This was the opening game of the season for Badger Thunder and the second game of the season for Sun Prairie Cougars.  Last season the Cougars won both games by scores of 6-1 and 4-1.

Sarah Fuerstenberg earned a shutout in the season opener, but only had to make 8 saves in an 8-0 win over Arrowhead.  Claire Johnson led the way with 3 goals.  Caitlin Siegel had 1 goal and 2 assists.  However, look for Alexis Peterson to be a major contributor all season.  Last year as a junior she led the Cougars with 22 goals and 19 assists.  Claire Johnson was second on the team with 12 goals and 14 assists.

The Badger Thunder are opening the season tonight and the opener is a Badger Conference game.  The Badger Thunder have four of their top five point leaders returning from last season.  Rachel Pawlak was tied for the lead in total points last season for the Thunder with 21 (11 goals, 10 assists). Kristen South had 20 points (8 goals, 12 assists); Kathryn Vander Schaaf 18 pints (10 goals, 8 assists) and Courtney Sakry 15 points (7 goals, 8 assists).

When we look at the rosters, the Cougars have 4 seniors, 6 juniors, 5 sophomores and 4 freshmen.  The Badger Thunder have 5 seniors, 4 juniors, 3 sophomores and 4 freshmen.

If everything starts between the pipes, both teams will start with confidence.  In speaking with Coach Johnson after their game against Arrowhead, he stated, “We’re very confident in both our goaltenders.  They each bring a different style in net and we determine which matches up better against a particular team”.  Fuerstenberg had a .917 save percentage last season stopping 176 of 192 shots.  Dani Deltgen was at .896 stopping 267 of 298 shots.

The Thunder’s Jamie Dutton returns this year in net.  Last season, as a sophomore, she had an .875 save percentage stopping 559 of 639 shots in 24 games.  That is an average of 26.6 shots per game.  This year freshman Gabby Christensen will be the second goalie for the Thunder.

The Cougars started the scoring at the 4:51 mark of the first period, when Caitlin Siegel scored a power play goal with Jada Ward and Annika Johnson assisting on the play.  Alexis Peterson scored the second goal of the game with 9:46 remaining in the first period with an assist from Claire Johnson.

Annika Johnson scored the only goal of the second period with 37 seconds left in the period.  Alexis Peterson assisted on the goal.

Fifty-one seconds into the final period, Sun Prairie increased the lead to four on a goal by Jada Ward assisted by Claire Johnson.  Peterson collected her second goal of the evening on a beautiful breakaway, where she held the puck as she went in front of the crease and put in the back of the net with a backhand with 9:22 remaining in the third.  Badger Thunder tallied a goal with 2:31 remaining in the game on an unassisted goal from Kathryn Vander Schaaf.  The scoring came to a conclusion with 26 seconds left on the clock, when Jada Ward put the puck in with an assist from Cassie Smith and Taylor Sefzik.

Dani Deltgen picked up her first win of the season stopping 12 of 13 shots for the Cougars, while Jamie Dutton stopped 29 of 35 shots.