skip navigation

Girls State Tournament Preview

By Michael Trzinski, WiPH Staff, 03/02/20, 5:00PM CST

Share

Defending champ Fox Cities to battle for consecutive crowns

Exactly one year ago today, the Fox Cities Stars and Hudson Raiders played 61 minutes and 32 seconds of hockey before Maddy Jablonski scored in the second extra period to give the Stars a hard-fought 6-5 win over Hudson for the Stars' first-ever state title.

Hudson must have felt like they never left the ice over the two-day tournament, as they played FOUR overtimes in the semi-final match the previous day before dispatching Central Wisconsin in 105 minutes, 35 seconds—the longest game in state tournament history.

This year, Fox Cities and Hudson have both made the tournament field, but unfortunately, the guaranteed grudge match comes Thursday evening in the semi-finals, when the #2 seed Stars will face the #3 seed Raiders in the final game on the opening day of the state tournament at The Clamshell at the Alliant Energy Center.

The early evening game features the #1 seed Metro Lynx against #4 Rock County Fury.

#1 Metro lynx (23-3)

The Metro Lynx earned their spot in Madison by defeating the Cap City Cougars in the Sectional 3 finals last week. Their road to the tournament included a 7-1 win over Black River Falls and a 3-0 blanking of the aforementioned Cougars. 

The Lynx are led on the forward line by Sydney Raaths (32g-20a), Rachel Mirwald (8g-29a), Kaya Byce (12g-13a), and Hannah Kolpien (9g-16a). Mia Goetzke, Abby Ahlborn, and Ava Jambor all have double-digit point totals. The team has scored 138 goals this year, the most of the four tournament teams, although Fox Cities is close behind with 131.

Defensively, look for Grace Bonnell (9g-25a), Lauren Johnson (11g-12), Sam Olander, and Ally Jacobsen to provide some scoring punch along with their blueliner skills. Jenna Culp, Josie Dragoo, and Ava Downing will also find some ice time.

In net, soph Camryn McKersie (653 min.) and freshman Addie Armstrong (465 min.) split time for the Lynx. By save percentage, Armstrong (.944) and McKersie (.933) are the top-ranked goalies in the tourney and combined for five shutouts.

(regular season stats)

(regular season stats)

#4 rock county fury (18-8)

Rock County knocked off the Warbirds 4-2 in Friday night's Sectional 4 final and prior to that, ended USM's season with a thrilling 1-0 win over the Wildcats.

The Fury are ranked third in the tournament with goals scored, and are led by the 'Hanson Sisters,' also known as Anika Einbeck (26g-32a), Alyssa Knauf (23g-25a), and Haley Knauf (21g-27a). Haley is a senior and the other two are juniors, and their combined production accounted for 68% of the goals scored, and 65% of the points. To say that this talented trio makes the Fury go is an understatement.

Also scoring double-digit points are forwards Sara Loerke and Claudia Boehlke.

Along the blueline, the Fury depends on Anna Malone, Sam Wells, Presley Kovacevich, and Sarah Edler to prevent opponent forays into their d-zone.

Sophomore netminder Olivia Cronin has been very impressive over the last four games, chalking up three of her season's five shutouts. Overall, she has a GAA of 1.94 and a save percentage of .926.

trasher's take

The Metro Lynx and the Rock County Fury can both score, and both have excellent goaltending. They are pretty evenly matched on special teams, although the Fury is a smidge better on the PK and PP than the Fury, but not by much.

I feel the key to the game is: which team can shut down the other team's big scorers?

The Lynx have Raaths, who knocked in 32 goals, while Einbeck (26), A. Knauf (23), and H. Knauf (21) all have scored almost at will for the Fury.

Whoever keeps the other squad's big guns off the scoresheet wins this game.

Duh!


#2 Fox cities stars (20-7)

The Stars beat Medford 15-2, Bay Area Ice Bears 5-1, and had a fairly easy time in the Sectional 2 final, taking down the Central Wisconsin Storm 6-2, ending a 12-year run of state tourney appearances for the Storm.

The Stars have tons of firepower, led by last year's title game hero Maddy Jablonski (28g-21a), Mckayla Zilisch (17g-21a), Annika Horman (19g-15a), Alaina Schauf (14g-15a), and Teagan Dickman (5g-24a). Izze Murphy and Riley Maulick also scored double-digit points for the Stars. 

Even the defenders can score, as witnessed by Gwen Gillard (14g-10a) and Emma Webster (6g-16a). Hannah Hiltunen had 16 assists, and is joined by Claire Calkins and Kourtney Koster on the back line.

Freshman goalie Ella Sciborski has been impressive, tallying up a .910 save percentage and a GAA of 1.76. She has three shutouts on the year.

(regular season stats)

(regular season stats)

#3 Hudson Raiders (13-12-1)

Hudson beat Western Wisconsin 4-1, Saint Croix Valley Fusion 6-1, and the Eau Claire Stars 2-1, scoring 16% of their season's goals in those three games while allowing only three.

The Raiders are not a big scoring team (73 goals), but don't give up many either.

Nikki Olund (15g-10a), Leah Parker (14g-9a), Mallory Thompson (11g-11a), and Quinn Winkoski (8g-10a) account for the majority of the team's scoring. Bayley Glasspoole and Taylor Wandschneider also scored in double-digits.

Defensively, Carly Tersteeg, Avery Johnson, Morgan Miller, Rose Giblin, Chloe Hepfler, and Maddy Mielke will get the brunt of the ice time.

Senior Alayna Kunshier (.921 sv%, 2.13 GAA) struggled early in the year but has come on strong for the Raiders in the last few contests, allowing six goals in the last six games, including a shutout of Onalaska in the last regular season game. 

trasher's take

The Stars have worked hard to get back to Madtown to defend last year's title, but the Raiders would love to earn a third win over a 'Stars' team in the last four contests.

Fox Cities has a bigger scoring punch but the teams are fairly equal defensively based on goals allowed.

The goaltending is fairly even, as both starting goalies have played well toward the end of the season.

The Stars have the best PP unit (23.7%) and PK unit (89.5%) in the tourney, so it is imperative that the Raiders—who average about three penalties per game—stay out of the box.

Bottom line, same as for the first game. Hudson needs to keep the Fox Cities' scorers from running wild. No matter what, it should be an entertaining contest.