The wait is nearly over for the Bay Area Ice Bears. A calm and calculated 4-0 win over the Cap City Cougars at Bob Suter’s Legacy 20 Ice Arena on Thursday has sent them back to the WIAA Championship game on Saturday.

“We’ve been working all year for this,” said Junior Fay Brunke.

Bay Area struck first on the powerplay when Aisling Buchan one-touched a great feed from Lily Lyons past Sophia Martinelli at 6:51 to give the Ice Bears that important first goal. When asked about scoring the goal, the freshman coaches daughter responded, “It’s one of my favorite things to do.”

The Ice Bears structured attack stretched the Cap City defenders and at 9:25 Ava McDonald drove down the right wing and to the net to extend the lead. The junior defenseman, turned center for the playoffs, had the puck knocked off her stick, but regained it and put the rebound past Cougar goalie Martinelli. It would be almost thirty-three minutes on the game clock before they would turn the lamp on again.

For most teams, a 2-0 lead is considered the most dangerous in hockey, but not so for the Ice Bears. Only twice all season has a team scored more than one goal against them, so two goals has been enough to lead them to twenty-three of their twenty-five wins.

The second period belonged to Martinelli as she put on a show in keeping the score at 2-0. In the opening six minutes of the period, she slammed the door shut on Emily Bill, Ava McDonald, Julianne Bradford and twenty-six goal scorer Fay Brunke all from below the hash marks.

Cap City got their best scoring midway through the period when Olivia Dull’s shot from below the right dot handcuffed Reese Spiering and trickled in behind her. The Bears were able to clear it away and keep the Cougars off the board. Dull then drew a Bear’s penalty along the boards after some sustained pressure by Cap City. Bay Areas top ranked penalty kill didn’t allow the Cougars to ever get any productive zone time.

The Bay Area attack resumed and Martinelli continued to frustrate the Ice Bears. She stole a potential backdoor goal from Hannah Von Haden and stoned Buchan point blank after she got an open look on a two-on-one pass from Lyons. Cap City wasted their best chance of the period, a developing odd man rush that was whistled offside. Two periods in the book and Martinelli, with twenty-seven saves, had kept her team within striking distance.

As the third period unfolded the Ice Bears didn’t panic, but continued their surgical dissection of the Cougars defensive zone. The grade A chances continued, with Brunke twice speeding past the defensemen for breakaways, but unable to solve Martinelli. The second, a sprawling leg save as Brunke deked to her forehand. Teegan Davis lifted the Cap City crowd off their seats when her wrist shot again confused Spiering and came dangerously close to finding the net, before bouncing wide.

The Ice Bears have no shortage of weapons and the newly created line of All-State defenseman Ava McDonald, Buchan and Lily Lyons proved it by scoring their second goal of the game. Buchan, below the goal line, found Lyons heading to the net and sent a perfect pass that Lyons snapped top shelf on the short side for a 3-0 lead at 7:58. Brunke, who has a dedicated nose for the net, finally solved Martinelli, with a carbon copy of the last goal, scoring from the bottom of the same circle on a pass from Bradford. The scoreboard flashed 4-0 and the Bears had moved to within one step of their final goal.

On a day when the Bears high octane first line struggled to get the puck past Martinelli, their second and third line picked up the scoring. “We live to see another day,” said Head Coach Buchan, “we don’t care how we get there.”

A humble Martinelli, who finished with thirty-three saves praised her teammates, “I can’t make all the saves without my teammates helping me,” she said. Spiering kept her net clean for the fourteenth time this season and the Bears winning streak hit twenty-two.  Speaking about Martinelli’s performance, Buchan said, “She played really well, she stood on her head.”

Cougars Head Coach Brenna Weber simply said, “I am super proud of this team,” and hoped back-to-back trips to the state tournament would continue to motivate her group. “Getting here puts fuel in the fire for next season,” she hesitated, “but were not ready to turn the page yet.”

On the other hand, the Ice Bears desperately want to turn the page and erase last year’s championship game loss. On Saturday they will get that chance against the very team they hoped would be there, the Central Wisconsin Storm.