The defending champion Central Wisconsin Storm and the Bay Area Ice Bears seem to have been on a collision course for a rematch since they both left the ice last March. They have held down the top two spots in the state rankings for nearly the entire regular season. The Storm will be looking for their third title in four years and sixth overall. Bay Area will be trying to achieve their second title in three years and third overall.

However, before either can get to the championship game they will need one more victory. Bay Area (25-1) will face the Cap City Cougars (15-12) at 4:30, in game one of the 24th WIAA Girl’s State Tournament at Bob Suter's Legacy20 Arena, in Middleton. The Storm (22-4) and the Eau Claire Area Stars (13-14) will drop the puck in game two at 7:30pm.

(1) Bay Area (25-1) vs (4) Cap City (15-12)   4:30pm Thursday

These two teams did not play each other during the regular season. Like the nightcap on Thursday, this game, on paper, looks like a titanic mismatch as the state’s #1 ranked and rated team, Bay Area, takes on the unranked and sixteenth rated Cap City Cougars. Both teams are making a return trip to state, for the Ice Bears it is a third consecutive appearance.

Bay Area will hit the ice with a huge chip on their shoulder as they seek to avenge a loss in last year’s championship game to the Storm. They have held the number one ranking in the state for the entire season and will put their twenty-one-game winning streak on the line Thursday. Cap City edged the Cinderella story, Beaver Dam Beavers 4-3 to take the last step to Madison.  

Statistically, Bay Area holds a significant edge in every measurable metric. They are the stingiest defensive team, allowing a slight 0.69 goals per game, which calculates to eighteen goals in twenty-six games. They have thirteen shutouts and eleven one goal games. Only twice all season has a team scored more than one goal against them. Gentry from Minnesota scored five on twelve shots in a 7-5 Bay Area win and Blake, Minnesota scored twice in a 2-1 victory over the Bears, their only loss. A Wisconsin team has yet to score twice against them.

Goalie Reese Spiering sees an average of eleven shots per game. The junior from West De Pere high school has a 21-1 record with a sparkling 0.80 GAA and .930 S%. She saw a season high twenty shots on goal once all season. The Ice Bears defensive stranglehold on opponents is fueled by Molly Engstrom Award finalists, juniors Ava MacDonald and Addison Dahl. Senior Tiana Stindt is an underrated key piece to the Bears defensive core. Together they model the strength of this team which is their patience and awareness on the ice.

The Bears formidable defense often overshadows their electric offense. Their top line of Emily Bill (20G – 24A), Julianne Bradford (16G – 29A) and Faye Brunke (26G – 23A) has a combined to score sixty goals, nearly half of the team’s season total. A victory over Bay Area will likely require shutting this line down. The trio has been held off the scoresheet twice all season, a 1-0 opening season win over Western Wisconsin and a 4-0 win over Fond du Lac in February.

Hannah Von Haden should be back in the Bay Area lineup full time in Madison. Head Coach Mike Buchan is happy to have the Green Bay Preble junior back. “She gets overshadowed by our top line,” he said. “She has scored some big goals for us and supplied secondary offense all season.”

For Head Coach Brenna Weber and the Cougars the season began with a five-game losing streak, followed by a five-game winning streak. If you look at their schedule, you won’t find a signature win, partly due to their strength of schedule falling to 25th of 27 teams. They played tight games against the Fusion, a 3-2 loss and Fox Cities, a 4-2 loss. In both of those games the star was Sophia Martinelli. Against the Fusion the sophomore turned in forty-eight saves and then fifty-one in the loss to Fox Cities. Her season stats are impressive with a 1.95 GAA and .936 S%. She may not face the volume of shots she saw in those two games, but the quality of shot selection will be high. If Cap City is going to compete in this game Martinelli will have to be on her ‘A’ game. Simone Dunai a senior and junior Ella Knapp are the top defensive pair for Cap City and will likely draw the task of shutting down the Ice Bears top line.

Senior Olivia Dull leads the Cougars with a twenty-two-goal season, that includes six game winning goals, none more important than the shorthanded one she scored with two minutes to play in the sectional final.  Junior Lilly Wagner (11G – 14A) and senior Teegan Davis (7G – 5A) make-up the Cougars top line. Junior Paige Nowinski (14G – 10A) and impactful freshman Penelope Loeffelholz (14G – 19A) have been top contributors on offense. Loeffelholz scored twice in the win over Beaver Dam on Saturday. Another freshman, Macy Dull, Olivia’s sister, has also been impressive. The is truly never a dull moment on this team, as senior Sara Dull, is a cousin to Olivia and Macy.

Cap City found themselves in this same spot a year ago when they used a magical playoff run to get to the state tournament. In the first round they drew the #1 seeded Storm. The Cougars scored first but ultimately lost 4-1 due in large part to three CWS powerplay goals. Martinelli, who stopped thirty-one shots and kept the game at 2-1 into the third period, will have last year’s experience to draw upon.

Bay Area has been a well-oiled machine all season long. They have plenty of state tournament experience under their belts and a laser focus on being the last team standing. The stats would bear out that Martinelli will need to be perfect if her Cougars are going to pull off, what would be the upset of the season. Predictions

(1) BAY AREA

• Record: 25-1   MYH Rank: #1   Schedule: 6th
• Road to the Final: 6-0 Lakeshore Lightning, 3-1 Fond du Lac
• Head Coach: Mike Buchan-1st Year
• Asst. Coaches: Jenna Christophersen, Shane Dickens,           Ashlyn Dickson, Brynn Waisman
• State Appearances: 6   Record: 6-2  
• State Championships: 2 (2014, 2023)  
• Shots Differential: +676 (965-289)     Penalties: 79-173 min
• GS/GA: 131-18   Offense GPG: 5.03 / Defense  GPG: 0.69            PP%: 22.9   PK%: 95.0

(4) CAP CITY

• Record: 15-12   MYH Rank: #16    Schedule: 25th
• Road to state: 3-0 Viroqua, 5-1 Badger Lightning, 4-3 Beaver Dam
• Head Coach: Brenna Weber-5th Year  (42-54-2)
• Asst. Coaches: Katie Garrison, Mark Sanderfoot
• State Appearances: 6   Record: 1-5
• State Championships: None  
• Shots Differential: +64 (817-753)     Penalties: 83-180
• GS/GA: 89-52   Offense GPG: 3.29 / Defense GPG: 1.92                PP%: 11.2   PK%: 82.1

(2) Central Wisconsin (22-4) vs (3) Eau Claire Area        (13-14)   7:30pm  Thursday

There is nothing about this game that would lead you to believe that Eau Claire Area can pull an upset, except one thing: a 2-1 Storm win against the Stars on January 10th. On that night, senior Amy Thul came very close to leading an upset with a forty-one save performance. The teams had met right before Christmas and CWS delivered a convincing 8-1 thrashing. Thul sat that one out as Evie Pritzl saved thirty-five in defeat. Shots on goal in both games were 43-19.

In every category you can find the Storm holds a distinctive advantage. CWS averages over five goals a game, ECA under two. Defensively the Storm allows 1.11 and the Stars 2.25. Shot differential, Storm by a landslide, plus 529 to a minus 228 for the Stars. Similar results on the powerplay as CWS leads the stats with a 35.8% and ECA at 8.5%. The Stars have been outscored in every period this season, except overtime. They don’t play games on paper, but if they did, this wouldn’t be close.

Central Wisconsin is led by right wing Gabi Heuser who leads the state in goals with 40 and points with 63. The senior sent the Storm to Madison with her overtime game winner against Hayward and for four years has scored big goal after big goal for her team. She has six GWG this season and sixteen for her career. Heuser has broken all the goal scoring records for the Storm and will head to MSOE next fall. When the game is on the line she is at her absolute best. Her linemate Jaden Yirkovsky has 29 goals and 46 points. Senior Sophie Bohlin has bounced between forward and defense, contributing 15 goals and 19 assists. Their depth goes deeper with junior Madeline Kelter, who plays a “firewagon” style of hockey. Centering the Storm’s second line she has seven goals and 26 assists.

Defensively they are led by Molly Engstrom Award candidate senior, Ava Rode who brings a blend of offense (7G – 26A), and shut down defense. Rode will play for Connecticut College next fall. Perhaps one of the most underrated defenseman in the state for the past four years has been senior Taylor Freidel. She has been a key component of the team’s defensive success, outside the spotlight. She also has 54 career assists.

When the season started, the Storm appeared to a big question mark in goal when senior Claire Calmes, with a career 34-4 record, was advised not to play due to ongoing concussion issues. A pair of freshman stepped in to take her place and one might argue, nobody noticed. Together Cami Flohr and Taylor Simonson have been nothing short of fantastic. Simonson posted a 9-1 record, with a 0.99 GAA and .937S%. Flohr has emerged as the team’s number one with a 13-3 mark, 1.15 GAA and .943 S% with seven shutouts. No weak links here.

Playing with house money is what the ECA Stars have been doing. They were three minutes and two seconds from packing up their season when Addison Knaack scored to bring the Stars within a goal of Hudson at 2-1. Thirty-nine seconds later captain Addison Gruhlke decided she wasn’t ready to see it end, and she tied the game at 2-2. Since then, they have played six regulation periods and eight overtime periods, over 150 minutes of hockey either leading or trailing by a goal or tied. They have been on the perpetual verge of elimination and have survived making an improbable trip to Madison.

It has been a rollercoaster season for the Stars and first year head coach Bob Stow. They opened their season with three losses and late in the year had a five game losing streak as they dropped six of their last seven contests to end the regular season. ECA played the fourth toughest schedule in the state and that absolutely helped them in their playoff run.

This is a team that is built upon defense and goaltending. They held their opponents to three goals or less in all but six games. Their two-headed goaltending barrier consists of Amy Thul (2.01 GAA, .935 S%) and Evie Pritzl (2.39 GAA, .927 S%). Together they have been the backbone that has supported the team’s success. In their three playoff games they combined to stop 114 of 119 shots, a .957 S% with a 1.28 GAA. Great goaltending is always the x-factor that can influence a game and these two have that potential. Coach Stow does not have a strict rotation, instead utilizing their different styles to match-up against their opponents. Pritzl missed part of the season with an earlier injury.

ECA has leaned into their eleven seniors all season and they have responded. Two of those seniors, Ava Stow and April Vocke make up the Stars top defensive pair. Stow has praised his senior leadership throughout the season. “Their maturity and leadership as a whole has been able to keep the team focused and on target for the playoffs. They have been an invaluable asset throughout this transitional year.”

The Stars’ 1.92 goals per game average is the lowest of the four state tournament teams. They have only scored four or more goals, four times all season. They depend on winning low scoring games. Senior captain Addison Gruhlke is their offensive bright spot with 15 goals and 22 points. She scored the game-tying goals in both playoff games to send them to overtime. ECA has found unlikely heroes in all three playoff wins. Freshman Peyton Kelshaw won the Hudson game with just her second goal of the season. Victoria Kitelinger, a junior, scored only one goal in the regular season, but has two post-season goals including the game winner against Western Wisconsin. Coach Stow has pushed the right buttons through the playoffs.

Evelyn Kolar netted her fifth of the season, and only the team’s eighth powerplay goal, to send them to Madison with a 1-0 win over Black River Falls. Stow praised Kolar’s impact on the team, “She has the pulse of the team and is able to engage and pull all team members together,” he said. “On the ice she is always giving her full effort and reaching out everyone on the bench to pick them up and be the "spark" we need during games.” Sophomore Molly Wright is an elusive forward that has six goals. Senior Lauryn Eckloff has seven goals, including three GWG.

If ECA can slow down the Storm offensively and keep this game scoreless into the second period, the Stars goaltenders may be able to get inside their heads. Keeping the Storm’s top ranked powerplay off the ice will be crucial for ECA. If CWS starts quickly and grabs an early lead the Stars offense will be severely challenged to mount a comeback.

(2) CENTRAL WISCONSIN STORM

• Record: 22-4    MYH Rank: #2    Schedule: 11th
• Road to the Final: 4-0 WVU, 2-1 OT Hayward
• Head Coach: Jana Wimmer-4th Year  (110-20-4)
• Asst. Coaches: Duke DeByle, Savannah Kislow
• State Appearances: 16    Record: 11-10  
• State Championships: 5  
• Shots Differential: +529 (1022-493)     Penalties: 101-232 min
• GS/GA: 135-29   Offense GPG: 5.19  Defense GPG: 1.11               PP%: 35.8   PK%: 89.8

 (3) EAU CLAIRE AREA  

• Record: 13-14    MYH Rank: #12    Schedule: 4th
• Road to state: 3-2 (3-OT) Hudson, 4-3 (5-OT) Western Wisconsin, 1-0 BR Falls
• Head Coach: Bob Stow-1st Year
• Asst. Coaches: Pat Lindner, Brian Steele, Mae Watkins,        Keegan Gunderson
• State Appearances: 3   Record: 2-1
• State Championships: 1 (2018)  
• Shots Differential: -228  (659-887)     Penalties: 86-175 min
• GS/GA: 52-61   Offense GPG: 1.92  Defense GPG: 2.25                  PP%: 8.5   PK%: 86.5

Photo Credit: Bob Rode