The Central Wisconsin Storm continued their domination of Section 2 with a 2-0 win over the Northland Pines Eagles in Tomahawk on Friday night to earn another trip to Madison for the State Tournament.

The Storm took control of the game early, dominating in both time of possession and shots on net. Central Wisconsin took advantage of a turnover deep in the Pines zone to score the first goal of the game. Alex Guenther took a low backhand shot from in close that rattled around between Pines goalie Kim Van Brunt’s leg pads and trickled into the net. Kelly Knetter and Megan Marlowe assisted on the forecheck, forcing the turnover.

That was all of the scoring in the first period as the Storm put another 16 shots on Van Brunt while the Eagles managed just 5 shots on Storm goalie Kristine Fonti.

The Eagles started the second period on a power play, and even though they didn’t generate any good chances on it, they did pick up some momentum. But even with the extra time of possession, they were not able to get any good scoring opportunities. Central Wisconsin always seemed to have an extra defender in front of their net. Even when it looked like a Pines skater was able to get past the defense, there was another one in the way to deny any attempt at getting to the net.

As the period went on the physical play picked up. Both teams were assessed body checking penalties and the momentum shifted back toward the Storm. No goals were scored in the second, which saw Central Wisconsin outshoot Northland Pines by 14-1.

The physical play continued into the third period and Pines began to press on offense and managed to generate some good scoring chances. But Fonti was up to the task, with some timely help from her defense.

With their defenders pressing to hold the zone, Pines did give up some odd-man rushes in the period, trusting Van Brunt to make the saves. She was able to do that until late in the period when Megan Marlowe threw the puck from the corner to the front of the net. Kelly Knetter was unguarded in front and redirected the puck between Van Brunt’s pads for a 2-0 Storm lead with just  three and a half minutes to play.

That lead held up as the Storm was again able to keep pines away from their net. Shots in the third were even at 7 each.