Northland Pines and Central Wisconsin met on a snowy, chilly Thursday evening at Marathon Park in a rematch from last season's Sectional 2 final. Last February, the Storm took home a 4-1 victory that sent them to the state tournament in Madison.
Tonight's contest didn't have that much at stake, but you would had never known it as both teams took the game very seriously, with sharp elbows and sharp barbs thrown with equal aplomb in a 7-1 Storm win.
The teams matched up well in the early going, although the hosts tossed a few more shots on goal, but Pines goalie Jenna Paez kept the puck out of the net for the first six minutes.
Kelly Knetter broke the scoreless deadlock with her shot from the low left side that gave the Storm a 1-0 lead at 6:02, with an assist to Katelyn Ramthun.
Forty seconds after matching minors had a player from each team in the penalty box, Ashley Zacho gave CW a 2-0 lead at the 11:32 mark. Savannah Felch earned the helper on the play.
The period would end with the hosts holding a 2-0 lead, with the shots showing a 15-2 edge in favor of Central Wisconsin.
Knetter scored her second goal of the game just over three minutes into the middle period on assists from Ramthun and Izzy (The Animal) Uhl-Chmiel to give the Storm a 3-0 lead.
Four minutes later, the teams were charged with penalties and the result was matching minors. This time, Pines scored the goal with two players occupying the boxes.
Freshman sensation Amanda Sergent moved from right to left in the mid-slot and fired a shot that just avoided the glove of Storm goalie Lisa Fowle. Jessica Roach earned a helper on the play at the 8:17 mark to cut the lead to 3-1.
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But the Storm took advantage of two power plays to tally a pair of goals in a span of 69 seconds that for all intents and purposes, put the game out of reach.
After two Eagles were consigned to the penalty box, Alex Guenther knocked in a goal, taking advantage of the 5-on-3 mismatch. Megan Marlowe earned an assist on the goal.
One of the Pines players came out of the box, but shortly after, Felch scored another PP goal. She scooped up a rebound on the low left side and backhanded the puck into net--with assists to Elizabeth Bauer and Taylor Treu--to increase the lead to 5-1 at the 11:12 mark.
That's how the period ended, with the Storm playing much of the time in the Eagles' end, holding an 18-1 shot edge.
Guenther notched her second goal of the game early in the third to make it 6-1. Her shot from the top of the left circle snuck past Paez, who appeared to be screened on the play. Felch received her second assist on the play that came at 3:59.
The final goal was scored by Bauer after she grabbed a loose puck deep in the Pines d-zone. Her shot from the left circle beat the goalie high on the blocker side at 4:41 and accounted for the 7-1 final score.
Fowle finished with four saves in the period for a total of six, while Paez made seven saves in the final period and had 35 saves in the game for Pines.
The Storm improved to 14-3-1, while Pines fell to 12-3.
