Senior Chloe Westberg has new pads. 

The Central Wisconsin Storm goalie put them to good use as she shutout the University School co-op girls’ hockey team 1-0 in a non-conference game on Saturday, January 13th at USM.

Commenting on her pads, Westberg said, “They’re broken in now. They felt nice during the game.”  She turned away all 17 shots that the Wildcats took on her in the game.

“My first varsity game was against USM and I shut them out.  Now, in my last game against them, I shut them out again.  It was a weird kind of karma, tying up loose ends.”

USM’s head coach, Dan Carey, commented on the game, “It was a very good hockey game, we played well.  We just couldn’t put the puck in the net.  We’ll work on shooting more in practice.”

Pete Susens, the Storm’s head coach, agreed.  “It was a good hockey game.  Close. 17-17 in shots. Can’t get much closer.  It was good back and forth hockey.”

The game displayed good goaltending.  Westberg and Juliana Strother USM’s senior goaltender, matched play, keeping the game close throughout.  Strother stopped all but one of the shots taken by the Storm attackers, allowing just one to sneak by her midway through the second period.

On the play, senior Emma Kysely started a breakout from the Storm zone by sending a cross ice pass to senior Emelia Edmondson who was on the right boards.  Edmondson skated toward the center as she exited the zone.  She headed through center ice on a one-on-one.  As she moved into the Wildcats’ end she skated wide to the left, moving through the circle.  Running out of room as she neared the goal line, Edmondson darted a low off-angle shot on net.  The puck squeezed under Strother for the game’s lone goal at 7:46.

Both teams skated hard throughout the contest and kept the goalies alert by peppering their pads with shots.  The fans who watched the game saw two of the state’s top teams play a fine hockey game.

The Storm returned to Wausau with a 9-7 record.  They take on the Lakeshore Lightning in a game at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, January 19th at the Greenheck Fieldhouse in Wausau.

USM is now 11-5 and 3-0 in the Eastern Shores Conference.  The Wildcats play the Fond du lac Warbirds in an Eastern Shores Conference game at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday, January 16th at USM.