfield took an equal number of shots, twenty-six.  The game was decided on just one: USM sophomore Gaby Turer’s shot made it past the Red Panthers’ freshman goalie, Pistol Cowden, to give USM a 1-0 victory in the non-conference game on Thursday, December 28th at Hartmeyer Ice Arena.

Goaltender Marie Dedert was another decisive factor in the Wildcats’ victory.  The sophomore shutout the Red Panthers for the second time in a month.  The Wildcats won the Point Rapids Tournament on December 3rd when Dedert stoned the Red Panthers by a 2-0 margin.

Thursday, Dedert credited the efforts of her defensemen, senior Delaney Weiss, junior Hannah Gold, sophomores Michaela Fritz and Libby Hennelly, and freshman Maggie Meissner. “I thought that our team played really well defensively compared to our previous games,” the victorious goaltender said.

The Wildcat defenders frequently kept the Red Panthers away from the Dedert and her net, forcing them to take outside and of angle shots, which Dedert ably stopped.  The Wildcats quickly cleared away the puck, preventing any follow-up attempts.

The teams also had an equal number of penalties in the game, six each, but it was one power play midway through the first period that determined the game’s outcome.

In the Point Rapids’ zone, Fritz stopped a Red Panther clearing attempt near the blue line.  She funneled a pass into the right corner toward sophomore Karly Lamoreaux.  Lamoreaux got the puck, spun, and headed toward the net.  From the lower edge of the circle, she fired a backhander at Cowden.  The goalie stopped it, but the rebound careened back toward the circle to Turer, who top shelfed a shot for the game’s winning goal at 7:34.

Turer described what happened, “Karly picked up a loose puck on the power play and shot it on net. It came out for a rebound, and I lifted the puck in to the left corner.”

The teams contended equally for the remainder of the game.  The Wildcats outshot the Red Panthers by three in the second period, and the Red Panthers outshot the Wildcats by five in their desperate attempts to tie the score in the final frame.

The tension climbed as the number of minutes remaining in the game fell.  Point Rapids was awarded a two-minute power play opportunity with just 2:09 left in the game.  The Wildcats faced the treat with determination. Dedert smothered one point-blank shot, and her penalty killers did the rest, preventing the Red Panthers from achieving any last-minute heroics and a chance to tie the score.

The Red Panthers pulled Cowden with just over a minute left.  In the face of the added pressure, the Wildcats stayed as solid as paperweights, held their lead firmly, and gained the victory, a victory which moved them into the tournament’s consolation final.

After the game, Gold, one of USM’s captains, said, “We played well, with good hustle. We had good penalty kills, and our aggression came in clutch towards the last two minutes of the game when the penalty was called on us.”

As a result of the win, USM’s record is 7-4-1.  The Wildcats will play Lakeland in the Culvers Cup Tournament Consolation Final.  The puck will drop for the non-conference game at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, December 30th at the Madison Ice Arena in Madison.