The Central Wisconsin Storm came into southeastern Wisconsin on Friday, December 14th and battered the University School co-op girls’ hockey team in a non-conference game at USM. The Storm defeated the Wildcats 4-1.
"Hats off to the Storm, said Dan Carey, USM’s head coach. “They outplayed us and outworked us tonight. We can't take periods off against good teams. I wish our varsity had played with the competitiveness of our JV players, who worked their tails off in a tough loss in their game. It was fun to watch the JV compete."
The Wildcats thought they were prepared for Friday’s varsity game. They weren’t.
As Carey indicated, the Storm arrived ready to play and got right to it, scoring their first goal in less than a minute.
After a missed Wildcat pass caused an icing, the teams lined up for a faceoff in the Wildcats’ left corner. Kassidy Oliva took the draw and pulled it back to Trinity Foster. Foster one-timed a shot past Sami Stommel, the Wildcats’ goaltender at 0:46.
The Wildcats briefly moved back into contention with a short-handed goal a few minutes later. Kinzie Youngblood snared a loose puck in center ice and headed toward the Storm’s end. She flipped the puck ahead then raced to knock it away from a defender’s stick. The puck skipped to the right. Jordan Bonk hustled to get it and skated into the Storm’s zone all alone. As she sped down the slot, Bonk fired a shot past the Storm’s goalie, Katrina Fredrickson at 6:40.
The Storm did not let up. They resumed their lead less than a minute later. Skating into the Wildcats’ end, Challis Prohaska fired a shot on net from the slot. Stommel stopped it, but the puck drizzled away from her stick. In a furious scramble near the crease, Drew Sabatke knocked the puck toward the goal line. A defenseman stopped it and tried to shoot it away. Lauren Ellis caught it and popped the puck back toward the net. No one stopped it this time, and the Storm led 2-1 at 6:05.
The Storm’s attack remained unabated, but the Wildcats were able to weather it for the remainder of the first period, which ended with at least the score still close.
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The Storm scored their third goal midway through the second period. As the Storm regrouped in center ice, Foster got the puck on the left boards and centered it to Oliva. As she entered Wildcat territory, Oliva passed it to the right to Macy Stepan. Stepan turned to catch it. As three Wildcat defenders chased the puck toward her, Stepan slyly backhanded it at the far post toward which Foster was skating unchecked. Foster swiftly pushed the puck past Stommel at 7:12.
USM showed some energy late in the second period and nearly scored on a power play goal. But they were unable to summon the wiles to fully complete a scoring play, and the period ended.
The Storm then completed the rout with a goal at 10:01 of the third period. Eden Gruber skated the puck deep into the USM zone. From the left corner, she passed it behind the net to Kylie Hahner. Hahner quickly centered it. Audrey Ladewig dove to smash it into the Wildcats’ net.
The Central Wisconsin Storm’s record is now 6-1. The Storm continues to play in Milwaukee with a non-conference game against the Brookfield Glacier at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 15th at the Ponds of Brookfield Ice Arena in Brookfield.
USM is 6-3 and 1-1 in the Eastern Shores Conference. The Wildcats play the Lakeshore Lightning in an Eastern Shores Conference game at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 22nd at Ozaukee Ice Arena in Cedarburg.
