As we entered the playoffs, we expected it to be a tight game night in and night out in every sectional and we have not been disappointed.  We entered Friday night with all four number one seeds alive.  Three number two seeds and one number three made it to the sectional finals.  You could have reordered the two to four seeds in all four sectionals and probably wouldn’t have gotten too much of an argument.  Three games went to overtime and two of them to multiple overtimes.

Sectional three final pitted the #1 team in the state, the Onalaska Hilltoppers.  Onalaska went 22-2-0 in the regular season.  Sun Prairie entered the game with the experience of having played in the sectional four finals in 2009 and 2010.  They won the sectional four final last year and advanced to the state semi-finals.  Onalaska last made it to state semi-finals in 2007.

Onalaska opened the game and started putting pressure on the Cougars right away.  This paid off as the Cougars bodied up against Onalaska’s defenseman Molly Coughlin.  Coughlin managed to push the puck forward to Jacyn Reeves.  Reeves went top shelf, stick side to beat Dani Deltgen and give the Hilltoppers a 1-0 lead at 1:23 of the first period.  Coughlin and Jamie Weilandt were credited with assists on the goal.  The first period ended with Onalaska up by that solo goal.  Jeanalyn Schindler finished the period with 8 saves, while Dani Deltgen had 7 saves.

The second period started the same as the first with Onalaska putting on most of the pressure.  Theresa Knutson gave the Hilltoppers a 2-0 lead with an assist from Jayda Hoerres at 2:13 of the second period.  It was at this point a penalty fest ensued.  The Cougars were able to capitalize on one of four power play opportunities in the period, when Karley Bolz fired a shot that found a small opening to get past Schindler to cut the lead to one with 4:02 left in the second period.  This completed the scoring for two periods with Onalaska leading 2-1.  Schindler collected 6 saves for a total of 14, while Deltgen had 5 for a total of 12.

The third period saw the Cougars come out with a burst of energy.  Once again, the Cougars took advantage of a power play opportunity and tied the game with 10:54 remaining in the third.  Amber Deltgen capitalized on the power play and had the game knotted at two.  The rest of the period saw the action going up and down the ice.  One had to wonder if we would see another game being decided in overtime.  However, Baylee Darling gave Onalaska the lead with 1:24 remaining with Theresa Knutson being credited with the assist.  The Cougars would continue to put pressure and get shots off, but couldn’t sneak one past Schindler.  Deltgen collected 10 saves in the third and finished with 22 saves in the game, while Schindler had 8 saves and finished with 22.

The completion of the game set up the state semi-final games for Friday.  Hayward/Spooner Hurricanes will play the Central Wisconsin Storm at 12:00 PM.  Onalaska Hilltopper will play the Kettle Moraine Glaciers at approximately 2:15 PM (a half hour after the completion of the first semi-final).

This will be the first trip for Hayward/Spooner and Kettle Moraine.  All four of these teams finished in the top ten at the end of the regular season.  Onalaska was number one, Hayward/Spooner number two, Central Wisconsin Storm at number four and Kettle Moraine was tied at number eight.