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North St. Paul 6, Chisago Lakes/Pine City 1

No one can accuse the Chisago Lakes/Pine City Wildcats girls hockey team of scheduling patsies at the beginning of the season. They faced two of the top 10 teams in the state in the past 10 days. Chisago Lakes lost to the North St. Paul Polars Tuesday, November 29 and then fell to the Benilde-St. Margaret’s Red Knights 4-2 Thursday, December 1. Both games were played at Chisago Lakes Arena.

“We coughed up the puck too much against North St. Paul,” Wildcat head coach Al Magnuson said. “We made mistakes at neutral ice and they know how to put a puck in the net. Our goal was to shut them down defensively, but we didn’t come close to accomplishing that. The girls got down on themselves after the second or third goal of the game, and never really recovered.”

Lexy Parenteau scored the Wildcats’ lone goal against the Polars, scoring unassisted at 12:41 of the third period.

Benilde-St. Margaret’s 4, Chisago Lakes/Pine City 2

Against Benilde, two days later, the Wildcats trailed 4-0 before their offense came alive late in the third period, but it was too late. Annie Fredrickson scored two power play goals. The first one came at the 13:58 mark, with assists to her linemates Morgan Baumgard and Rhiannon Sauter. The second one came with just 19 seconds left in the game, with another assist to Sauter, to make the final score Benilde 4, Chisago Lakes 2.

Magnuson was much more pleased with the Wildcats’ effort against Benilde. “We played much more consistently,” Magnuson said. “When we got down, the girls went out and worked harder. Jackie Weiden, our goalie, played very well in both games. I’m glad we face Benilde again in a month. They just moved up to Class AA this year, and they’re the team to beat in our conference.”

Chisago Lakes/Pine City 6, Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony Village 0

The Wildcat offense came alive against the Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony Village Panthers Thursday, December 1. Annie Fredrickson scored two goals for the second straight game. Goalie Jackie Weiden stopped all 16 shots she faced to record her first shutout of the season as the Wildcats overwhelmed the Panthers 6-0 Thursday, December 1 at Fogerty Arena in Blaine.

Rhiannon Sauter scored the Wildcats’ lone goal of the first period on a breakaway at the 4:54 mark. Wildcat head coach Magnuson said, “We played good individually in the first period, but not as a team. During the intermission after the first period, I told the girls that playing like that might be okay against this team, but it wasn’t going to work against others and that now was the time to start playing as a team.”

The Wildcats seemed to heed Magnuson’s words as they came through with a four-goal outburst in the second period. Morgan Baumgard scored just 20 seconds into the period, with assists to Annie Fredrickson and Lexy Parenteau, to double the Wildcats’ lead.

The Wildcats added to their lead with two blasts from the point by their defense – first by Lexy Parenteau, assisted by Amanda Waltz at the 5:39 mark, and the second by Kate Boynton, assisted by Ariel Novak at 10:27.

Fredrickson scored the final goal of the period with just four seconds remaining, assisted by Abby Olson and Parenteau. The Wildcats finished the game’s scoring just 27 seconds into the third period. After receiving a pass from Sauter, Baumgard fed Fredrickson coming straight down the slot. Fredrickson reached out and got the end of her stick on the puck, tipping it inside the post to make the final score Chisago Lakes/Pine City 6, Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony Village 0.

“Our first line really came out big,” Magnuson said. “They needed to show some scoring punch and they finally came through. This should give them a lot of confidence.”

The Wildcats (3-2 overall, 2-1 in the conference) were scheduled to host conference opponent St. Louis Park Tuesday, December 6. They play again at home Friday, December 9 against Mahtomedi.

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