The Wildcats of the University School co-op made use of special teams to score three goals in the first four minutes of the third period to defeat Arrowhead 3-0 in the first round of the Open Division of the Herb Brooks Girls Hockey Classic on Monday, December 30th.

Dan Carey, USM’s head coach, commented on the win, “I’m very happy for the girls tonight.  The team played hard, and we had some great leadership from our upperclassmen.”

The two teams demonstrated how tough and determined girls’ hockey players from Wisconsin truly are. The Wisconsinites forged through a heavy snow storm as they rode over six hours to get to the tournament.  When they finally made it to the National Sports Center in Blaine, MN, they both discovered that their scheduled opponent from Minnesota had dropped out of the tournament.  Couldn’t handle the winter weather they way they can in Wisconsin, I guess.

Consequently, the two Classic Eight Conference rivals played each other once again. It was another tight, hard-fought game.

The first two periods were scoreless as two tough and determined goaltenders, Arrowhead senior Emma Tate and USM sophomore Sami Stommel, held sway.  Tate stopped 17 of the 20 shots the Wildcats took in the game. Stommel made 9 saves to earn her second shutout of the season.

The Wildcats jump-started the door to victory at the face off to start the third period. The Wildcats were continuing a power play, when junior Jordan Bonk won the center ice draw, moving the puck to her classmate, Emily Mueller.  Mueller explained what happened, “I scored off the face off at the beginning of the period on a power play when Jordan made a small pass to push it forward to me. I went around the D, shot, and scored. When it went in, it was exciting because we now had momentum to keep going.”  Mueller scored her breakaway goal just 8 seconds into the third period.

As she said, the goal gave the Wildcats momentum.  They scored again just a few minutes later; this time while killing a penalty.  Sophomore Natalie Epperson got the puck along the right boards in the Wildcats’ zone and skated it out.  As she moved into the Warhawks’ end, a defenseman knocked the puck away.  It bounced to Mueller near the blueline.  Mueller kept it deep by batting it back to the boards to Epperson.  Epperson battled a defender all the way along the boards and behind the Arrowhead net.  Epperson was able to kick the puck to her stick and swing toward the front.  From the goal line she fired the puck at an acute angle.  The puck eluded Tate and slipped into the net, giving the Wildcats a 2-0 lead at 2:01.