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After Slow Start Brookfield Takes Control

By Bill Berg, 12/22/12, 8:00AM CST

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Glacier deposits lump of coal in Ice Bears' stocking

After an interesting bus ride, the Brookfield Glacier overcame a slow, late start to take command of the Eastern Shores conference with a 6-2 win over the host Bay Area Ice Bears at Cornerstone Arena on Friday night. At the time when the teams should have been taking the ice for warmups, Brookfield was still unloading the bus.

Brookfield's  Arianna Smith got the Glacier on the board when she cut into the slot and put a shot on net between the skates of teammate Cara Anzivino. Bay Area goalie Lindsey Strainis somehow peaked around Anzivino to see the puck coming in and dropped down to make the save. Anzivino spun around and found the rebound and put it in the net at 8:19.

Bay Area came back with a goal by Courtney Wittig. She took a pass from Jeralise Tylke, skated into the Glacier zone and fired a shot from the slot over the glove hand of Glacier goalie Jenna Bales at 10:48.

Glacier coach Brian Smith said “We expected that they would come in with a lot of energy and a jump in their step. We were coming off a long bus ride and were late getting here, so I was a little nervous about the first period and that proved to be correct, we were slow in the first.”

Brookfield dominated on faceoffs, and that proved costly for the Ice Bears in the second period. With a  face off to Strainis' left. Arianna Smith won the draw back to Morgan Hollowell, and she put a hard wrist shot shot on net.  It glanced off defender's shin guard and past Strainis, for a 2-1 Glacier lead at 11:41. Coach Smith added, “Face offs are important and Smith to Hollowell is a good combination, Ari wins face offs well and those two seem to find each other.”

From that point on, Brookfield controlled the game. Smith said, “We regrouped after the first and came out with good jump in the second. We managed to get behind their D a few times, I think we had four or five breakaways in the second period, and I think that kind of broke their backs a little bit.”

The first of those breakaways was a 2 on 1 with Hollowell and Smith. Hollowell passed to Smith, Strainis slid across to her left, Smith cut back behind her and flipped the puck into the net at 15:01. Just  34 seconds later, Jamie Ertl got a pass from Irene Hougard in the neutral zone, went around the outside on one defender, then cut back inside around the other one, to come in on Stainis all alone. She made a  quick deke and cut to her right, then tucked the puck into the net for a commanding 4-1 lead.

Alexis Aghjian scored a power play goal on a rebound, and Smith and Hollowell teamed up for the final Glacier goal in the third period. Wittig and Tylke combined again for a short-handed ice Bear's goal to round out the scoring.

Ice Bear goalie Lindsey Strainis stopped 30 shots in the game, while Brookfield's Jenna Bales made 18 saves.

WiPH Game Summaries