When hockey fans look at the standings for Wisconsin teams, they see a team with the unlikely name of WSFLG that currently (as of February 10) has an impressive record of 18-4-1.  

Wis-Flag? What's that?

Folks, meet the co-op team comprised of the communities of Webster, Siren, Frederic, Luck, and Grantsburg. These towns in northwestern Wisconsin have a combined population of less than 6,000 people, but the co-op team has won 84 games in the last five plus seasons.

And the scary thing is--at least for opposing teams--that this is a young team, composed of three freshmen, nine sophomores, four juniors and four seniors. And more talented players are on the way from the bantam levels.

The Blizzard played as independents for the first four years before joining the Two Rivers conference based in Minnesota. They took second place last year and had four players recognized as all-conference performers.

This season WSFLG is leading the Two Rivers Conference by one point over the Minneapolis Novas. (The Novas have one game left in the conference and can clinch with a win.) The Minneapolis co-op team consists of eight schools with a combined enrollment of over 6,800, which is more than live in the five WSFLG co-op towns.

Pretty impressive, indeed.

Greg Sears was the bench boss for the first four years before moving to LaCrosse. His teams compiled a record of 52-32-2.

Last season, Grant Nicoll took over and is now in his second year, with a cumulative record of 32-14-2.

Smart as they are talented, nine members of the team were named to the academic all-conference team.

"It's an honor to coach hard-working kids that are extremely coachable and fun," says Nicoll.

The team is led in scoring by junior forward Joe Engelhart, who has scored 56 points on 26 goals and 30 assists. Right behind are brothers Anthony and Aaron Dietmier. Anthony, a junior, has scored 36 points (20g-16a) and freshman Aaron has added 22 goals and 13 helpers for 35 points.

Junior goalie Thomas Labatt has performed well, saving 92% of the shots fired on him while allowing a very respectable 2.08 goals against average.

The regular season has been a huge success for the Blizzard, but only time will tell if the team can continue that momentum into the playoffs.

Nicoll is happy with his team's success and hopeful that it will carry on.

"We are riding a hot streak of great play--great goaltending and great scoring.

"The key now is to keep this snowballing into a "Blizzard."