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Chisago Lakes 1

Cambridge-Isanti 1

A great save near the end of overtime by goalie Jackie Weiden enabled the Chisago Lakes Wildcats, beset by injuries and illness, to escape with a 1-1 tie with conference foe Cambridge/Isanti-Mora last Tuesday, at Chisago Lakes arena.

After a scoreless first period, the Wildcats got on the board right away in the second. The Bluejacket goalie blocked Amanda Waltz’s shot from the point and the puck bounced off to the right. Amanda Rammer pounced on the rebound and slid the puck across the slot to Nicole Grossmann, who fired a shot over the Bluejacket goalie’s shoulder and under the crossbar to put the Wildcats up 1-0 at the 1:21 mark. The Bluejackets tied it up at the 12:42 mark of the second to cap the evening’s scoring.

That didn’t mean there weren’t plenty of scoring chances for both teams. And the Wildcats outshot the Bluejackets 35-18 for the game. But the Bluejackets had the best chance to break the tie late. A Bluejacket forward stole the puck at center ice and raced in alone on Weiden. Her shot appeared to have the upper right corner of the net, but Weiden, anticipating the shot, slid across the crease and knocked the puck away with her blocker with just 35 seconds left in overtime to preserve the tie.

Wildcat coaches were clearly frustrated by the game’s outcome.

“The girls struggled somewhat missing some regular players.” said Chisago Lakes girls head hockey coach Al Magnuson. “We weren’t getting to rebounds fast enough. We didn’t really establish a flow. We need to work on crashing the net and better shot selection.

“This tie could really hurt us in the conference standings,” added Jason Mahlen, an assistant coach with the team.

But Mahlen also noted that there were some positive signs, as well. “We had a 2-1 edge in shots and forechecked well.”

The tie moved the ‘Cats record to 4-3-1 on the season.

Chisago Lakes 1,

Cambridge/Isanti-Mora 1

1 2 3 OT F

Cambridge/Isanti -- 1 -- -- 1

Chisago Lakes -- 1 -- -- 1

Scoring:

First Period-

No scoring

Second Period-

1) CL- Grossmann (Rammer, Waltz) 1:21; 2) CI- Hines (Katz, Fladebo) 12:42

Third Period-

No scoring

Saves-

Weiden 17

St. Francis/North Branch 4,

Chisago Lakes 1

1 2 3 F

St. Francis/NB 1 1 2 4

Chisago Lakes 1 -- -- 1

Scoring:

First Period-

1) SF- Olson (Serryn) 6:44; 2) CL- Grossmann (Rammer) 14:45.

Second Period-

3) SF- Schmid (Zebro) 9:34.

Third Period-

4) SF- Serryn (unassisted) 6:35; 5) SF- Bliskowski (unassisted) (pp) 15:33.

Saves-

Weiden 21

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