---

CL/PC 3, Robbinsdale Cooper 2

The Wildcats completely dominated play for the first two periods against the Robbinsdale Cooper Hawks, but had just a 3-0 lead to show for it. Cooper took advantage of some Wildcat mistakes in the third period to make the game close, but the Wildcats hung on for a 3-2 win Tuesday, January 8 at New Hope Ice Arena.

Midway through the first period, Jess Lorr sent a breakout pass to Megan Lushanko. Lushanko beat the defense one-on-one and scored on a breakaway to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.

The Wildcats added to their lead at the 11:22 mark of the second period. Rachel Miles took a shot from the right point. Ashley Elumba, standing in front of the net, tipped in Miles' shot to put the Wildcats up by two. And the Wildcats scored their final goal of the game just two minutes later. In the Hawk zone, Laura Greene passed the puck to Ariel Novak. Novak shot and the goalie made the save, but Krista Liebsch picked up the rebound from the scrum in front of the net and backhanded it past the Hawk goalie to put the Wildcats up 3-0 after two.

"We talked with the players about getting to the front of the net," said Wildcat head coach Jason Mahlen. "Krista was where she was supposed to be in that situation, and that's how you pick up goals in traffic."

At the beginning of the third period, Jamie Dobosenski replaced starter Erica Pitzen in the nets. Pitzen had shut out the Hawks to that point of the game, and the coaching staff wanted to get Dobosenski a little varsity seasoning. The Hawks closed the gap to two goals just three minutes into the period, and scored again with three-an-a-half minutes remaining. But the Wildcats held on for a 3-2 conference win over the Hawks.

The Wildcats outshot the Hawks 53-15 for the game.

"We dominated play in the first two periods," said Mahlen, "but we didn't capitalize on our scoring opportunities. When you let teams hang around instead of putting them away you get less than satisfying results. I was disappointed in our third-period play, but it never should have been that close after two periods in the first place."

SCORING SUMMARY

Robbinsdale Cooper 0 0 2-0

Chisago Lakes/PC 1 2 0-3

1st Period

CL 1 Lushanko (J. Lorr) 7:05

2nd Period

CL 2 Elumba (Miles) 11:22; CL 3 Liebsch (Greene, Novak) 13:32

3rd Period

RC 1 Halverson (Mikelson, Cook) 3:20; RC 2 Halverson (Grosam) 13:35

Saves: CL Pitzen 7 and Dobosenski 6, RC Burns 50

Chisago Lakes/Pine City 4,

St. Louis Park 4 (OT)

Goalie Jamie Dobosenski stopped the final seventeen shots she faced as the Wildcats stormed back from a 4-1 deficit to tie the St. Louis Park Orioles 4-4 at Friday, January 11 at the St. Louis Park Recreation Center.

The Wildcats opened the scoring with a power play goal at 5:43 of the first period. The forward line of Marisa Peterson, Megan Lushanko and Jessica Lorr used some nice passing to move the puck in front of the Oriole net and Peterson scored from point blank range to put the Wildcats up 1-0. The Orioles scored two first period goals to take a 2-1 lead after one.

After the Orioles scored 11 minutes into the second period to stretch their lead to 3-1, Dobosenski replaced Pitzen in the nets. Less than a minute later, the Orioles fired a screened shot from the point. The puck hit the left post and slid through the crease behind Dobosenski. When it came out the other side, a wide-open Oriole player knocked the puck into the net to give St. Louis Park a 4-1 lead.

The Wildcats got that goal back just under a minute later. The Wildcats won a draw in the Oriole zone. Ashley Gibson got off a quick shot on net and Sam Lorr slammed home the rebound to cut the Oriole lead to two at the end of two periods.

Nearly four minutes into the third period, Ariel Novak passed the puck from the left point to Gibson at the right point. Gibson ripped a slapshot into traffic. The puck found its way into the net to cut the Oriole lead to 4-3. On the power play just three minutes later, Katie Peterson picked up the puck along the left boards in the Oriole zone, skated deep into the left circle and fired a nice shot into the net to tie the game at 4-4.

"Jamie did a good job stepping in for us in the nets," said Wildcat head coach Jason Mahlen. "After that first screened shot went in, she stopped the rest of the shots in the second period, third period and overtime. That was her longest varsity stint to date. From a team perspective, I was happy the girls showed some resiliency in coming back from a huge, three goal deficit. But we never should have been that far behind in the first place. I really think this is a game we should have won."

Chisago Lakes/PC 1 1 2 0 -0

St. Louis Park 2 2 0 0-0

1st Period

CL 1 M. Peterson (Lushanko, J. Lorr) (pp) 5:43; SL 1 7:27; SL 2 12:22

2nd Period

SL 3 11:02; SL 4 11:56; CL 2 S. Lorr (A. Gibson) 12:48

3rd Period

CL 3 A. Gibson (Novak) 3:51; CL 4 K. Peterson (unassisted) 6:50

Overtime

No scoring.

Saves: CL Pitzen 10 and Dobosenski 17

The Wildcats take on local rival St. Francis-North Branch tonight, Thursday January 17, at East Bethel Arena at 7 p.m. They'll play Spring Lake Park Saturday, January 19 at Fogarty Arena before returning home to face conference leader Benilde-St. Margaret's Tuesday, January 22 at 7 p.m.

---