The Cap City Cougars have begun their second-half season climb winning their last six games. Just like the past two seasons, Cap City has started slow with a 18-36 record before January first and 28-22-2 after. They opened this season 5-5 but have won all five games since the calendar turned and are 10-5 on the year. The Cougars have used this run to propel them to the state tournament the last two years. “Starting to find a new rhythm, that’s for sure,” according to head coach Brenna Weber. “Sofia (Martinelli) is always a strong defensive support in net which helps the d-zone play. It’s a combination of some hard work, some good bounces, all building momentum.”

The Top Six didn’t see much shake-up this past week. 2nd ranked Western Wisconsin held serve over the 3rd ranked Fusion, but they will meet again on Tuesday. Bay Area slowed the Lakeshore Lightning down with a 3-1 win over them on Saturday. Black River Falls edged a feisty Superior team 5-4 and Eau Claire/Altoona got a big win in overtime against the Storm. Fond du Lac had a big week with three wins, two of them in Minnesota, and tie to improve to 9-4-4.

Don’t look now, but the regular season ends in four weeks. Jockeying for seeding position is underway across the state. Get out to see a game before it is too late!

Who’s on… the Scoresheet?

Instant replay has fueled the obsession to get every call right in our major sporting events. You would be hard pressed to find a game today that is not delayed by this belief that we can get everything perfect in a game. Of course, we know that achieving perfection is impossible. As Lombardi famously said, “Gentlemen, we will chase perfection, and we will chase it relentlessly, knowing all the while we can never attain it. But along the way, we shall catch excellence.”

To no one’s surprise, I prefer the old school method of accepting that human error, by players, coaches and officials is part of the game. The replays have tempered that beautiful spontaneity of the game winning goal or game changing play. Wait, they may have been one inch offside, only discernable by seven camera views and nuclear slow-motion. But that’s just me.

However, when it comes to the game stats I am in the other camp. Because it doesn’t delay the game or change the outcome, I see absolutely no reason why, with all the video available, we don’t get it right. The culprits for getting goals and assists wrong often fall on the officials. In their defense, I would rather they are watching for penalties and offsides instead of who passed to who on a goal. The second villain is the phantom point vampires. When officials ask for help, they are quick to toss their number into the scoring incubator, whether they had anything to do with the goal or not.

The solution is simple, go watch the video. Every coach looks at video these days, so when you reach those goals, get it right. I don’t buy the rationale that it doesn’t matter who scored and who got the assists, because we are a team. If I do the dirty work in the corner and make a great pass that leads to a goal, and the assist goes to someone who never touched the puck, not sure how that is good for team unity. We demand players earn their playing time and preach that it won’t just be given to them. Then don’t hand players unearned points and take them away from players who earned them. It takes less than a minute to go back into your scoresheet on WiPH and fix it.

I wish I could say solving the saves count for goalies is also easily fixed. The solution here must be addressed at the point of attack—the shot counter at the game. A couple of suggestions, don’t have the goalies’ parents involved, don’t allow the counter to have their cell phone nearby, and ideally have the person above ice level to get a better view of the actual shots on net.

What constitutes a save?

An official hockey save is when a goaltender uses any part of their body or equipment (glove, blocker, pads, stick) to stop a puck from a clear shot from entering the net; it's credited when the puck is controlled, deflected, or knocked away, but not when a defender blocks it or the shot misses the net, hits posts, or goes into an empty net. Only the goalie gets credit for a save, with other players stopping shots being recorded as blocked shots

Dual Threat—Zayleah Leonardt

The Medford Raiders may still be looking for their first win of the season, but when they look for their best goal scorer and goaltender, the answer is the same, Zayleah Leonhardt. In a day and age when as a coach it might be a challenge to move a player from forward to defense, Zayleah has without hesitation taken on perhaps the two most difficult jobs in hockey, scoring goals and stopping goals as a goaltender.

She is such a great athlete in general we can pretty much put her anywhere and she would succeed,” said her head coach Bruce Peterson. “Even though she has been a lot of the offensive side for Medford in her career when I started her on defense at the beginning of the year she did not complain, she just did what was asked of her.” Leonhardt, who plans to study criminal justice following her senior season, plays for the love of the game. The Raiders have won just eleven games in her career, but that has not deterred her from playing or caused her to look elsewhere to play.

“Honestly, what keeps me coming back is the team and the love I have for the sport,” she stated. “I feel like our team bonds really well so anytime we’re together or playing, we are just having fun.”

Leonhardt is also a first-team all-conference catcher, third baseman, and first baseman for the Medford Raiders softball team. As a youth hockey player, she played very few games as a goalie, she estimated maybe five or six. Her sophomore year she was pressed into becoming the team’s full-time goalie and again this year as a senior, she has been back in the net part-time. She has been between the pipes for six games this season and has stopped 242 of the 261 shots she has seen, good for a 92.7 save percentage. Her freshman season she played twice in goal and as a junior didn’t put on the goalie gear at all.

Which does she prefer? “I love playing both,” she answered, “but if I had to pick, I would say I like playing out more, because I feel like I’m better at skating out.” Which does she think is more difficult? “Both have their own pros and cons of what is harder, but I think scoring is harder.” In addition to her coaches along the way she also gave a shout to her brothers, “I learned some things from my older brothers who have played,” she said.

If you watch Medford play and she is in the net, you may be surprised how fluid and natural she looks, and her stats bear out that she can indeed stop the puck. And if she is playing out, she will be found never too far from the opposing net or the puck. She has 29 career goals and 15 assists and needs one more goal this year to eclipse her season high of 12 last year. In the three seasons she has played out for the most part, she has accounted for 37% of her team’s goals.

Leonhardt couldn’t name a specific goalie that has given her trouble over the years, but she singled out Hayward’s Reese Sheehan as someone she preferred not to see when playing goalie.

Head Coach Bruce Peterson has a tough decision to make each game when it comes to where to play arguably his best player in Zayleah. Wherever she lines up, she will make an impact on the game, and she will have a smile on her face. “It took a little bit for her to open up and talk to a new coaching staff” said Peterson, “but getting to know her better has been my pleasure and the person she is off the ice is even better than the one she is on the ice.”

Coaches don’t forget to vote on the Top Six Polls and send your nominations for Player of the Week. POTW nominations should be sent by 3pm on Mondays.

Girl’s Top Six Games

ECA 3  Hudson 0: The ECA Stars took to the ice for the first time in two weeks and showed little rust as they dispatched the Raiders 3-0. Evi Pritzl shined in the Stars net with 31 saves recording her 3rd shutout of the season. Hudson outshot ECA 24-12 over the final two periods, but couldn’t solve Pritzl. Addy Parker, Aubee Wolle and Makayla Thiele scored for ECA. The Stars got back in the win column after losing three of their last four. Hudson dipped to 6-8.

Western Wisconsin 5  CFM 1: WW’s Izzy Johnson scored two goals early in period two and assisted on a third as the Stars constructed a 4-0 lead. Charlotte Rae put up her 4th goal of the season in period as the Stars closed out the Sabers 5-1. Sierra Andert lost her shutout with 15 seconds to play on a goal by Evelyn Pischer.

Lakeshore 6  Fox Cities 0: Elizabeth Bowers stood strong as the Stars outshout the Lightning, 12-6 in the opening period. “Bowers was great,” said her head coach Dan Wade.  In period two her teammates picked her up by putting up four consecutive goals to lead 4-0. Scoring two goals each for Lakeshore were Cheyenn Mojica and Olivia Dykema. Lakeshore is now 15-2 and will travel to Green Bay to play the 14-1 Ice Bears on Saturday.

St. Croix Valley 9  Coulee Region 0: The Fusion opened the game with three goals in the first 2:13 of the game. They led 5-0 after one and never looked back in a 9-0 defeat of the Cyclones. St. Croix got two goals each from Jenna Volgren, Eleanor Adams and Lily Mittl. Katelyn Gustafson recorded her fifth shutout.

St. Croix Valley 6  Arrowhead 0: The Fusion scored in every period and got two goals from Chloe Ralston to soundly defeat the Warhawks 6-0. Kennedy Bostrum had 24 saves for Arrowhead who is 1-4-1 in their last six games. Katelyn Gustafson completed her second straight shutout.

Bay Area 3  Lakeshore 1: A 44 save performance from the Lightnings Elizabeth Bowers kept Lakeshore within a goal until late in the third period. Madeline Engles gave Bay Area the lead with a first period goal at 6:04. Lakeshores Natalie Dononvan had a nice scoring chance with about four minutes left in the period, but was denied by the Bears Reese Spiering.

Playing on the Olympic ice at Cornerstone, Bay Area spread things out making their speed and skill even more lethal. Ava McDonald took advantage of the space in period two to put the Ice Bears up 2-0. The senior All-State selection took a pass at the blue line from Malin Jewitt and skated uncontested down the left-wing dot line where she ripped a wrist shot past Bowers from the dot.

Lakeshore’s Liela Reed made it a 2-1 game when she stepped in front of a breakout pass near the blue line moved toward the net sending a shot toward Spiering. It appeared that the shot skipped off the stick of Bay Area defenseman and eluded Spiering.  

Faye Brunke inserted the Ice Pick with a goal from the top of the circles, off a nice pass from Hannah Von Haden, with 3:09 remaining. Spiering had 15 saves for Bay Area.

Western Wisconsin 7 Coulee Region 1: Grace Johnsrude made a season high 51 saves in a losing effort as the Stars pounded the Cyclones 7-1. Western Wisconsin got a hat trick from Ashley Jensen who has 15 goals on the year. It was the Stars fourth win in a row and 11th overall.

Around the State

Fond du Lac 3  Brookfield 0: The Warbirds continue to be in the top ten of fewest goals allowed, with their 8th game allowing two or less goals. Surprisingly Kennedy Kohlman’s 17 save effort was her first shutout of the season after chalking up six a year ago. Fondy has been averaging 21.2 shots allowed per game over the last five games after starting the season averaging 33.2.

The Warbirds scored once in each period on goals by Olivia Baer, Dana Jacobson and Maddy Gilson who got her first of the year. Brookfield’s Georgianna Janet had 21 saves.

Cap City 5  Badger Lightning 1: The Lightning and the Cougars headed into the game’s final six minutes tied at 1-1. Lightning goalie Olivia Renneberg, who finished with 44 saves, was fantastic keeping her team in the game. The Cougars exploded with four straight goals and bolted off with a 5-1 victory. Penny Loeffelholz handed out three assists for the Cougars who got goals from five different players.

CW Storm 6  Medford 2: Zayleah Leonhardt did everything in her power to keep the Raiders close, amassing an incredible 72 saves as the Storm downed Medford 6-2. Leonhardt kept the game close, 2-1 after one period and 4-2 after two periods, but in the end the Storm prevailed. Izzy Janke had the first two-goal game of her career for CWS. Gracie Strama and Bella Lemke scored for Medford.

CW Storm 3  WVU 1: Ava Whitmore scored twice to lead CWS over the Union 3-1. Lily Cichy broke up Cami Flohr’s shut out bid with one second remaining! Kylin Wright continued in net for WVU turning back 25 shots in the loss. After a five-game winning streak, the Union has lost four in a row. In their seven losses this year they have scored a total of just four goals.

Grand Rapids/Greenway, MN 7  Superior 0: Grand Rapids/Greenway won their 14th game with a convincing 7-0 whitewash of Superior. Kylie DeBay, who leads the team with 29 goals, netted a hat trick. The Lightning amassed a 50-15 shots advantage.

Fond du Lac 1  Arrowhead 1 (2-OT): It was business as usual for Fond du Lac as they went to overtime for the seventh time this season and came away with their fourth tie. Elizabeth Robinson scored a first period goal for Arrowhead and Maria Youngwirth tied it 44 seconds into the third period. Fondy outshot Arrowhead 31-19. Kennedy Bostrom had 30 saves for Arrowhead and Kennedy Kohlman 18 for the Warbirds.

CFM 7  Medford 0: Freshman Hattie Rogers scored her first two high school goals as CFM skated past Medford 7-0. Freshman classmate Cameron Fedie started her first varsity game and recorded a 12 save shutout. Zayleah Leonhardt and Chloe Pipkorn combined for 66 saves.

Hayward 2  Moose Lake,MN 1: The Hurricanes got a pair of goals from Olivia Webster and 18 saves from Makenna Hutchison as they carved out a 2-1 win over Moose Lake, MN. Hayward is 8-6-2.

Beaver Dam 4  Janesville 2: Janesville got second period goals from Ava Kligora and Sophia Young to take a 2-1 lead over the Beavers. The Bluebirds held the lead until 10:07 of the third when Brenna Rhodes scored her second of the game to tie it 2-2. Emersen Damon scored at 11:44 to put the Beavers on top and Rhodes completed her hat trick on the powerplay with 1:05 left in the game. Janesville continues to show marked improvement and outshot Beaver Dam 24-22.

Badger Lightning 4  Viroqua 0: The Lightning struck quickly, scoring twice in the first three minutes to take a 2-0 lead. Jenna Garbacz scored and Lakyn Selje celebrated her first high school goal. Kate Brandt and Daynna Wade added goals for a 4-0 win. Olivia Renneberg pitched the shutout with 22 saves.

Mounds View/Irondale, MN 3  Hudson 2 (OT): Sara Johnson scored her second of the game and 34th of the season in overtime to lift Mounds View/Irondale past Husdon 3-2. The Raiders led late into the third period on goals by Laura Johnson and Cora Chido. Emma Amundson turned away 23 shots for Hudson.

Fond du Lac 5  Winona, MN 2: Marisa Youngwirth scored her third and fourth goals of the season to lead the Warbirds to a 5-2 win over Winona, MN. Freshman Laney Arndt and Avril Quinn each netted their first high school goals.

Cap City 1  Stoughton 0: Anika Mueller was near perfect stopping 43 of 44 Cougar shots, but it wasn’t quite enough as Cap City squeaked out a 1-0 win on a second period goal by Macy Scherer. The Cougars won their fifth straight to improve their record to 9-5. They allowed only three goals in those five games. Cougar junior Sophia Martinelli lowered her GAA to 1.67 with her third shutout.

Hibbing/Chisholm 2  Hayward 1: The Hurricanes played in their 11th game of the season decided by two or less. Makenna Hutchison had 25 saves, but a second period powerplay goal by Avery Kukowski turned out to be the game winner. Olivia Webster fired home her 13th goal of the season 26 seconds into the third period, but Hayward could not get the equalizer.

USM 3  Fox Cities 1: USM’s Carson Markgraf’s 32 saves helped the Wildcats earn 3-1 win over the Stars at Uihlein Ice Arena. USM got goals from Zoe Aldelman, Caroline Olson and Velley Lindeman to stop their three-game losing skid. After winning six of seven, the Stars endured their second loss of the week.

Fond du Lac 3  Rochester Mayo 1: Kennedy Kohlman stopped 33 shots and stymied eight Spartans powerplays as the Warbirds beat Mayo 3-1. Mayo’s Marley Smith scored a shorthanded goal in the first period, but Fondy responded with three straight goals by Sydney Vogtman, Paige Knuth and Maddy Gilson.

CFM 4  Badger Lightning 0: Chippewa Falls/Menomonie opened up a 3-0 first period lead and limited the Lightning to 10 shots on goal in a 4-0 decision on Saturday. Evelyn Pischer, Libby Wiensch, Rhylee Buesgen and Allison Xu all got on the scoresheet with goals for CFM. The Sabers are 7-6-1.