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Chisago Lakes 7, St. Louis Park 6 (OT)

Marisa Peterson's breakaway goal in overtime lifted the Wildcat girls' hockey team to a 7-6 win over the St. Louis Park Orioles Tuesday, January 20 at Chisago Lakes Arena. The Wildcats led 6-3 midway through the third period, but the Orioles scored three goals to tie the game and send it into overtime. "It was fun to have it end that way," said Wildcat head coach Jason Mahlen. I wouldn't have wanted to be on the losing end of that one. The game was like a rollercoaster, emotions went up and down, the team played hard. Somehow, we put it all together and emerged victorious."

Things didn't start off well for the Wildcats in this one as the Orioles scored just 20 seconds into the game. But it was all Wildcats the rest of the first period. At the two-minute mark, Sam Lorr backhanded a rebound into the upper corner to tie the game at 1-1. Three minutes later, Laura Monson came in on a breakaway and shelfed a nice shot into the upper left hand corner of the net to put the Wildcats up 2-1. The Wildcats added to their lead with a power play goal midway through the period. Laura Greene passed the puck to Megan Lushanko down low on the left. Lushanko cycled around the back of the net from left to right and threaded a pass to Peterson standing alone at the left post. Peterson knocked the puck into the open net to give the Wildcats a 3-1 lead. "When that play is well-executed," said Mahlen, "It's very difficult to defense. Megan made a great pass and Marisa put it home."

The Wildcats kept up the pressure with another power play goal early in the second period. With the puck deep in the Oriole zone, Katie Peterson slid the puck out to Laura Greene at the left point. Greene rifled a slapshot into the upper right hand corner of the net to increase the Wildcat lead to three goals.

After St. Louis Park scored to cut the lead back to two, the Wildcats answered with two more goals. Halfway through the second period on another power play, Lorr passed the puck from the left side of the zone to Katie Johnson on the far edge of the right circle. Johnson ripped a slapshot toward the goalie's five-hole. The goalie managed to get a piece of it, but the puck trickled over the line to make it 5-2. And the Wildcats stretched the lead to four goals less than two minutes later. With Laura Monson racing toward the Oriole goal line, Marisa Peterson threw the puck towards the net. Monson redirected the puck with a backhanded one-timer into the net to give the Wildcats their biggest lead of the game. The Orioles scored a few minutes later, and the Wildcats went into the third period with a 6-3 lead.

The third period was all Orioles. They scored at the halfway point to pull within two. Then, with about five minutes left in regulation, the Wildcats were assessed two penalties at the same time and found themselves facing a 5-on-3 Oriole power play. One of the penalties was legitimate, but the other one was very weak. The referees also ignored an Oriole player kicking a Wildcat player in the head, which should have resulted in a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct. On the power play, the Orioles scored two goals just 18 seconds apart to tie the game at 6-6 and send the game into overtime.

On a Wildcat power play just over two-and-a-half minutes into the overtime, Lushanko tipped the puck in front of Marisa Peterson at center ice. Peterson caught the puck in stride ahead of the Oriole defensemen. Peterson raced toward the net, deked left and lifted a backhand shot into the upper right corner to give the Wildcats an exciting win.

"Unfortunately, we let a big lead slip away in this one," said Mahlen. "We certainly don't like to see that happen. But when we went to overtime, we told the girls it was a new game, zero-zero, and the first one to score wins. What happened before doesn't matter. And then Marisa ended it with one of those 'wow!' goals to win it, as in 'Wow! That was a nice goal'."

The Wildcats scored a season-high four power play goals in this game. "We've been very successful on the power play all year," said Mahlen. "The girls have been doing a good job moving the puck and putting it in the net."

Lushanko had three assists to lead the Wildcats. Marisa Peterson and Monson had two assists each to go along with their two goals apiece, giving the freshman line a total of 11 points. Ashley Gibson had two assists, and Sam Lorr, Katie Peterson and Laura Greene had one assist each.

Chisago Lakes 2, St. Francis-North Branch 2 (OT)

When these two teams played just before Christmas, scoring was not the problem. SFNB won 9-8. The Fighting Saints scored 9 goals on 25 shots and the Wildcats scored 8 goals on 30 shots. Neither Wildcat freshman goalie Amanda Budde nor SFNB eighth-grade goalie Dakotah Bullen did anything to distinguish themselves. With SFNB star Haylea Schmid on one side and the Wildcats' high-scoring freshman line on the other side, there was no reason to expect anything different when the two teams met last Friday, January 23 at Chisago Lakes Arena.

But a funny thing happened - both goalies played outstanding games, each of them making a number of big saves, and when the dust had settled the teams ended up tied 2-2 in overtime.

After a scoreless first period, Ashlee Ricci got the Wildcats on the board with her first varsity goal. With the Wildcats on a power play, Katie Peterson slid a pass over to Ricci. Ricci's snapshot found twine at the 11:15 mark to put the Wildcats up 1-0. Just two minutes later, Budde came up with a huge save on a breakaway to keep the Wildcats in the lead. The Fighting Saints tied it up with a couple of minutes left in the period on a goal by Nicole Miller, assisted by Kara Barton and Schmid.

The Wildcats scored another power play goal to take the lead four minutes into the third period. Marisa Peterson and Megan Lushanko worked the puck back to Katie Peterson at the right point. Katie Peterson unleashed a lethal slapshot that went in the left side of the net. Katelyn Sampsel scored a power play goal for SFNB, assisted by Angela Jordan and Schmid, at the 10:47 mark to knot things up at 2-2. Two minutes later, an SFNB shot looked like it was headed inside the right post, but Budde came up with a big glove save to keep the game tied. Both teams had good scoring opportunities in overtime, but the young goaltenders stood firm and the game ended in a 2-2 tie. Budde and Bullen each stopped 24 of the 26 shots they faced in the game, a significant improvement over their previous meeting.

The Wildcats were missing starting goalie Jamie Dobosenski due to injury. Backup Sam Bretheim was also unavailable, so Budde had to play both the JV game and the varsity game for the Wildcats. Wildcat head coach Jason Mahlen was certainly impressed with his freshman goalie's performance. He said "on a night when our team didn't have its "A" game, Amanda really came through for us. She stopped over ninety percent of the shots she faced. What makes it even more impressive is that this is her first year in the high school program. This is the best game I've seen her play. We're really happy for her."

Mahlen then talked about a player who has been struggling with injuries this season. He said "It was nice to see senior Katie Peterson get a couple of points. She's had a frustrating knee injury, and not a lot of athletes would have put up with all the ups and downs she's faced coming back from that injury. Even on days when she can't skate in practice, she shows up and does dryland training and lifting and rehab on her knee. I'm really impressed with her drive and determination."

The Wildcats will host conference foe Spring Lake Park tonight at Chisago Lakes Arena at 7 p.m. They'll continue conference play with games against Benilde-St. Margaret's this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at the St. Louis Park Recreation Center and against Irondale at the Schwan's Super Rink next Tuesday, February 3 at 8 p.m.

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