It was the only high school hockey game in the entire state of Wisconsin on December 23, and it went the way of the home team.

Monroe's co-op hockey program won its ninth game of the season on Monday night, shutting out La Follette/East 8-0 to improve to 9-1 on the 2019-2020 season. It's the most games Monroe has won in one year in its eight seasons of play.

It was also just the fifth shutout recorded by the Cheesemakers in program history, with two of them coming this season behind senior netminder Heath Bear.

On this Festivus, it was Hayden Roth who got the scoring started. Roth scored an unassisted short-handed goal just eight seconds into a La Follette/East Lakers power play to give Monroe a 1-0 lead with 11:12 left in the first period. Monroe coach Barry Einbeck called the goal the spark that overcame a bit of a slow start by the Cheesemakers.