It had been eight straight games and one month without a victory for Chris Lepper’s Western Wisconsin Stars. Three games against top six Wisconsin teams (Hayward, St. Croix Valley, CW Storm) and five in a row against teams from Minnesota.

Saturday afternoon, the Stars were on the road, in a back-to-back game less than sixteen hours after facing off with the defending champion Central Wisconsin Storm. His team needed a win in the worst way. “Playing the schedule we have through the middle part of the season has taken a toll on us, as our efforts have not produced the results we had wanted in the win column,” Lepper admitted.

When the puck dropped at KB Willett Arena, the Stars looked hungry as they took on the Wisconsin Valley Union. When Gabby Thomsen accelerated through the neutral zone and broke in free on Union goalie Issie Wojcik, grabbing an early lead looked promising. However, the sophomore from Marshfield stopped Thomsen. A Union penalty at 12:22 put the Stars on the powerplay. Wojcik denied a pretty cross-ice one-timer off the stick of Thomsen to keep the game scoreless.

What appeared to be a harmless two versus four Union offensive rush, turned into a 1-0 WVU lead. Jenna Jones delayed crossing the Stars blue line then feathered a pass to Campbell Spees cutting toward the net who quickly fired a shot past goalie Maggie Alberts. It was an ominous sign for the Stars. In their previous five losses their opponents had scored first.

Despite getting out shot in the opening period 15-4, it looked like the Union would escape with a 1-0 lead. Then with twenty-seven seconds remaining, Spees took a penalty and with four seconds left in the period Western Wisconsin tied it. Charlotte Rea took a face-off win and dragged the puck across the top of the circles before pitching it backdoor where Taylor Larson tapped it in.

WVU quickly found trouble just thirty-three seconds into period two when All-State defenseman Jenna Jones was hit with a major cross-checking penalty and game misconduct. "I was surprised by the #11 ejection,” from Head Coach Rachael Graves, “definitely didn't have that on my bingo card. Jones isn't a dirty player so I was very caught off guard.”

Still recovering from the late first period goal, the Union now had to deal with the loss of their captain. Western Wisconsin generated very little offense during their five-minute powerplay and the game remained tied 1-1.

The Stars would weather a couple of questionable penalties midway through the period. Led by aggressive junior defenseman Sophia Johnson the Stars made travel in the neutral zone difficult for the Union all game long.

The Stars built a large shot on goal advantage, but it wasn’t until 6:00 of the period that the dam would break. Ashley Jensen scored after taking a wide shot from Thomsen off the end boards and converted it from the side of the net. At 14:54 Chloe Julson scored a short-side backdoor goal on a pass from Larson. Then with under a minute left in period two Ashley Jensen made it 4-1 when she poked home a rebound from Vivi Abbott’s point shot. Shots were 28-6 after two periods.

The Union climbed back in the game at 13:34 with the game’s prettiest goal when freshman Molly Fox one-timed a blast from the high slot past Alberts, to make it 4-2. Kendall Baneck set her up with a perfect cross-ice feed. Jensen completed the scoring and her hat trick with a breakaway goal at 5:01. Another Union freshman, Ellie Czaikowski made a final scoring bid shorthanded with just over two minutes to play when she cut across the dots, but Alberts stayed with her for the save.

Appearing in her ninth game of the year Issie Wojcik turned in a 39 save performance for WVU. Her record stands at 4-5 with a very respectable 90% save percentage and GAA of 2.75. “Issie can play with the best of them when she is busy,” remarked Graves. “The more engaged she is the better she is. From our goalies we ask that they give us a chance to win and she's done that multiple days.”

Alberts faced just 11 Union shots.

Scouring the rosters of these two teams shows a wealth of promising underclassmen. The Union has six seniors and the Stars only four. The future of both programs looks extremely bright. Stars coach Chris Lepper could breathe a sigh of relief when the horn sounded and the winless streak ended. “Getting a win today was much needed,” he said. “The girls needed that win to see the results of their hard work.”

Said Graves following the loss, “Proud that the girls fought a tough battle despite the odds. They keep showing up even when we don't match up on paper. Love when they are gritty.”

For Western Wisconsin (3-9-1) they will travel to Hudson on Tuesday to face the Raiders. WVU (5-6) will take on Fox Cities next also on Tuesday.

Three Stars of the game:

1-WW-Jensen, 2-WVU-Wojcik, 3-WW-Thomsen

Blue Collar-WVU-Cichy, WW-Julson

Photo Credits: Love the Game Photography