Monday morning's Culvers Cup game featured a pair of teams that wanted to prove something.
Northland Pines wanted to show that its 7-1 loss the previous day to powerhouse University School was a fluke, while the Point-Rapids Red Panthers wanted to prove their play against two former top 10 teams this weekend wasn't.
In the end, both teams succeeded.
Amanda Sergent scored a pair of goals as the Eagles scored a 3-1 victory over the Red Panthers to claim third place at Madison Ice Arena.
The first period was scoreless, mostly due to the efforts of Red Panthers goalie Emily Bubla. Continuing her fine play this weekend, she stopped all 15 shots fired at her, half of them from point-blank range. On the other end Pines net minder Jenna Paez made four saves.
The Red Panthers (2-6-2) got on the scoreboard first midway through the second period.
After Paez turned away a pair of shots, Zoe Derks was able to find the rebound in a tangle of bodies strewn about and put it into the net for her first varsity goal. The unassisted score came at 7:28.
Four minutes later, Pines came down on a 2-on-1 rush, but Bubla repelled the shot from the right hashmarks to keep Pines off the board.
That would change near the period, courtesy of Sergent.
The sophomore grabbed a pass in the slot and skated to her right and pitchforked a backhander over the right shoulder of the sliding Red Panthers goalie. Sallie Spencer and Natalie Decker earned assists on the score at 16:23.
Shots were 10-5 in the period, advantage Pines.
Pines took the lead for good on a great individual effort by Sergent early in the final period.
WiPH Game Summaries
Wisconsin HP-18 beat Michigan Juniors 6-3
- By Matt Carey, Contributor 04/28/2024, 4:00pm CDT
Wisconsin Seniors beat Colorado 10-2
- By Matt Carey, Contributor 04/28/2024, 12:30pm CDT
Wisconsin HP-18 crushed Colorado
- By Matt Carey, Contributor 04/28/2024, 7:15am CDT
Wisconsin Seniors defeat Michigan HP-18
- By Matt Carey, Contributor 04/28/2024, 7:00am CDT
North Dakota edges Wisconsin Seniors 3-1
- By Matt Carey, Contributor 04/27/2024, 7:15am CDT
Michigan Seniors slip past Wisconsin HP-18
- By Matt Carey, Contributor 04/27/2024, 7:15am CDT
Wisconsin HP-18 loses to Minnesota Seniors 2-3
- By Matt Carey, Contributor 04/26/2024, 6:45am CDT
Wisconsin Seniors lose 1-3 to Minnesota HP-18
- By Matt Carey, Contributor 04/26/2024, 6:45am CDT
WEHL 16U Southwest Skate All The Way To USA Hockey Semi-Finals
- By Coach Hoehn, WEHL 04/16/2024, 5:45pm CDT
WEHL 18U South East Girls at USA Hockey Nationals, March 20-24
- By Bill Berg Jr, WiPH Staff 03/20/2024, 7:45pm CDT
She located the puck below the goal line and skated into the right corner, curling across to the slot from right-to-left. Once she found an opening in the traffic, she sniped a shot past the goalie's blocker for the 2-1 lead with 11:47 remaining.
It appeared that Pines increased the lead with just under two minutes left, but the goal was waived off, with the officials saying the puck was kicked into the net.
Thirty seconds later, Bubla came off for an extra skater but that strategy backfired as Decker added the empty-net dagger with 35 seconds left, and that would account for the final.
Shots were 8-4, favor of Pines in the period.
Paez stopped 12 shots in earning the win for Pines, who improved to 8-3 on the season. Bubla fought off the hard-charging Eagles, making 30 saves in a great effort for Point-Rapids.
