Tuesday night’s battle on the ice between the Fox Cities Stars and the Waupun Warriors was for first place in the Badgerland conference and the #1 seed for the Badgerland Tournament. Before the puck dropped Waupun hockey announcer Scott VanGalen shared the news that St. Mary’s Springs knocked off #7 in the State, Neenah/Hortonville/Menasha.
Both teams went after the title right away. The action was fast and furious as both teams raced up and down the ice. Waupun was seeking its first conference title since 1995-96. The Badgerland conference is loaded with co-ops and schools three times the size of Waupun. With it also being Senior night, the 10 Senior Warriors on the team wanted the home win and conference win.
With 7:53 off the clock in the first, Fox Cities blinked first drawing a penalty. The Warriors wasted little time taking advantage of the man advantage. At 8:43 in the first period Waupun scored the first goal as Waupun Senior Carson Schramm battled in front of the net, tipping the first puck passed Max Gutjahr. Waupun Senior Caleb Baxter moved the puck to fellow Senior Colin Holz who fired it at the net right where Schramm was camped.
Fox Cities had a chance to tie it when they went on the power play with 4:12 left on the clock. The Warrior penalty killed which has killed of almost 95% of power plays in the conference this season, held strong along with Senior Goalie Caleb Sauer in the pipes.
The period ended with Waupun holding a slim one goal lead.
In the second period, Waupun came out determined to put more goals on the scoreboard. 3:08 off the clock the Warriors struck again. This time Baxter was able to dangle the puck through the Stars defense and place a perfect wrist shot from the low slot over the blocker of Gutjahr just 30 seconds after Baxter had missed on a breakaway opportunity. Carter Flegner and and Holz received the assists on the Warriors goal.
The Warriors provided Fox Cities two additional opportunities by taking penalties and setting the Stars power play. The Warriors PK was solid once again stopping every shot attempt the Stars could muster.
Then with 2:53 remaining in the second period, the Warriors offense went to work and again and tickled the twine behind Gutjahr for a third goal.
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This time Holz was the scorer. Baxter took a shot from the right hand face off circle that popped up off the stick of Gutjahr right in front of the Stars Goalie. As the puck was coming down, Holz who was on the back post was able to knock it out of the air just before the puck landed on the ice scoring the Warriors 3rd goal. The first assist went to Cameron Beek.
Senior night for the 10 Warriors looked promising. However, I saw a 4 goal lead by the Warriors last year disappear into a loss.
But that was last year! The Warriors experience and desire paid off. The Stars dominated much of the 3rd period trying desperately to get back into the game, And it appeared as if Waupun was willing to oblige as the Warriors took three penalties in the period. However, the Warriors PK once again rose to the occasion and scored a short handed goal a minute after going down a man.
At 12:08 left in the period, Baxter once was able to steal the puck at the blue line. He made a great cross ice pass to Holz who had broke hard on the steal right toward the net. The Stars defenseman went after Holz who was able to find Baxter who now had made his way toward the net. Baxter pulled the trigger right away and once again put the puck over the blocker of Gutjahr for the short handed goal. 4-0 Waupun.
Surprisingly, Fox Cities took a time out with 10:12 left in the 3rd to regroup. It worked as far as the energy the Stars players put into the next five minutes of play. Sauer and his defense in front of him were rock solid clearing every attempt the Stars threw toward the Warrior goal.
With 2:31 left in the game, the Warriors went on the power play for the second time of the evening. The Warriors wasted no time putting the puck past Gutjahr again. This time Malachi Buchholz was able to tip a speedy and powerful pass from Senior Cole Kamphuis. Carter Schramm won the face off straight back to Kamphuis. Bang! Bang! Score! Warriors 5th goal was in the net seven seconds into the power play.
The Stars refused to give in and worked hard the remaining time left in the game to break up the shut out. The Warriors defense which has stood solid in the Badgerland conference earning three shut outs already were not about to let that happen.
Sauer stopped all 28 shots fired at him in the game as the Warriors won the Senior night game 5-0. Gutjahr also stopped 28 shots on the evening.
The Badgerland conference has the unique set up of playing each other one time crowning a season conference champ. This also provides the seeding for the conference tournament. The Warriors will be the 1 seed in the Badgerland conference tournament while Fox Cities falls to the 4th seed. Springs is the 2 seed with their win over Neenah who will be the 3 seed. The top 4 seeds begin tournament play January 30th with a home game with the remainder of the tournament taking place Friday and Saturday at the Blue Line Family Center in Fond du Lac.
Waupun is now 15-3-1 on the year with a 6-0-1 record in the conference. They play Friday at Arrowhead for an important Section 8 match up.
