It was the opening game of the 2016 state tournament playoffs, and the University School co-op girls’ hockey team was clearly ready for post-season play.  The Wildcats defeated the Brookfield Glacier co-op 11-2 in a Sectional 4 Regional Final game of the WIAA state tournament on Friday evening at USM.

The Wildcats, the number 1 seed in the Sectional, outshot the Glacier, the sectional’s number 8 seed, 68-11 in the lopsided contest.  Freshman Gaby Turer and junior Nicole Unsworth each scored four goals to lead the Wildcats. Senior Caitlin McBride scored two goals and freshman Hannah Neudorfer scored a goal for the winners.  Ellen Hill and Tealin Robinson scored a goal apiece for the Glacier.

After the game Turer commented, “It felt like a big achievement to score four goals in the first game of the sectional. I was impressed with the tempo and effort our team came out with today.”

USM’s head coach Jake Haury echoed the sentiments, “We wanted to get off to a good start and play our game, winning 50-50 battles for the puck and controlling the play.  We did a good job of that tonight.  Everyone contributed. We finally have all our players available and ready to play, which gives us lots of options and allows the players more time to rest so they can skate hard when they’re on the ice.  We’ll need that in our game Tuesday against Fox Cities.  We have played them twice in the last couple of weeks; we know they’ll be good.”

The Wildcats needed little time to take the lead. They scored their first goal just 49 seconds into the game.  Turer got the puck in center ice and tossed it off the left boards to Unsworth who skated into the Glacier’s zone and fired a shot.  The puck rebounded off the pads of Brookfield’s goalie, Grace Elliot, and bounced to the left corner. McBride hustled after it, spun behind the net and passed it to Unsworth who took another close-in shot.  The rebound dropped into the crease and McBride punched it in.

The Wildcats soon made the score 2-0.  Off a face off in the Wildcats’ zone, Turer raced toward the left point and snagged a loose puck away from the Glacier defenseman.  Like a thief dashing away with the good, Turer skated through center ice and outraced the Glacier back checkers.  As she moved into the right circle she fended off a checker with her hip and fired a shot past Elliot at 6:11.  Hannah Koniar was awarded an assist on the goal.

Less than a minute later the home team thrilled the fans again.              From center ice, McBride sent the puck into the Glacier zone.  Unsworth lifted a defender’s stick and took the puck.  She cruised like destroyer into the slot, and fired.  The rebound off Elliot’s pads went to the right.  Like a minesweeper, Unsworth gathered it up, spun behind the net, and came out to stuff the puck in for a wraparound goal at 6:55.

The Wildcats scored their fourth goal late in the first period.  After a mad scramble for the puck in front of the Brookfield net, it skipped into the left corner.  McBride hustled after the loose puck.  She got it under control and skated behind the net and saw Unsworth in the high slot.  McBride made a tape-to-tape pass. With gratitude, Unsworth fired a fast wrist shot into the net at 15:18.

The Wildcats scored another opening minute goal in the second period.  During a scrum along the left boards in the Brookfield zone, freshman defenseman Mikaela Fritz won a 50-50 battle and pushed the puck to McBride who, in turn, passed further along the boards to Unsworth.  Unsworth skated into the slot and toward the net.  Elliot stopped her progress and the puck, but Turer was following. The puck was available.  Like she was putting money in a piggy bank, Turer jammed it in at 0:48.

Just over a minute later the score became 6-0 when the Wildcats scored on a power play.  As they worked the puck around the Brookfield zone, sophomore Hannah Gold won a battle for the puck in the right circle and chipped it to Unsworth near the blue line.  Unsworth skated toward the net and spotted McBride who had surreptitiously slipped out of the left corner to the post.  Unsworth gave her the backdoor pass and McBride turned it into a goal at 1:52.

McBride beamed after the play, “That was my first backdoor goal of the year.  I’ve had some chances, but now I got one.”

The goal put the clock on running time, but just for 10 seconds.  The Glacier scored their first goal off the center ice face-off. Ellen Hill won the puck back to defenseman Victoria Tarakanova who passed it to Robinson.  Robinson skated down the right side, cut below the defense, swirled toward the crease and stuffed the puck under Juliana Strother, who had just replaced Marie Detert, the starting Wildcat goalie.

The Wildcats put the clock on running time again late in the second period.  As Turer, McBride, and Unsworth cycled the puck in the Brookfield zone, Unsworth skated into the high slot with it and fired a bullet past Elliot at 15:49.

The Wildcats scored another opening minute goal in the third period.  Killing a penalty, Gold chased down a puck in the left corner of the USM zone and sent it up the near boards to Unsworth.  Unsworth pulled it off the boards away from a Glacier and skated into center ice on a one-on-two break.  She toe-dragged the puck around one defenseman as she split the pair.  She moved in on a breakaway, deked Elliot, and scored a short-handed goal at 0:44 of the third period.

The score became 9-1 at 3:56.  Skating the puck in the Brookfield zone, Unsworth was checked.  The puck skipped away from her toward the right corner.  She got to her feet, won the battle for it, turned, and passed the puck to freshman defenseman Isabel Schmidt at the center point.  Schmidt fired it at the net.  The puck hit a defenseman’s pads and bounced to Turer who was positioned in the slot.  Turer stepped in and fired her shot past Elliot.

The Glacier scored the next goal while on a power play.  Robinson got a loose puck in center ice and wheeled toward the Wildcats’ end.  She passed it to Hill just as Hill crossed the blue line.  Hill fired a low shot from the right boards.  The puck dipped, bounced off the ice, surprising Strother as it slithered past her at 7:02.

The Wildcats made it 10-2 at 9:18 while on a power play. McBride had the puck in the left corner and passed it Unsworth on the mid-boards. Unsworth skated into the low slot and fired a close-in shot at Elliot.    Turer promptly tucked in the rebound.

The final goal of the game was scored at 11:05 when junior Cameil Bowler chipped the puck to Neudorfer in the Wildcats’ zone. Neudorfer skated through center ice, pulled the puck around a defenseman high in the Brookfield slot and rifled a shot into the net.

The loss ended Brookfield’s season.  The Glacier finished the year with a 4-17-3 record. The Wildcats continue on.  They take a 20-3-2 record into a Sectional 4 Semi-Final game against the Fox City Stars at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday at USM.