MEQUON — The future is definitely bright for the Lakeshore Lightning.

The Lightning, a girls hockey co-op club featuring players from Cedarburg, Cedar Grove-Belgium, Grafton, Homestead, Port Washington and West Bend West, wrapped up the home portion of its inaugural season with a 4-2 victory against Brookfield on Saturday.

“This is kind of the rubber match. We played them in December, and we won 2-1. We played them last week, and lost to them (in) the last 12 seconds of the game. It was a tough loss,” Lakeshore head coach Scott Matzak said. “All the girls were excited for the game. I told them to just have fun out there.

“They played their hearts out and everything was left on the ice.”

The start-up club has already developed a rival of sorts, and the Lightning came out bent on settling the score after that heartbreaking loss against the Glacier.

“It was the third time we’ve played this team, so it was kind of a grudge match,” goaltender Erin Connolly said. “Last game it was really disappointing to lose in the last (12) seconds, so we all had that memory.

“As soon as we took the ice we knew that we were going to take it to them tonight.”

The home team did not need much time to grab an early lead. Freshman Riley Schmitter scored a powerplay goal barely more than two minutes into the contest with a shot from just inside the blue line that popped away from Brookfield goalie Jenna Bales and trickled over the line.

Hayley Brown, a sophomore from Port Washington that assisted on the opening tally, lit the lamp 43 seconds later for a short-handed goal. That quick start was just what Connolly ordered.

“We scored really fast and it was good to get the first goal,” the Homestead sophomore said. “That really gave us a huge advantage.”

The Lightning added to the lead early in the second period on a goal by Emily Breckenridge. The West Bend West freshman was able to get her stick on the puck in front of the Brookfield goal and poke it past the goalie, making it 3-0 just 46 seconds into the middle frame.

That proved to be all the offense that Connolly needed, but the Lightning added an insurance goal in the final period for good measure. Brown scored her second goal of the night, and team-leading eighth of the season, when the puck came to her following a face-off and she went top shelf to give the club a 4-1 lead.

She is one of several players the coach said have proven to be key players for the first-year co-op.

“Hayley Brown has been playing great hockey. She’s our center,” Matzak said. “Emily Gabel, who dislocated her shoulder tonight, is playing great hockey. Our defense, where we have MacKenzie Queoff, is doing a great job. Alex Burns, on defense, has been doing a really, really good job.”

And then there is Connolly, who has been making big plays all year.

She made a handful of nice saves throughout the night, but saved some of her best work for the final two minutes of the game.

Brookfield climbed within two goals with more than 9 minutes to play in the game on a power play goal by Alexis Aghjian, but were unable to get any closer because of the Lakeshore goalie. She deftly brushed aside a shot by Emma Ray after the Glacier senior maneuvered through the defense for an attempt with less than two minutes to play, then stopped Aghjian from point-blank range about a minute later.

“Erin is great, on and off the ice,” Matzak said about the captain. “The mental preparation before the game that she goes through is unreal. She has her game-face on hours before the game. It’s great to be around that. A lot of the girls definitely see how she prepares for a game and they kind of step up and do the same thing.”

“I don’t talk a lot before the game,” Connolly said about her prep work, which also includes listening to music. “As soon as it is game time, I’m in the zone and I’m ready to go.”

While she may spend the time before a game preparing to succeed, she has actually been training for the moment since she learned to walk.

She is the youngest sibling from a family that features a pair of players that starred for the Homestead boys team in recent seasons. They had her developing her skills at an early age.

“Actually, one of the reasons I became a goalie is because when we were little, we liked playing knee hockey. They just put me in there because I was the smallest. … One day, my dad came down and saw it and was like, ‘This is incredible,’” she recalled, drawing upon memories of games with brothers Adam and P.J.

“A lot of times, we’ll just go out and play street hockey in our driveway. They really helped me develop as a person and as a player.”

That experience has prepared her well for a season in which she has faced as many shots as any goaltender in the state. The Lakeshore program is still quite young, both in terms of having a team and in roster composition. The Lightning feature just one junior and no seniors. That has obviously led to the team facing a few rough moments along the way, but the program is well positioned for the future with plenty of solid players who have received valuable experience competing against varsity competition.

“This first season has been really huge for us, because we’ve improved each and every week,” Connolly said. “Every day at practice, we see improvement.”

The key is that they bring a great attitude to the ice every day.

“They’re super positive. They’re one of the most positive teams I’ve ever been around. This being the first year, the amount of strides that we see them taking is unbelievable,” Matzak said.

“For years to come, they’re going to be having fun together.”

Connolly points out that many of the players have been together for quite some time despite attending different schools, and that it has been easy to sprinkle in a few newcomers.

“Most of us have been playing together since we’ve been playing hockey. There are a couple of new girls, but we’re really welcoming them to the team as well,” she said. “It really helps us unite and bond.”

That should help the team become competitive against some of the better known teams in the state sooner rather than later.

“A lot of these girls have been playing together a long time. I see that as only a good thing,” Matzak said. “These girls (also) have three or four years that they’re going to be together. It’s exciting.”

NONCONFERENCE Saturday’s Result

Lakeshore 4, Brookfield 2 BRK 0 1 1–2 LAK 2 1 1–4 Summary: First period – 1, LAKE, Riley Schmitter (Hayley Brown), 2:09; 2, LAKE, Brown, 2:52. Secondperiod–3,LAKE, Emily Breckenridge (Schmitter), 0:46; 4, BROOK, Cara Anzivino (IsabelPesci),6:23. Third period – 5, LAKE, Brown, 0:44; 6, BROOK, Alexis Aghjian (Emma Ray,Anzivino),7:16. Shots– BROOK31,LAKE22. Saves– BROOK, Jenna Bales, 18; LAKE, ErinConnolly,29. Records– BROOK 4-13, LAKE 4-7.

“They’re super positive. They’re one of the most positive teams I’ve ever been around. This being the first year, the amount of strides that we see them taking is unbelievable”


— Lakeshore coach Scott Matzak