The WIAA Girl’s season opened last week, and Mother Nature fired an early warning shot with a foot of snow across the southern part of the state on Saturday. Several games were postponed as we got a preview of what many are predicting to be a cold and snowy winter. There are five teams that will begin their season this week: Viroqua, Badger Lightning, Fond du Lac, WVU and Medford.

The Bay Area Ice Bears began their journey as the defending state champions with a convincing three-game sweep traveling across the state to Baldwin. The champs opened up with Western Wisconsin on Friday night in an anticipated match-up of two of the state’s best teams. Faye Brunke broke up a 2-2 tie to put Bay Area up 3-2 after one period. What happened next was unexpected as Bay Area scored five unanswered second period goals to win, going away 8-2. Hannah Von Haden and Aisling Buchan each had two goals.

Western won their season opener 4-1 over Simley, Minnesota. Charoltte Rea and Taylor Larson combined for the first three goals. WW killed off seven penalties, Izzy Johnson scored a shorthanded goal and Sierra Andert made 21 saves. After the Bay Area loss, the Stars rebounded with a 4-1 win over BRF, with Chloe Julson scoring twice for Western.

Friday night the Ice Bears disposed of Black River Falls 2-0 on goals from Madeline Engles and Mya Sheppard. Shots were near even with Bay Area on top 26-24. On Saturday Bay Area jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the games first two minutes on their way to a 5-1 win over the Fusion. There were ten penalties, five a side, whistled in the second period. The Ice Bears ran their unbeaten streak to twenty-six games.

After losing their season opener to Lakeshore Lightning, 2-1, the Central Wisconsin Storm came back with a pair of wins and a Gobbler Cup Championship. CWS defeated USM on Friday 3-1, then won the championship game on Saturday in dramatic fashion. Junior Jayden Yirkovsky scored on a shorthanded breakaway with 2:32 remaining to give them a 1-0 win over Eau Claire/Altoona. It was redemption for Yirkovsky who missed a breakaway opportunity to put her team ahead in the 2-1 loss to Lakeshore earlier in the week.

ECA defeated Hayward 4-1, in the semis scoring three third period goals, but the Hurricanes rebounded behind a 2-0 Makenna Hutchison shut out of USM in the third-place game. Hayward’s Olivia Webster scored both goals, her first two of the season. USM started the season 2-0 with wins over Cap City 4-2 and the Metro Lynx 5-2. Valley Lindemann, a freshman, had a goal and five assists in the two games. ECA was also 2-0 heading into the tournament with a 6-2 win over Brookfield and a 3-2 win over Arrowhead. Freshman Kjessia Lahner had five points in the two victories.

Elsewhere last weekend, St. Croix Valley skated past BRF 4-2 behind a Jane Volgren hat trick. Beaver Dam started the season with a pair of wins on Friday, 3-1 over Arrowhead and a 3-2 win over Brookfield. In the win over the Brookfield Glacier the Beavers executed a powerplay goal as pretty as any you will see in the NHL. Addison Hoekstra from the top to Brenna Rhodes near the right dot to Lillan Mansueto between the dots who one-timed the game winning goal with a mere 11 seconds to play. If we had a goal-of-the-week, that would be it!

Julian Cahoon and Aubrey Flattum (OT GWG), each scored twice in Hudson’s 4-3 OT win over Hastings. Hudson then ran into the Minnesota buzz saw in 11-4 loss to Chisago Lakes. The Raiders also lost 6-0 to East Ridge, Minnesota and were outshot 48-19.

Lakeshore defeated the Storm 2-1 in Wausau, for their first ever win over CWS. Kennedi Bystol tallied the GWG in the third and Elizabeth Bowers had 29 saves. The Lightning is off to a 4-0 start with two wins over Stoughton and another over Janseville. Lakeshore goalies Bowers, Alani Walls and Emma Stielow have only allowed two goals in four games. Kennedi Bystol (6G – 2A) is tied with USM’s Esme Loomans (7G – 1A) for the early scoring lead.

Superior won 2-1 over Moose Lake outshooting the Rebels 39-8. Adalyn Benson scored two powerplay goals for Superior.

CFM defeated Northland Pines 5-2, despite a 48 save performance from Lucy Nowak. Allison Xu had two goals for the Sabers. They then dropped a 2-1 decision to Brookfield.

The Stoughton  Icebergs are off to a tough 0-4 start scoring just one goal in their first four games. Anika Mueller has been good with a 92.4 S%. Janesville has dropped their first three games scoring only two goals. Arrowhead is 1-3 with their lone win coming vs the Bluebirds 3-1.

On Monday the Black River Falls Tigers will travel to Medford for the inaugural game of the new Wisconsin Valley Conference.

Girl’s Game of the Week

Friday, December 5th     Black River Falls @ Fond du Lac - 5:15pm