Last year on the final day of the Culvers Cup, the Point-Rapids Red Panthers met the Badger Thunder in the dreaded seventh place game, which was held at the equally dreaded hour (for hockey players, coaches, and parents) of 8am.

The result? The Red Panthers skated sluggishly and took a 6-0 beating at the hands of the Thunder.

This year was a different story as the Red Panthers scored two first period goals and hung on for a 3-1 victory over the Brookfield Glacier Sunday morning (8am) at the Madison Ice Arena.

Rachel Nolan opened the scoring for Point-Rapids midway through the period when her shot from the left point found its way past Glacier netminder Jenna Bales. Rachel Metz earned an assist on the goal at 8:08.

Just over three minutes later, Cara Anzivino picked up the puck after an errant Red Panthers pass, skated down the middle and beat Red Panther goalie Merina Chappel with a rebound goal after Chappel made the initial stop. The unassisted goal came at the 11:27 mark.

It looked like the period would end in a tie, but the Red Panthers made one last surge and it paid off. A shot by Metz from the low left side bounced off Bales' glove and trickled into the crease where it was tapped in by an opportunistic Katrina Hassig with just 25 seconds left in the opening stanza.

Chappel had seven saves for Point-Rapids, while Bales stopped 14 pucks.

Kiana Coombs increased the lead to 3-1 when her shot glanced off Bales' glove and into the net at 9:40 of the second period. That's how the period ended, with Chappel (2) and Emily Bubla (1) combining for three saves for the Red Panthers, while Bales was once again quite busy, stopping 12 shots in the period.

The final period was scoreless only because an apparent goal by Red Panther Carolyn Storch was disallowed with just over two minutes left in the game.

Bubla had two saves, while Bales kept 15 pucks out of the net in the final period.

For the game, Chappel (9) and Bubla (3) totaled 12 stops with Bales ending the contest with 41 saves for the Glacier.

The Red Panthers improved to 4-5-2, while Brookfield fell to 3-9.