Another tight game and another tough loss to the Minnesota Ice Cougars led to a four-game split at the Wisconsin College Showcase In De Pere. Following wins over St. Louis and Badger City and a loss to Grand Rapids, Michigan, Wisconsin came up short in their final game of the weekend, a 5-2 loss to the Ice Cougars. After losing just five games a season ago, Wisconsin is now 11-4-1 on the year.

“I think we knew being the defending champions would make our road this year a little tougher,” said head coach Emily Bauer. “We definitely get our opponents’ best game right now.”

The weekend opened on Friday night with a dominating 6-0 win over the St. Louis Lady Cyclones. Gabi Heuser put on an offensive clinic highlighted by a natural hat trick and three assists. The senior leads the team with 22 points on 10 goals and 12 assists. Heuser’s linemates, Baylee Schuh had two goals and two assists and Rachael Beeck added a goal and two assists. Greta Woelber was called on to make 12 saves in the win. Wisconsin peppered St. Louis with 48 shots on goal.

On Saturday the Grand Rapids Griffins got a goal with 14 seconds remaining in the second period in a 1-0 upset of Wisconsin. Makenna Hutchison took the hard luck loss for the Selects while stopping 18 shots. Teagan Lockett earned the shutout for the Griffins with 20 saves.

The Badger state showdown took place on Saturday afternoon with the Selects taking on Badger City. The game lived up to its billing as the Selects rode the play of their special teams to squeak out a hard fought 2-1 victory. Senior Greta Woelber came through with a big 31 saves performance in net. The Selects powerplay scored twice in the second period, Heuser knocked home a backdoor rebound and Addison Gruhlke sniped a short-side top corner to build a 2-0 lead. Erin Ruis scored a third period goal for Badger City. The game marked a reunion of sorts for Badger City forward Julia Purintun, who was a member of the Selects National Championship team a year ago.

“Our powerplay scored two huge goals for us,” noted Bauer, “and we had a crucial 5 on 3 penalty kill in the first period and killed another penalty late, preserving that one goal lead. Greta was rock solid making some critical saves when we needed them.”

As for the reunion with Purintun, “Julia was certainly a big part of our championship run last year,” said the head coach. “We were all excited to see her.”

A third meeting with the Minnesota Ice Cougars was on tap Sunday morning. Wisconsin was looking to avenge two losses from a week ago. The game followed a familiar pattern with the teams exchanging goals through the first two periods. Reese Duncan scored a pretty rebound goal and Ashley Slupe scored on a shot from the point as the teams played to a 2-2 tie through two periods. Wisconsin appeared to get the break they were looking for when the Cougars were assessed a five-minute major late in third period. The Cougars once again found a way when Ava Tibodeau threaded a long pass to Tori Schmidt sending her on a shorthanded breakaway. Schmidt beat Makenna Hutchison to give the Cougars a 3-2 lead. Minnesota would add another goal and an empty netter for a 5-2 final score. It was another frustrating ending for the Selects. Final shots favored Minnesota 29 – 26.

Wisconsin won’t be back in action until October 26th when they will face-off against the Glenview Stars in Waupun. The Selects, at 11-4-1, are currently ranked 9th in the country.

Dan Bauer is a free-lance writer, retired teacher & hockey coach in Wausau, WI. You can contact him at drbauer13@gmail.com.