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Spring Lake Park 5, Chisago Lakes/Pine City 4 (OT)

The Chisago Lakes/Pine City Wildcats gave up a 4-2 lead late in the third period losing a heartbreaker to the Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony Panthers 5-4 in overtime.

The game was scoreless ‘til under three minutes remained in the second period. The Wildcats’ Annie Fredrickson scored, assisted by Rhiannon Sauter. Sauter scored the first of her three goals on a rebound of Ariel Novak’s shot from the left point to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead with 32 seconds left in the period. The Wildcats nearly scored again just before the buzzer and it looked like they were in control of the game.

But the Panthers had other ideas. Just 1:27 into the third period, they scored to make the score 2-1. The Wildcats answered less than a minute later. Baumgard’s shot was stopped by the Panther goalie, and the puck just lay there in the crease. Sauter poked it through the five-hole for her second goal to once again give the Wildcats a two-goal lead.

Spring Lake Park tightened it up with a goal a few minutes later, and the Wildcats nursed a one-goal lead until Lexy Parenteau fired a pass to Sauter from behind the Panther net and Sauter ripped a slapshot over the Panther goalie’s shoulder to complete her hat trick and give the Wildcats a two-goal cushion.

The Panthers pulled their goalie with two minutes to go and it paid off. They scored twice, with the tying goal at 55 seconds left in regulation. In overtime, the Panthers appeared to be playing for a tie, content to just keep the Wildcats from scoring. When a Panther player fired the puck out of the zone to relieve Wildcat pressure late in the game, the referee’s arm went up to indicate icing. But a racing Panther caught up to the puck just before it crossed the goal line, skated around the Wildcat defender and fired the puck into the Wildcat net with 32 seconds to go to make the final score Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony 5, Chisago Lakes/Pine City 4.

Chisago Lakes/Pine City 3, St. Louis Park 1

The Wildcats played another cliffhanger Friday, January 27. Morgan Baumgard’s empty net goal with just 55 seconds left enabled them to come away with a 3-1 win over the St. Louis Park Orioles at St. Louis Park.

Laura Greene, in her second game back from a long-term injury, scored the Wildcats’ first goal as she pick up a loose puck at center ice, skated into the zone and shot hard and high to beat the goalie for a 1-0 Wildcat lead after one period.

Morgan Baumgard scored a shorthanded goal on a partial breakaway just 35 seconds into the second period to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead. It seemed like déjà vu when the Orioles scored with four minutes remaining in the game to cut the lead to one. The Wildcats weren’t able to breathe easily until Baumgard’s empty-netter near the end to make the final score Chisago Lakes/Pine City 3, St. Louis Park 1.

“It seems like we just can’t put a team away.” said Wildcat assistant coach Josh Magnuson. “We let up because we think we have the game under control. We’re not covering out in front of our own net and we’re not clearing the puck away at the end of the game. We hope to have these types of mistakes behind us as we head into the section playoffs. We’ll have a good chance to work on them in practice and in our two remaining regular season games.”

The Wildcats were scheduled to play a home game at Pine City Arena against the Cambridge-Isanti Bluejackets Tuesday, January 31. In their final regular season game Friday, February 3, which will also be Senior Night, they’ll face off against the Totino Grace Eagles in a North Suburban Conference battle at Chisago Lakes Arena.

1 2 3 OT F

Spring Lake Park

0 0 4 1 5

Chisago Lakes 0 2 2 0 4

First Period

No scoring

Second Period

1) CL Fredrickson (Sauter) 14:23; 2) CL Sauter (Baumgard, Novak) (pp) 16:23

Third Period

1) SL Johnson (Zurbay, Dey) 1:27; 3) CL Sauter (Baumgard) 2:17; 2) SL Ranum (Jochum, Gapinski) 6:19; 4) CL Sauter (Parenteau) 11:56; 3) SL Humphrey (Homer, Gapinski) (pulled goalie) 15:26; 4) SL Hamer (Gapinski, Humphrey) (pulled goalie) 16:05

Overtime

5) SL M. Humphrey (Hamer, Nelson) 7:32

Saves: CL Weiden 26, SL Hamann 25

1 2 3 F

Chisago Lakes 1 1 1 3

St. Louis Park 0 0 1 1

First Period

1) CL Greene (unassisted) 12:14

Second Period

4) CL Baumgard (unassisted) (sh) 0:35

Third Period

1) SL Martinson (Kuhbander) 13:02; 3) CL Baumgard (Novak) (empty net) 16:03

Saves: CL Weiden 13, SL Carlson 12

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