The Western Wisconsin Stars (WWS) won the 2018 Open National division of the Schwan’s Cup held in Minnesota over Christmas break. The Schwan’s Cup features several Minnesota teams along with five teams from the state of Wisconsin. Of the teams from Wisconsin, the Stars were the only ones to come out with three wins.  Not only did they get three wins, but they played with a lead for the entire tournament.

The credit for these wins is 100% credited to the girls. In tournaments like this, it’s important to note that whether a player got one shift or two hundred shifts, each one of them contributed and earned the medal.

The game summary doesn’t always tell the full story.

Wins and losses have so much more behind them than goals, assists and save percentages. Players like Alise Wiehl, Lauren Gruber, Emma Larkowski, Makenzie Patten, Allie Stock, Tiffany Hantsbarger and Taryn Dornseif don’t always show up on the scoresheet but contribute in ways that do not go unnoticed.

For example, Alise Wiehl is constantly being thrown into uncomfortable situations. One shift she is asked to center two girls she played with all week and the next shift she might play wing with a few girls she hasn’t played with before; some shifts she’s expected to contribute to scoring opportunities and some shifts she’s asked to play defensively sound. Wiehl never questions our decisions, she just does it.

Emma Larkowski and Lauren Gruber are some of the nicest kids you will ever meet. There have been times where they have played every other shift and there have been times where they haven’t gotten a shift in a game. I have never heard anything other than positive comments come from them. Their true character and team-first mindset comes through daily in their ability to look past themselves and be positive.

Additionally, Wiehl, Larkowski and Gruber play a huge role in the success of our powerplay because they are always pushing their teammates in practice by penalty killing. Patten leads the team quietly by example, showing the underclassmen what it means to be an athlete outside of the rink. Stock noticed a struggling freshman on Thursday and offered her some comforting words. Hantsbarger is the first person to cheer up her goalie partner, Erickson, when things don’t go her way. Dornseif always has a smile on her face and does the little things right.

Without kids like these, teams never make the jump from good to great.

The first game was played on Wednesday 12/26 against Waseca, MN. The Stars opened the period the right way when Makenzie Weeks (Brice) noticed a rare opportunity to wrap around the puck and score.  The Waseca defenseman had stepped out to cover Erin Huerta in front of the net and Weeks used her hockey sense to notice that a pass to Huerta was unavailable and that the goalie was sitting off her post and slid the puck in to give WWS a lead.

Even though the Stars left the ice after the first with a lead, it was apparent that they had taken a few days off over Christmas break.

Waseca had no idea what was coming in the second period. Off the bat, Waseca scored a powerplay goal to tie the game 1-1. Not even a minute later, Weeks responded with her second goal of the game with assists to Erin Huerta and Ellie Brice.

On the next shift, the Weeks line scored again but this time, on a shot from E. Huerta (Weeks, Hahn). The Stars then scored three more times in the second period (Jade Williams had two and Ellie Brice had one) to give them a 6-1 lead going into the third period.

The third period gave an opportunity for some other Stars players to shine. Freshman, Tiffany Hantsbarger started in net. Waseca had a few opportunities but couldn’t find a way past Hantsbarger due to some great saves and solid players in front of her.

Emma Larkowski, Lauren Gruber and Alise Wiehl consistently did a great job of getting the puck deep in the Stars offensive zone and creating opportunities. The game ended with an E. Huerta goal and the Stars winning 7-1.

Game two came Thursday morning against Eveleth- Gilbert, MN. About eight minutes into the period, Brice scored on a pass from Weeks.  Brice added two more goals that period for a natural hat trick with assists to E. Huerta and Weeks on both of the goals. The Stars were up 3-0 after the first period.

The second period scoring came from Weeks with assists to E. Huerta and E. Brice. The Stars took a rest in the third period to prepare for the game the next day and ended the game 4-0. Junior captain Caitlin Erickson showed great leadership and earned her second shut out of the season.

The championship game was played Friday morning at the home of the MN Golden Gophers, Ridder Arena against Luverne, MN. The Stars knew that Luverne would be a little tougher competition because they came into the game with 11 wins and only 4 losses on the season.

Senior captain Jade Williams scored the one-and-only goal of the first period by taking the puck end-to-end and scoring with a shot top glove. The Stars controlled the whole period but couldn’t get anything past the Luverne goalie.

In the second period, Luverne came out with a strong will to win and scored a goal two minutes in to tie the game 1-1. One minute and thirty second later, Allie Stock scored off of a rebound from Hahn and Williams. The puck hit the goalie’s blocker-side pad and landed out front. Stock knew that the goalie was stretched across the front of the net but was a little off her angle; she slammed it home to give WWS a 2-1 lead.

A few minutes later, Brice received a breakout pass from E. Huerta. Weeks snuck behind the defenseman and received a pass off of the boards to create a 2-on-1 advantage. The defenseman cheated over to Weeks and gave her no option but to do a personal move or throw the puck into open ice. Weeks pulled out an unbelievable toe drag and followed up with a snipe to the top corner from just outside of the dots. In the words of New Richmond News sports journalist, Dave Newman, “Weeks seems to come up with a gorgeous play every game,” and this was one of those plays. Luverne later scored to end the second period.

Going into the third period, the score was 3-2. The Stars were dominating the game but found themselves in an uncomfortable situation. Weeks scored another goal in the third period to give a two-goal lead and Brice (Weeks, E. Huerta) sealed the deal with a bar-down powerplay goal at the end of the game. The Stars defeated Luverne 5-2 to take home the Schwan’s Cup Open National Championship.

The Stars next game is on 1/4/2019 at Viroqua.