---

Grand Rapids/Greenway 8, Chisago Lakes 1

The Class A Wildcat girls' hockey team ran into a buzz saw on Friday, December 19, losing to fifth-ranked Class AA Grand Rapids/Greenway 8-1 in a game played at Grand Rapids.

Trailing 2-0 in the first period, the Wildcats scored to cut it to 2-1. Marisa Peterson created a turnover at neutral ice, carried the puck into the Grand Rapids zone and buried a shot in the lower right hand corner to get the Wildcats on the board. But that was all the offense the Wildcats could muster as Grand Rapids pulled away for the win. "Our girls competed well and skated with them for a while," said Wildcat head coach Jason Mahlen. "But they're a highly-skilled Class double-A team with some prolific scorers, and we just couldn't match up that night."

Hibbing/Chisholm 4, Chisago Lakes 3

The Wildcats gave eleventh-ranked Hibbing a run for their money, but couldn't quite complete the comeback as they lost 4-3 last Saturday, December 20 at Hibbing. The Wildcats outshot Hibbing 37-27 for the game.

Trailing 3-0 midway through the second period, the Wildcats scored two goals in quick succession to get back into the game. At the 6:59 mark, Laura Greene scored a goal that would make every postseason highlight reel. She ripped a low, hard slapshot from the point. The goalie never saw the puck as it pinballed off of both posts and into the net to get the Wildcats on the board. Less than a minute later, a rebound from Ashley Gibson's shot bounced toward Megan Lushanko. Lushanko whiffed on the first rebound opportunity, but showed poise by staying with the puck and making sure her second attempt found the back of the net.

Hibbing scored two minutes later to stretch the lead back to two. But with just under a minute left in the period, Sam Lorr picked up the puck from the sideboards to the right, skated toward the net with no opposition and put a nice shot into the upper right corner of the net to cut the Hibbing lead to one. But that was as close as the Wildcats would get. Late in the third period, the Wildcats pulled the goalie and stormed the net, but Hibbing held off the charge and escaped with a 4-3 win.

"Of all the games we've played so far this year," said Wildcat head coach Jason Mahlen, "that loss was the most frustrating. We outplayed them all day and dominated the third period. I'm very happy with the effort of our girls. If we had capitalized on a couple more of our many scoring opportunities, we would have had a well-deserved victory."

Freshman goalie Amanda Budde stopped 23 of 27 shots in her first varsity start. Mahlen remarked "For someone making her first start, Amanda did a very nice job for us."

Centennial 8, Chisago Lakes 0

The Wildcats battled Centennial to a 0-0 tie at the end of one period, but the floodgates opened in the second period as Centennial scored five goals on their way to an 8-0 win Monday, December 29 in the opening game of the Centennial Holiday Tournament.

Centennial outshot the Wildcats 24-11 for the game. The Wildcat record dropped to 1-10 this season. The Wildcats were scheduled to play tournament games Tuesday, December 30 and Wednesday, December 31, as well.

The Wildcats get back into regular season play this Saturday, taking on Proctor at Chisago Lakes Arena at 7:30 p.m. Next Tuesday, January 6 they'll host Benilde-St. Margaret's at 7 p.m.

---