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Cloquet-Esko-Carlton 5,

Chisago Lakes/Pine City 2

The Lumberjacks from Cloquet-Esko-Carlton scored three goals in the first period, then held off a hard-charging Wildcat team on their way to a 5-2 win over the Wildcats Tuesday, November 20 at Cloquet.

Trailing 3-0 late in the first period, the Wildcats finally got on the board. The line of Krista Liebsch, Laura Greene and Sam Lorr established a solid forecheck in the Lumberjack zone. After 30 seconds of pressure, the tired Lumberjack defenders coughed up the puck in front of the net. Greene got ahold of the puck and snapped it across to Liebsch at the face-off dot in the left circle. Liebsch sniped a water-bottle shot into the upper left corner of the net with just over a minute remaining in the period to bring the Wildcats within two.

"That line did a nice job of forechecking on that shift and took advantage of the scoring opportunity they generated," said Wildcat head coach Jason Mahlen. "They're certainly capable of doing that more often."

But, the Lumberjacks scored just two minutes into the second period to stretch the lead back to three goals. They scored again at the ten-minute mark to make it 5-1.

The Wildcats answered a minute later. Shannon Segarra's shot rebounded to the front of the crease. As players from both teams struggled for the puck, a Lumberjack defender knocked it to the low slot. Ariel Novak swooped in and slammed the puck into the back of the net.

That proved to be the game's final goal, and after a spirited third period, the final score remained Cloquet-Esko-Carlton 5, Chisago Lakes/Pine City 2.

"Despite the shot difference in the scorebook, we played a pretty even game with Cloquet," said Mahlen. "The puck moved up and down the ice and didn't stay in one zone or the other for too long. The difference was that they took advantage of their scoring opportunities. They scored on breakaways, tipped shots and rebounds. We had a number of scoring opportunities, as well. We hit the pipe three times and had a number of other shots just miss the net. Erica Pitzen played another good game for us in the nets. She played her angles well and had to make a lot of saves. Each of the Cloquet goals was scored on a nice play or a great shot."

SCORING SUMMARY

Chisago Lakes 1 1 0 2

C-E-C 3 2 0 5

1st Period

CEC 1 Baublitz (Vichorek, Williams) 4:21; CEC 2 Anderson (Baublitz) 9:21; CEC 3 Esse (Ryan, Lundquist) 14:53; CL 1 Liebsch 1 (Greene 1) 15:55

2nd Period

CEC 4 Vichorek (unassisted) 2:03; CEC 5 Beck (Baublitz); CL Novak 2 (unassisted) 11:06

3rd Period

No scoring

Saves-CL Pitzen 44, CEC Gustafson 17

The Wildcats (1-2 overall, 0-0 conference) head up north for the third time this season taking on Duluth East this Saturday, December 1 at the DECC at 7 p.m.

"We have a tough early schedule," said Mahlen. "And we haven't played our best yet. We've got a number of young players and we're still trying to find some scorers. Starting next week, we'll play seven home games in a row. Hopefully, a good game at Duluth and some home cooking will help us to get things moving in the right direction."

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