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Fusion Complete Three-peat

By WiPH Staff, 03/05/11, 6:00AM CST

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Alice Cranston Banks Shot off Little Sister Sally for Game Winner

 Saturday, March 5th, marked the tenth WIAA girls’ hockey championship and what a statement game it was for girl’s high school hockey.  The two teams which were ranked in the top two spots all season, Central Wisconsin Storm and St. Croix Valley Fusion, made it to the title game.  The Storm won the 2008 state championship with a little known freshman goalie, Hillary Drake, in net.  The Fusion won the 2009 and 2010 state championships.  The two teams met twice during the regular season and both games were decided in overtime with the teams winning on their home ice.  The rubber game was expected to be exciting and more than matched everyone’s expectations.

The game opened with fast paced action.  The first goal of the game happened faster than expected as Sig Dangeur scored the first goal with Tori Klingler and Alice Cranston assisting 41 seconds into the game.  The skaters continued moving the puck up and down the ice, trying to put pressure on the goalies.  The defense for both teams was doing an excellent job of forcing the attacking offensive team to the outside.  Alice Cranston increased the lead to two with 4:25 remaining in the first period.  The Fusion picked up their second penalty of the game at 16:09 of the first period.  Twenty-four seconds later, the Storm took advantage of the power play. Kylie Gazzolo had the puck just inside the blue line in the defensive zone of the Fusion.  Gazzolo made a pass to her left to Rachel Babiarz about halfway across the ice.  Babiarz skated towards the high slot and saw teammate Tiffany Hladovak at the inner edge of the faceoff circle to the right of Fusion goalie, Kallie Armagost.  As Armagost made the slide over to that side of the crease, Hladovak took her shot.  However, to the dismay of Armagost it was to the far side of the net and just out of her reach with her momentum heading the other way.  Hladovak scored with Babiarz and Gazzolo assisting on the play.  This made the score Fusion 2 Storm 1 at the end of the first.  Drake finished the period with 10 saves, while Kallie Armagost had 2 saves for the Fusion.
 
The momentum from scoring the power play goal near the end of the first period carried over to the second for the Storm.  They were able to keep the majority of the pressure down in Fusion’s end of the ice and finally tied the game at the 9:01 mark of the period.  Morgan Pearson scored the tying goal with an assist from Sarah Poirier.  This completed the scoring for the period.
 
The third period saw both teams have opportunities to score, but the goalies made some outstanding plays and kept the game tied at two.  The girls’ state championship was going to overtime for only the second time and first since 2003.  While everyone expected a close game, no one was expecting the game to end up going into the fourth overtime.
 
Both teams had to kill off a penalty in the first overtime.  However, the majority of that penalty time was played as 4-on-4 hockey due to the penalties being called 17 seconds apart.  The game was decided twenty-four seconds into the fourth overtime.  The Fusion won the face off to start the fourth overtime.  The puck was dumped into the Storm’s defensive zone.   As the Storm tried to clear the puck from the zone, the Fusion’s Nikki Plunkett held the puck in the zone.  Plunkett moved down the boards and passed the puck to Tori Klingler.  Klingler moved to skate the puck behind the net, reversed direction and appeared to be looking at a wrap around attempt.  She spotted Alice Cranston near the top of the face-off circle and passed to her as the Storm defenders started to collapse on her.  Alice took a shot at the net.  The shot was redirected as it neared the net, by Sally Cranston for the game winning goal.
 
Hillary Drake, two time Jessie Vetter Award winner, completed the game with 44 saves.  Kallie Armagost had 28 saves for the Fusion.
 
After seventy-five minutes twenty-four seconds of play, the Fusion won their third straight WIAA Girls’ Hockey Championship.
 
While the Fusion won the championship, the sport of WIAA girls’ hockey is the real winner.  The top two teams in the state played arguably the “best” game of girls’ hockey at the largest stage in their sport.  The fans attending the game, whether they were there for the girls’ title game or waiting for the boys’ championship game, were treated to a thrilling game.  They saw high school sports being played for the love of the game and playing it the correct way.  Players respecting the game; respecting their opponents and earning the respect of everyone.
 
Congratulations to both teams and “THANK YOU” for an exciting conclusion to the 2010-11 season.

Preview by Del Scanlon

The battle for the 2011 WIAA Girls’ State Championship features the two team that have been ranked #1 and #2 throughout the entire season.  They spent a couple of weeks were the roles were reversed, but this “storm” has been brewing the entire season.  They have won the last three state titles between them.  They played twice during the regular season with each team holding serve on their home ice, even though it took overtime in each game.

The Fusion enter the game ranked #2 in the state.  They are back-to-back defending state champs and looking to become the first WIAA Girls’ hockey team to 3-peat and the first WIAA Hockey team to do it since the boys’ Superior hockey team did it in 1994, 95 & 96.  The Fusion come into the game with an overall record of 24-3-1.

The Storm are the #1 team in the state.  The seniors on the team won the state title in 2008, when they were freshmen.  They would love to bookend their high school careers with State Championships.   They have an impressive 26-1-0 overall record with the only loss being an overtime loss to the Fusion.

The Central Wisconsin Storm are led in scoring by Kylie Gazzolo (19 goals, 23 assists).  They have four other players with double digits in both goals and assists:  Miranda Hayes (18 goals, 19 assists); Tiffany Hladovak (18 goals, 14 assists); Morgan Pearson (18 goals, 13 assists) and Sarah Poirier (11 goals, 15 assists).  However, even more impressive may be their defense, which limited their opponents to less than 15 shots on goal per game during the regular season.  Paige Sedlar is the leader on defense and helps quarterback a penalty killing unit that did not give up a power play goal during the regular season by killing off all 62 power play opportunities.  Then after seeing the strength of their offense and defense, you look at their net and see the two-time Jessie Vetter Award winner, Hillary Drake.  Drake has been nothing less than spectacular this season with a 0.39 GAA and a 0.975 save percentage.

When you look at the other bench, you find another solid team in the Fusion.  St. Croix Valley is led by senior, Alice Cranston (winner of the inaugural Jinelle Siergiej Award).  Alice Cranston had 57 points during the regular season, which included 41 goals and 16 assists.  However, a team can’t concentrate all of their efforts on stopping Alice and expect to win.  The Fusion sported four other players with 15 or more assists:  Hailey Rock (21 goals, 16 assists); Tara Frey (9 goals, 19 assists); Nikki Plunkett (9 goals, 15 assists) and Heather Shew (1 goal, 18 assists).  Three other players were just on the outside looking in of having double digit assists:  Sally Cranston (9 goals, 8 assists); Tori Klingler (3 goals, 8 assists) and Sig Dangeur (2 goals, 8 assists).  Kalli Armagost minds the net for the Fusion.  As a freshman last season, she manned the net in route to the Fusion winning their back-to-back titles.

Today, we will see two programs in which the players and coaches have nothing but mutual respect and admiration for each other.  As was stated earlier, each team won an overtime against the other on their home ice.  This afternoon they meet on neutral ice and for the highest award, the 2011 WIAA Girls’ State Hockey Championship.  We may have to tell the boys “Sorry your game is delayed as 51 minutes is not enough, the Girls have the ice.”

The Road to the Championship