Katherine Vander Schaaf scored two first period goals and Jamie Dutton stopped all 18 shots fired on her to lead the Badger Thunder to a 6-0 whitewashing of the Point-Rapids Red Panthers Saturday morning in Culver's Cup action at Madison Ice Arena.

Due to both teams losing their previous two games in the tournament, they drew the dreaded 8:00am 'Seventh Place' game.

And from the start, it looked like only one team was awake.

The early part of the first period provided back and forth action, with the Thunder unable to convert on a power play chance just over four minutes in.

Vander Schaaf got things started when she scored from the slot at the 12:13 mark, with an assist going to Rachel Pawlak to make it 1-0.

Toward the end of the period, just as a Thunder penalty was expiring, the puck was turned over in the slot and Vander Schaaf pounded in a rebound to make it 2-0 with 1:40 left in the period. Pawlak earned her second assist of the game on the score.

The first period ended with the two-goal lead and a 7-6 Thunder shot edge.

The start of the second period replicated the start of the first, but the Thunder would strike again midway through the period on a power play goal.

After Rachel Metz went off for a hook, Kayla D'Asto found some space in the right circle and ripped a shot that snuck in between the goalie's left pad and the post to make it 3-0. Leigh Stawinoga earned an assist on the scoring play that took place at the 8:04 mark.

The Thunder could not take advantage of a Red Panthers penalty just under two minutes later, and were satisfied to skate off after 34 minutes with a 3-0 lead. Shots were 5-4 in favor of the Thunder.

A Zamboni malfunction stretched the intermission to about 25 minutes, and even the refs had to work a bit harder than they would have liked during the break.

The Thunder came storming out onto the half-refinished ice and scored twice in the first minute to put the game away.

Stawinoga grabbed a loose puck at center ice and skated through three Red Panthers players and scored from the slot just seven seconds in. Then Carley  Bill pulled off a near carbon-copy of the earlier score to make it 5-0 at the 54 second mark. Kristen South earned an assist on the play.

Just under six minutes later, Pawlak scored on a rebound to send the game to 'run time.' Spencer Natzke and South were credited with helpers on the final scoring play.

The Red Panthers had a few chances in the waning minutes but failed to score, a large part which was due to Dutton, who made eight saves in the final stanza.

Emily Bubla also stopped 18 shots on her end for the Red Panthers, who dropped to 4-8 and are mired in a four-game losing streak in which they have scored only two goals.

The Thunder improved to 3-8, winning their first game since December 11.

Thunder head coach Jim Cabaj noted "It's been a long time since we got a win."

The Thunder will step back on the ice next Saturday afternoon when they travel to Janesville to face the Rock County Fury. 

The Red Panthers will try to get back on track next Friday when they host Great Northern Conference foe Medford at Ice Hawks Arena in Stevens Point.