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Chisago Lakes 5, Princeton 0
Taking too many penalties usually leads to bad results in hockey.  And when the Wildcats hosted the Princeton Tigers last Tuesday, January 10 at Chisago Lakes Arena, they took five penalties.  But they made lemonade out of lemons, scoring three shorthanded goals on their way to shutting out the Tigers 5-0.  Alyson Vogelsang led the way for the Wildcats with two goals and an assist.  The Wildcats completely dominated the game, outshooting the Tigers 42-9.

After a scoreless first period, Vogelsang opened the scoring at 6:35 of the second period, assisted by Lauren Schmidt and Brooke Klemz.  Schmidt scored a shorthanded goal at 11:14 of the period to double the Wildcat lead to 2-0.  Nora DeVries picked up the assist.  And Ella Perreault added a goal with 24 seconds left in the period, assisted by Vogelsang and Nora DeVries, to make it 3-0.  Vogelsang scored an unassisted shorthanded goal three minutes into the third period.  Nora DeVries was assessed a five-minute major for boarding just a minute later.  But not only did the Wildcats kill off that penalty,  Laine DeVries scored the Wildcats’ third shorthanded goal of the game, unassisted, to make the final score 4-0.

Proctor/Hermantown 3, Chisago Lakes 1
Despite dominating the Wildcats 37-8 in shots, the third-ranked Proctor/Hermantown Mirage had to rely on two shorthanded goals to beat the Wildcats 3-1 Thursday, January 12 at Chisago Lakes Arena.  Wildcat goalie Breanna Ritter kept her team in the game, stopping 34 of the 37 shots she faced against one of the top teams in the state.

The Mirage took just two penalties in the game and scored a shorthanded goal on each of those two penalty kills to go up 2-0 midway through the second period.  They added another goal late in the second period to make it 3-0.  Alyson Vogelsang gave the Wildcats some hope when she scored just 24 seconds into the third period, assisted by Ella Perreault, to cut the Proctor lead to 3-1.  But the Mirage shut the Wildcats down after that, allowing just four shots on goal for the period.

South St. Paul 4, Chisago Lakes 0
Despite being outshot by a 2-1 margin for the game, the Wildcats kept it close until the third period against the seventh-ranked South St. Paul Packers.  But the Packers took advantage of five Wildcat penalties in the third period and added two power play goals to shut out the Wildcats 4-0 in front of the home crowd last Saturday, January 14.

The Wildcats trailed 2-0 after the first period, but held firm in the second period, with Wildcat goalie Breanna Ritter stopping all 15 shots she faced in the period.  But the Wildcats took three tripping penalties in a two-minute span midway through the third period, and the Packers added a goal to make it 3-0 and give themselves a bit more breathing room.  They added a power play goal with under two minutes to go to make it 4-0.

The Wildcats may have been more aggressive than the Packers in this game, and frustration may have led to some of the penalties in the third period.  But the Wildcats were assessed seven penalties for the game to none for South St. Paul.  That is inexcusable for the refereeing crew, especially in front of the Wildcats’ home crowd.  The refs may have had stars in their eyes officiating a game featuring a highly-ranked team.

Hockey Hullaballoo
The Wildcats have lost five of their last seven games to drop their record to 9-9-0.  But they have played ranked teams and other tough opponents through this stretch and have kept all the games close.  They hope to build momentum with six games over the final two weeks of the season as they prepare for the section playoffs.  They will head to Parade Ice Garden to take on the Minneapolis Novas tonight at 7 p.m.  Next Tuesday, they will return home to play the Northern Tier Stars at 7 p.m. at Chisago Lakes Arena.

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