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Benilde-St. Margaret's 7, Chisago Lakes 0

The Class A Wildcats clashed with Benilde-St. Margaret's, the second-ranked team in AA last Thursday, December 15 in a North Suburban Conference matchup. The Red Knights shut down the high-powered Wildcat offense for the evening and scored two power play goals and two shorthanded goals on their way to a 7-0 shutout win over the Wildcats in a game played at the St. Louis Park Recreation Center.

The Red Knights scored twice in the first period, three times in the second period and added two more goals in the final frame. They outshot the Wildcats 38-15 for the game and finished with a flourish, allowing just one Wildcat shot on goal in the third period.

"We didn't play that bad," said Wildcat head coach Jason Mahlen. "But we didn't capitalize on the scoring chances provided to us by seven power plays and a number of breakaways. They're a talented team. They capitalized on some of their scoring chances and that was the difference in the game."



Chisago Lakes 7, St. Francis-North Branch 0

Megan Lushanko finished off her first hat trick of the season as the Wildcats scored five times in the third period to blow open a close game and shut out SFNB 7-0 last Saturday, December 17 at Chisago Lakes Arena. Wildcat goalie Jamie Dobosenski stopped eleven shots to record her fourth shutout of the season.

Lushanko scored the game's first goal with 22 seconds left in the first period, assisted by Miranda Krumm, to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. Marisa Peterson scored her second goal of the season near the end of the second period to increase the Wildcat lead to 2-0. Lushanko and Laura Monson picked up assists on the play.

The onslaught started at the 7:14 mark of the third period as Monson got on the scoreboard, assisted by Ashlee Ricci and Peterson. Lushanko scored on a breakaway three minutes later to make the score 4-0. Rikki Waldoch scored her first goal of the season at 13:10, with assists going to Ricci and Allison Ives. Just 38 seconds later, Lushanko scored an unassisted goal to complete her hat trick. And with one second left on the clock, Rehanna Duncan put one in the back of the net for her first goal of the season to make the final score Chisago Lakes 7, SFNB 0. Maddie Howard and Waldoch assisted on Duncan's goal.

"The SFNB goalie was standing on her head early in the game," said Wildcat head coach Jason Mahlen. "And SFNB was packing it in, really playing a defensive game. But once we got up by a couple of goals, they had to take some chances offensively. That opened up some lanes for us and pucks started flying into the net. I think Laura Monson had her best game of the year, moving her feet well and getting some good scoring opportunities. Marisa Peterson had a nice game, too. It's good to see a couple of seniors step up and put some pucks in the net."

The Wildcats will be off for the Christmas holiday. Next Tuesday through Thursday, they'll play in the Centennial Holiday Tournament. The Wildcats will be the only Class A team at the eight-team tournament, which includes such AA powerhouses as seventh-ranked Moorhead and eighth-ranked Elk River.

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