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Chisago Lakes/Pine City 3,

Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony2

The Wildcats' game against Spring Lake Park wasn't advertised as eighth-grader's night, but that's what it turned out to be. Marisa Peterson scored the Wildcats' first goal and fellow eighth-grader Katie Johnson scored the winning goal in the third period. The goals were Johnson and Peterson's first career goals. Eighth-grader Megan Lushanko assisted on all three Wildcat goals as they beat the Panthers 3-2 at Chisago Lakes Arena Tuesday, December 4.

Trailing 1-0 after one period, the Wildcats tied it up at 6:44 of the second period. Starting from her own zone, Lushanko rushed the puck down the left side of the ice. As she got into the Panther zone, she drove wide left, taking the defense with her. She left a drop pass for Peterson in the left circle, and Peterson fired a nice shot into the lower left corner of the net to make the score 1-1.

Spring Lake Park scored on the power play just over two minutes later to re-take the lead. The Wildcats tied it up again at the 12:55 mark. The Wildcats worked to get the puck from deep in the Panther zone to Ariel Novak at the right point. Novak's low, hard shot zipped past the Panther goalie to tie the game 2-2. Peterson and Lushanko were credited with the assists on the play.

"Ariel's got a great shot," said Wildcat head coach Jason Mahlen. "As long as she continues to keep the puck low and put it on net, she'll continue to score goals."

The winning goal came out of a scrum in front of the Panther net. Senior Kristen Dobosenski and Lushanko got their sticks on the puck before Katie Johnson knocked it home to finish the Wildcats' thrilling, come-from-behind 3-2 win over Spring Lake Park.

"This was a good, back-and-forth high-tempo game," said Mahlen. "This was a big conference win for us. We knew our eighth-graders had talent and we saw tonight what they're capable of. It was nice to see Marisa and Katie score their first varsity goals and to see Megan get the playmaker award for three assists."

SCORING SUMMARY

Spring Lake Park 1 1 0-2

Chisago Lakes 0 2 1-3

1ST Period

SL 1 Jones (Jochum) 7:20

2nd Period

CL 1 M. Peterson (Lushanko) 6:44; SL 2 Jochum (Dey, Nelson) (pp) 9:03; CL 2 Novak (Lushanko, M. Peterson) 12:55

3rd Period

CL 3 K. Johnson (K. Dobosenski, Lushanko)

Saves-CL Pitzen 17, SL Bassett 15

Chisago Lakes/Pine City 8, Robbinsdale Cooper 0

Sophomore Sam Lorr scored her first career hat trick to lead the Wildcats to an 6-0 thrashing of the Robbinsdale-Cooper Hawks Thursday, December 6 at Chisago Lakes Arena. Eighth-grader Megan Lushanko also scored two goals and junior Krista Liebsch, senior Kristen Dobosenski and senior Ariel Novak each had three assists in the victory

Sam Lorr and Ashley Elumba scored in the first period to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead. A three-goal flurry by Katie Peterson, Lushanko and Jessica Lorr in a minute, 15 seconds midway through the second period put the game away for the Wildcats. Lushanko added another goal later in the period to make the score 6-0. Sam Lorr's two third-period goals made the final score Chisago Lakes/Pine City 8, Robbinsdale Cooper 0.

"Sam had been snakebit so far this season," said Wildcat head coach Jason Mahlen. "She had gotten some nice point opportunities, but the puck hasn't gone in net. She works hard at practice and is a good two-way player in games. It was great to see her get some success offensively with the hat trick. Those were her first three goals of the year."

SCORING SUMMARY

Robbinsdale Cooper 0 0 0-0

Chisago Lakes 2 4 2-8

1st Period

CL 1 S. Lorr (Liebsch, Greene) (pp) 9:27; CL 2 Elumba (Miles) 16:27

2nd Period

CL 3 K. Peterson (Liebsch, S. Lorr) (pp) 6:12; CL 4 Lushanko (M. Peterson, K. Dobosenski) 7:00; CL 5 J. Lorr (Segarra, Lecy) 7:25; CL 6 Lushanko (Novak, K. Dobosenski) 9:58

3rd Period

CL 7 S. Lorr (Liebsch, Novak) 0:20; CL 8 S. Lorr (Greene, Novak) 5:23

Saves-CL Pitzen 9, RC Burns 45

Chisago Lakes/Pine City 6,

St. Louis Park 4

Eighth-grader Megan Lushanko was at it again. She scored two goals for the second game in a row, including the game-winner, as the Wildcats came from behind in the third period to beat St. Louis Park Saturday, December 8 at Chisago Lakes Arena. Marisa Peterson, also an eighth-grader, scored the tying goal at the beginning of the third period.

The Orioles stunned the Wildcats with a goal just 43 seconds into the game. But the Wildcats came back midway through the period. Katie Peterson took a pass from Sam Lorr in her own zone, rushed it up the ice, went aggressively to the Oriole net and put a shot in the lower left corner to tie the game at 1-1. The Orioles scored to go ahead just over a minute later. The Wildcats answered again. The Sam Lorr, Laura Greene, Krista Liebsch line rushed the puck of the ice. Lorr knocked home a rebound to tie the game at two goals apiece at the 14:24.

The Wildcats went ahead just 27 seconds later. Ashley Elumba picked up the puck in her own zone and broke clear down the left side of the ice. She went all alone on the net, made a decisive move and slid the puck through the five-hole to give the Wildcats their first lead of the game at 3-2. Shannon Segarra and Ashley Gibson were credited with assists on the play.

The Wildcat lead was short-lived, however, as the Orioles ran a play off the second period face-off and scored just eight seconds into the second period. The Orioles added another goal later in the period to take a 4-3 lead going into the third period.

Peterson tied things up just 1:41 into the third period. She used her speed to drive down the left side of the ice, drove aggressively to the net and fired the puck past the SLP goalie to tie the game at 4-4.

Megan Lushanko scored the game winner at the 9:15 mark. She took a pass from Kristen Dobosenski in the Oriole zone and fired a low, hard shot past the goalie to complete the Wildcat comeback. Lushanko added an insurance goal with less than two minutes left. She was assisted by Dobosenski and Katie Peterson, to make the final score Wildcats 6, St. Louis Park 4.

"It was nice to see the team fight through adversity, come back and win the game," said Wildcat head coach Jason Mahlen. "Earlier in the season we didn't respond well in a similar situation. Megan Lushanko had a nice game for us. She's starting to show some of the ability we see every day in practice. She has a nice scoring touch, and now she's translating it to the game.

"Marisa Peterson and Katie Johnson played a lot of defense in youth hockey, but we've been using them at forwards here. They're smart hockey players and have been playing well. The scoring they've been providing for us has been a nice bonus.

Mahlen concluded, "I was happy to see our girls have success this week and get three wins. They're a great bunch of kids that work hard in practice and they deserve to be rewarded."

SCORING SUMMARY

Chisago Lakes 3 0 3-6

St. Louis Park 2 2 0-4

1ST Period

SL 1 Beightol (unassisted) 0:43; CL 1 K. Peterson (S. Lorr) 7:43; SL 2 Karl (Beightol) 9:10; CL 2 S. Lorr (Greene, Liebsch) 14:27; CL 3 Elumba (Segarra, Gibson) 14:54

2nd Period

SL 3 Kuhbander (unassisted) 0:08; SL 4 Beightol (Duffy, Bongaarts) 13:56

3rd Period

CL 4 M. Peterson (unassisted) 1:41; CL 5 Lushanko (Dobosenski) 9:15; CL 6 Lushanko (K. Peterson, K. Dobosenski) 15:10

Saves: CL Pitzen 24, SL 29

The Wildcats next four games are at home. They were scheduled to play rival St. Francis-North Branch Tuesday, December 11. After that, they'll take on some invaders from the north - Grand Rapids on Friday, December 14 at 7 p.m.; Hibbing at 2 p.m. on Saturday, December 15. All three of those games will be played at Chisago Lakes Arena. The fourth game, next Tuesday, December 18 against Cambridge-Isanti, will be played at Pine City Arena.

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