On a day when travel was treacherous and many vehicles ended up in ditches instead of their intended destinations, maybe the Point-Rapids Red Panthers should have stayed home.

Top-ranked Bay Area scored a trio of goals in the opening period and added one each in the final two periods to coast to a 5-0 win over visiting Point-Rapids Saturday morning at Cornerstone Rink #1.

Junior forward Courtney Wittig showed why she is one of the state's top snipers when she scored from the low right side early in the first. She grabbed the puck in the right circle and ripped a shot that flew over the left shoulder of Red Panthers goalie Merina Chappel at the 3:09 mark of the first. Kelsey Rafferty notched an assist on the play.

Play went back and forth for most of the rest of the period, but the Ice Bears added a pair of scores in the last three minutes to nudge the lead to 3-0.

After a visiting penalty, Morgan Zirbel tallied on a slapshot from the high slot that beat the netminder on the blocker side. Wittig earned an assist on the score at the 13:56 mark.

Less than two minutes later, Wittig tallied her second score while on a delayed penalty call. After the official raised his arm, Bay Area goalie Lindsey Strainis raced off and was replaced by an extra attacker. The Ice Bears cycled the puck for a few seconds before Wittig sprung free in the slot and scored at 15:39, with an assist to Paige Goodwin.

Shots were 8-4 in favor of the hosts.

The Red Panthers had a good scoring chance midway through the middle period when Katrina Hassig grabbed a rebound at the bottom of the left circle and let loose a shot that just flew wide of the left post.

The Red Panthers (8-6-2) failed to convert on a power play with five minutes left, but just under three minutes later, the home girls took advantage of the girl advantage to change the scoreboard to 4-0.

Wittig grabbed a rebound and turned that into goal #3 and the hattie with 2:15 left in the middle period. Johanna Cano and Rafferty earned helpers on the scoring play.

Bay Area outshot the Red Panthers 11-7 in the stanza.

The Ice Bears closed out the scoring early in the final period when Rafferty scored a nice goal from the low slot after the face-off win. Wittig earned her second helper and Tanya Niemi also notched a point on the play just 14 seconds in.

The Ice Bears held a big 16-4 shot margin in the period.

Strainis stopped 15 shots for the Ice Bears (16-1) for her third shutout of the season, while Chappel played well for the Red Panthers, making 30 saves on her end.