A season ago the Wisconsin Selects biggest Achilles’ heel turned out to be scoring. Despite having the two top goal scorers in the state on their roster, it was a lack of offensive production that haunted them. A new season and the influx of eleven new players has produced promising results as the team has jumped out to an undefeated start at 5-0.

Eleven different players scored as Wisconsin swept three games from Thunder Bay and Fort Francis this past weekend in Superior. Baylie Schuh, Reese Duncan and PaisLee Lystig each scored twice on the weekend as Wisconsin defeated Thunder Bay 2-0 and 4-2 and topped Fort Francis 8-2. They have averaged a healthy 4.4 goals a game while allowing a stingy 1.2 goals.

Selects 2  Thunder Bay Queens 0

The Selects opened the weekend against the Thunder Bay Queens from Ontario. Wisconsin struck first on a first period shorthanded goal by Rowan Smith. Defenseman Baylie Schuh ran down a loose puck in the corner and fired a clearing pass that Smith chased down near the bottom of the far face-off circle. Smith one touched the puck top-shelf over Queens goalie Abbey Petersen for a 1-0 lead. “Great anticipation and effort by Rowan to get out in the neutral zone and chase that puck down,” said Co-Head Coach Emily Bauer. Later in the period Izzy Johnson nearly put the Selects up with another shorthanded breakaway chance.

Leading 1-0 in the second period, Schuh would come up big again, starting and finishing the second goal of the game. The play started when Schuh, playing defense for the first time this season, stepped up in the neutral zone and took the puck away from Thunder Bay forward Brynn Little. The Hayward sophomore moved the puck to Morgan Kivel who cut across the top of the circles as she entered the zone. Kivel’s pass for Dana Jacobson just missed, but Jacobson retrieved the puck and shoveled it to Kivel who took it behind the net. Schuh saw a lane and broke for the net where Kivel laid out a perfect pass that Schuh wired over Petersen’s shoulder. Wisconsin carried the 2-0 lead into the third period.  

Makenna Hutchison showed why she will be one of the state’s top goalies this season with several key saves through the game with one of her best coming early in the second period. Thunder Bay’s Isabella Dicasmirro got free coming down the right side and tried to cut across the crease, but Hutchison was as patient as a rock staying with her, then flashing a glove to thwart the chance. Near the end of the second period defenseman Kayla Dogs broke up a potential 2 on 1 threat and in the third period, a high effort backcheck by Dana Jacobson and a timely puck clear from the edge of the crease by Chloe Katsma kept Thunder Bay off the board. 

For Hutchison it was a fourteen save shutout, her second of the young season. Wisconsin outshot the Queens 29-14.

Selects 8  Fort Francis Muskies 2

Saturday’s evening match-up featured the Muskies of Fort Francis High School in Ontario. The Selects, on a powerplay, would strike first on a beautiful pass from Sophia Johnson behind the net to Morgan Kivel who had just wiggled free in the slot. Kivel hit the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. Just over two minutes later Wisconsin extended their lead on a great individual effort by Baylie Schuh. The Hayward forward crossed the Muskies blue line, put the puck in deep off the end boards and retrieved it. Schuh quickly spotted PaisLee Lystig on the backdoor, stepped above the goal line and fed Lystig a pass that she buried for 2-0 Selects lead. Reese Duncan made it 3-0 late in the period when she set-up Sophia Johnson slicing down the middle, then knocked in the rebound from Johnson’s shot.

Wisconsin kept the momentum going just two minutes into the second period when Sophia Johnson caught the Muskies in a line change off a dump-in and sprung Reese Duncan on a breakaway. Duncan didn’t miss scoring her second of the game. “Great anticipation and awareness by Sophia and Reese,” said Bauer. “It is a play we talk about a lot and they executed it to perfection.”

It stayed at 4-0 until the Muskies came to life with two goals forty-three seconds apart. The second with just 3:27 left in period two. The Selects were not to be out done matching the Muskies with two goals in sixty-eight seconds to reclaim their four goal lead. Lystig scored from the backdoor on the powerplay and Penny Loeffelholz off a 2 on 1 rush.

Wisconsin added a pair of goals in the third period, an offensive rush by defenseman Annika Olinski that netted a wrist shot bullet from the top of the circles and a powerplay rebound by Izzy Johnson to make the final 8-2. Wisconsin dominated out shooting the Muskies 46-15. Sierra Andert got the win for the Selects and even collected an assist on Olinski’s goal.

Selects 4  Thunder Bay Queens 2

On Sunday morning both teams lined up for their third game in twenty-four hours, a true test of stamina this early in the season. Once again, the Queens proved to be a worthy opponent. The slower paced first period demonstrated the fatigue, but Wisconsin still generated a pair of grade A chances, one on a pass from Schuh to Loeffelholz who got off a point-blank shot and another on a pass from Rowan Smith to Lystig near the dot. Thunder Bay netminder Norah Traer was equal to the task as the teams skated to a scoreless first period. Shots were even at seven a piece.

Wisconsin bolted out for period two with several great chances. Loeffelholz hit the crossbar in the first minute and soon after Dana Jacobson was stopped after a good forecheck by Eleanor Adams created a loose puck. The Queens struck first on a goal by Brynn Little at 7:50. Hutchison made the initial save, but Little got loose to put home the rebound. For Selects goalie Makenna Hutchison it was her first goal allowed after seven consecutive shut out periods covering 127 minutes.

Kayla Dogs got the equalizer for Wisconsin with less than two minutes to play in the period. She picked up a loose puck at the top of the left circle and fired it short side with Loeffelholz creating some net front traffic. The teams headed to period three tied at one.

Saving their best for last, the Selects took the lead at 6:22 when off a face-off, Colby Sprenger pushed the puck forward, gathered it and slid it backdoor to Baylie Schuh who had an easy tap in for a 2-1 Selects lead. Thunder Bay answered quickly, when Tenleigh Dutil got a great feed from Claire Whalley, and escaped for a breakaway. Dutil tied the game at 2-2 with just over nine minutes remaining.  

As they had all weekend, Wisconsin had an answer. Marley Larson picked up a loose puck and climbed the right-wing wall delivering a pass to defenseman Kayla Dogs who snapped a low wrist shot on net. Traer made the initial save but left a rebound to her right where Dana Jacobson was patiently waiting. Jacobson buried the rebound for what would be the game-winning goal. Larson added a nearly two-hundred-foot empty net goal with forty-nine seconds remaining.

Wisconsin scored three times in the final period, ambushing Traer, who finished with thirty-four saves, with twenty shots on goal in the final period. Hutchison finished with twenty-three saves.

Next weekend Wisconsin will head to the College Hockey Showcase at Cornerstone Community Center in Green Bay. Fourteen teams will participate in the three-day event that begins Friday night. Wisconsin will play the Idaho Jr. Steelheads, Grand Rapids Griffins, Nashville Jr. Predators and South Dakota U19 over the weekend.

Photo Credits: Alicia Larson & Sonja Adams