Western Wisconsin Stars Taylor Larson opened her senior season with two goals in a 4-1 win over Simley, Minnesota. She had scored one goal since. Thursday night at The Wildcat Center, in her teams biggest sectional and conference showdown of the season, Larson turned on the red light twice, including the game winner to lead the Stars to a 3-2 victory over the 3rd ranked Fusion.
“We figured it’d be a one goal game and come down to the end and it definitely did,” said Fusion head coach Matt Cranston. Western Wisconsin head coach Chris Lepper echoed those comments. “It was a great game. Every time we play the Fusion it is a battle right to the end.”
St. Croix Valley won both meetings a year ago 3-2 and 2-1 and has won six of the last seven before last night. The two teams will not have to wait long for a rematch as they will see each other again next Tuesday when they tangle in Somerset.
Fusion senior Kendra Harman made a nice play on the wall to get a puck out and across the blue line where Emerson Lindus picked it up and streaked down the right-wing lining a wrist shot over the blocker of Sierra Andert to open the scoring. The goal came just 64 seconds into the contest giving St. Croix Valley that all important first goal of the game.
Still trailing 1-0, the Stars Chloe Julson pressured the Fusion defense on the forecheck creating a loose puck that skittered toward the blue line. Larson coming off the bench on a change, stepped into the puck with a slap shot that zipped past Katelyn Gustafson tying the game at 1-1 with a mere thirteen seconds remaining in the opening period.
The second period began with a near miss as Ashley Jensen poked a puck past the Fusion defense and headed toward Gustafson on a breakaway. As Jensen neared the top of the crease, the puck hit some wet ice and stopped as Jensen flew past it.
The first penalty of the game, midway through the period, put Western Wisconsin on the powerplay. Some nice puck movement by the Stars found Annika Olinski open in the quarterback spot at the blue line. The junior who will head to Hamline after next season, showcased her lethal wrist shot with a bullet that just missed the net. Charlotte Rea quickly gathered it behind the goal line and fed it to Gabby Thomsen in front who banged it home for a 2-1 Stars lead. St. Croix’s best chance of the period came when two-time 20 goal scorer Jane Volgren got a shot off from between the hash marks.
Western Wisconsin took a 3-1 lead on a near replay of Larson’s first goal. She brought a puck across the Fusion blue line and snapped a wrist shot that was bar-down. Gustafson disputed the goal from her net and the officials conferred for a minute, but the goal stood. With two minutes left in the period, Sophia Johnson got a big blocked shot on the younger Volgren, Jenna, who had worked her way into prime scoring territory. The period ended 3-1 Western with the shots on goal 16-13 Fusion.
The Stars from the west bolted from the gate in the final period with three grade-A scoring opportunities. Gustafson made a solid glove save on Julson just over a minute into the frame. Jensen nailed the pipe, and it was Julson again, four minutes in, missing the net on a breakaway. At 4:41 the Stars got a chance to add to their lead with a Fusion penalty, but a great effort by Jenna Volgren drew a Stars penalty putting the teams 4 on 4.
From here on in the game was chaos. Thanks to a boisterous spectator the officials caught St. Croix with too many men on the ice. Playing shorthanded the aggressive play of the Fusion set them up with a potential 2 on1 rush, but a gritty backcheck by Julson ended the threat with out a shot on goal. Julson, a junior from Somerset, impacted the game all night long in ways that don’t show up on the scoresheet.
St. Croix then got their chance with consecutive powerplays at 11:29 and 13:33. Cranston took his time out on the second penalty, pulled his goalie and elected to go 6 on 4. Fifteen seconds into the powerplay, with the net empty, Western got a clear down the right-wing wall. Ashley Jensen, like she was shot out of a cannon chased after the puck and the Fusion’s Eleanor Adam’s drew a penalty as she kept Jensen from scoring on the empty net. For me Jensen’s effort and the penalty she drew was the Ice Pick moment that sealed the win. “Western’s speed really helped them today,” admitted Cranston.
There was still plenty of time for the Fusion and Lily Mittl did score to make it a one goal game with 2:32 to play, but it seemed that play, ending the 6 on4 chance was a back breaker. With two minutes remaining the Fusion coaches correctly got an important face-off moved from their blue line to the offensive zone. Julson and Johnson each had a key blocked shot in the game’s final two minutes. Andert held down the fort finishing with 21 saves.
“Our kids played well and everybody contributed in some way to help us get the win,” said Lepper.
Cranston looked to his team’s missed opportunities, ““We need to bury some pucks and we haven’t been doing that lately. We have some girls that can shoot, but just need to be a little more accurate.”
Western Wisconsin (10-6) will head to West Salem for a Saturday date with the Coulee Region Cyclones (2-9-1) then come home to see the Fusion again on Tuesday. The Stars have played a grueling 14 of 16 games on the road this season. “It will be nice for the kids to play at home and not have to get on a bus again. Should be another battle on Tuesday night.”
For St. Croix this was the first of three in a row. They will play Coulee Friday night and on to Arrowhead (6-11-0) Saturday before Tuesday’s rematch.
Three Stars of the Game: 1-Larson, 2-Julson, 3-Andert
Blue Collar: SCV-Jenna Volgren, WW-Jensen
