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Late Goals Lift Lakeshore Past Brookfield

By Dan Bauer, WiPH Staff, 01/25/25, 11:30AM CST

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The Lakeshore Lightning used a disciplined defense, deep bench and a pair of late goals to defeat the Brookfield Glacier 4-1 at Ozaukee Ice Arena on Thursday night. The Lightning scored twice in the final three minutes to turn a 2-1 battle of conference foes into a 4-1 victory.

With their thirteenth victory of the season the Lightning are one win short of tying the team record of fourteen set in 2015. Four different players scored for Lakeshore. On the season the Lightning have shown a remarkable balance with eight players scoring five or more goals. Three of the eight are seniors, the rest are underclassmen.

It was the Lightning’s commitment to three balanced lines that turned a see-saw game into a lopsided affair as Lakeshore controlled the last two periods outshooting the Glacier 31-7 over the final thirty-four minutes. Brookfield’s dynamic goaltender Macy Blooming finished with thirty-one saves, keeping the game close until the games final minutes.  

“We came out slowly in the 1st period, but we were able to turn up the pressure in the last two periods,” said Lakeshore Head Coach Dan Wade. “We were able to hold them to only 7 shots over the last two periods. If we can continue that defensive pressure, we can be in any game.”

A mostly uneventful first period got exciting at 6:45 when it appeared the Lightning’s Cheyenne Mojica had scored. Ailiyah Lathrop’s heavy forecheck created a loose puck that Addy Novak snatched and fed to Mojica on Blooming’s doorstep. The officials gathered after the goal and after a short discussion disallowed the goal. Apparently Blooming had the puck under her pad, and the official saw what turned out to be a second puck that was left in the net after the warm-ups. Lakeshore’s 1-0 lead quickly disappeared and so did that second puck.

On the bright side, I personally got to add that to my list of things I had never seen before.

Lakeshore’s powerplay got on the ice when Annie Elbes was called for cross-checking. The Brookfield kill was disruptive and kept pressuring all over the ice. Brookfield’s vaunted powerplay, which has been in and out of the state’s top spot, also got a chance late in the period.

“We had an off night with our PP forcing shots, which normally had been outstanding this year,” noted Glacier Head Coach Kevin Armbruster. “We had several opportunities including the breakaway that Bowers stopped.”

First period shots were a pedestrian 6-4 in favor of Brookfield.

Early in the second period, at 14:32, the Glacier would get their second powerplay. Lakeshore’s Elizabeth Bowers made a pair a saves to keep Brookfield’s powerplay silent. With the man advantage expiring, Olivia Dykema knocked down a Glacier pass and led an offensive rush. The sophomore knifed to the middle as she crossed the blue line and Glacier defenseman Grace Eckert knocked the puck off her stick. Rachel Donavan was in the right place at the right time as the loose puck caromed to her and she quickly snapped it past Blooming for a 1-0 lead. It was the sophomore’s first varsity goal.

Senior defenseman Payton Dykstra, one of the state’s best blueliners, scored on a great individual effort to tie the game. From her own goal line, she rushed the puck into the Lightning zone and sent a pass across to Emma Lawrence who couldn’t quite get the puck on net. Dykstra then ran down a Lightning forward, stealing the puck at the top of the circles and turning it back to the net. Her shot from the hash marks appeared to glance off of a defenseman and past Blooming to tie the game at 1-1. Dykstra will patrol the blue line for Aurora University, near Chicago, next season.

Less than a minute later Brookfield threatened to take the lead on a breakaway by Lawrence. Lindsey Mead sprung Lawrence loose with a weakside stretch pass, but Bowers held her ground making a pad save as Lawrence moved to her forehand.

Lakeshore’s line of seniors Novak and Lathrup and sophomore Mojica were a headache all game for Brookfield. Off a center ice face-off, it was defenseman Sydney Bertolino who won a race into the Brookfield zone and centered a pass to Mojica. The puck found traffic in front of the Glacier net, where like their first goal, Novak fired a lonely puck at Blooming, who made the save, but Novak gathered the rebound and tapped it into the open net.

Wade praised the Cedarburg senior, “Novak’s energy is contagious, and the rest of our team follows her lead.”

Blooming made a sprawling save with two minutes to play in the period keeping the game at 2-1. At the other end Bowers stifled a point-blank chance by Dykstra with twenty seconds left.

The Lightning poured into the Glacier zone in the third period. I counted four high danger scoring chances for the Lightning in the first nine minutes. Brookfield’s best chance came from leading scorer Madeline Macleod. With just under six minutes to play, a penalty epidemic broke out with four penalties called in three minutes. Each team would earn a pair, with Lakeshore getting the first, leading to a crucial penalty kill for the Lightning leading by the slimmest of margins.

“The game was very much in doubt when we took a penalty late in the 3rd,” Wade confessed, “but a great kill led by Abby Klabechek, blocking several shots and clearing the zone really turned the momentum back into our favor.”

The Lakeshore assault on Blooming increased as the clock ticked down. Novak charged out from the corner and hit the handle of Blooming’s stick, then she slid post-to-post to stuff a Katsma one-timer. It was Katsma that hustled to keep a puck in at the blue line, circled back to the net and sliced across the top of the crease, waiting, then tucking it under the crossbar for a 3-1 Lightning advantage.

Brookfield got Blooming off at 1:50, but couldn’t manufacture any great chances six -on-five. Liela Reed ended the suspense when she hit the empty net.

The loss for Brookfield was their sixth in their last seven games. During that stretch their offense has struggled mightily, scoring only seven goals. They will host Badger Lightning (6-11) on Saturday.

“Playing Lakeshore is always a battle, usually one-two goal difference and a good conference rival,” offered Glacier Head Coach Kevin Armbruster. “In a 2-1 game we take two penalties and go down five-on-three, with under four minutes in the game. Penalties will kill you.” 

Lakeshore will travel to Viroqua on Saturday to play the Blackhawks who have won two of three behind the spectacular goaltending of Sami Bramstedt who has stopped 150 of her least 155 shots—96.7 save percentage!

Three Stars of the Game

1-LL-Lathrop, 2-BK-Blooming, 3-LL-Novak

Blue Collar: BK-Groneck, LL-Mojica

WiPH Game Summaries