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CL 4, Pine City 3

Three eighth graders – Zoe Neurer, Aven Lyckholm, and Brynn Secor – led a Wildcat comeback from a two-goal deficit in the first period as the Wildcats beat the Pine City Dragons 4-3 in the Wildcats’ final home game of the season Thursday, January 29 at Chisago Lakes High School. The Wildcats outshot the Dragons 46-15 for the game.

The Wildcats trailed 2-0 after the Dragons scored twice in the first six minutes of the game. Neurer cut the Pine City lead to 2-1 with a power play goal at 14:15, assisted by Alli Smothers and Secor. The Dragons scored their second power play goal at 6:39 of the second period to stretch their lead back to two goals.  But just two minutes later, Lyckholm put one in the back of the net, with the assists going to Lexi Smothers and Grace Schule, to cut the lead to 3-2.  Secor tied the game up just 38 seconds into the third period. Neurer and Naomi Eaton got the assists.  And with just two minutes left in regulation, Lyckholm scored the game winner, assisted by Eaton, sending the Wildcats fans home happy.

CL 3, Pine City 1

The next night, the Wildcats again outshot the Dragons by a three-to-one margin (52-17) and came away with a 3-1 win at Pine City Arena in the Wildcats’ final regular season game. Naomi Eaton scored an unassisted goal seven minutes into the first period to put the Wildcats up 1-0. Aven Lyckholm got a goal four minutes into the second period, assisted by Lexi Smothers, to make it 2-0. And Cam Hinsch added some insurance with a goal midway high the third period, with the assist going to Sese Ritter. Isabella Schneider scored for the Dragons with 47 seconds left in the game to spoil Wildcat goalie Ava Aarnio’s shutout bid. Pine City goalie Iris Sanftner probably needed a rest after facing 98 shots from the Wildcats and giving up just seven goals over two days.

Hockey Hullaballoo

The Wildcats (20-5-0) won 20 games in a season for the first time in school history and finished the season on a nine-game winning streak. They are still ranked eighth in the state in Class 1A in the latest poll, while section rival Blake dropped to fourth. Lexi Smothers finished the regular season second in the state with 40 assists and ninth in the state in total points with 54.

The last two games against Pine City saw a total of 26 penalties. Pine City did what weak teams often do as they are headed toward an early playoff exit, with cheap shots, chippiness after whistles and a lot of yelling by the bench throughout both games, encouraged by the fans. Some Pine City parents were observed talking trash to a preteen Wildcat fan in the lobby after one of the games. The Wildcats played hard between the whistles and displayed good sportsmanship throughout. The Dragons went after Lexi Smothers as a parting shot in the second game, cross checking her with ten seconds to go in the game and slashing her hard on the wrist with three seconds to go. The silver lining is this likely helped toughen up the Wildcats for the postseason.

Playoff Preview

The eighth-ranked Wildcats (20-5-0) are seeded second in the Section 4A playoffs and will face the winner of Saturday’s game between the 20th-ranked and third-seeded Holy Angels Stars (9-15-1) and the sixth-seeded Visitation Blazers (6-14-2) on Tuesday, February 10 at 7 p.m. at Chisago Lakes Arena.

Holy Angels, who should easily beat Visitation, has a misleading record.  They play a tough schedule featuring a number of Class AA teams. But they are also 1-3-1 in the last five games, so they are not heading into the playoffs with momentum. The Wildcats are on a nine-game winning streak, so they have plenty of momentum. This will be a tough test for the Wildcats, but if they get solid goaltending from Ava Aarnio and play the way they have been playing the last several weeks, they should win the game and move on to the section championship game.  That game will be at the home ice of the highest remaining seed on Thursday, February 12 at 7 p.m. The top-seeded and third-ranked Blake Bears will be that likely opponent. If the Wildcats beat Holy Angels, we will preview the section championship game in next week’s Press.

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