USM Girls Outskate Sun Prairie

It is not the size of the arena but the size of the heart a team has while playing there. The Sun Prairie ice arena is narrow, and the distance between blue lines in center ice can be measured in inches. However, the size of the effort that the co-op girls hockey team displayed within the unfamiliar dimensions of the Sun Prairie rink was immeasurable. The players for USM gave full effort to out play and defeat the Sun Prairie co-op 4-2 Tuesday night.

It took the Wildcats awhile to get used to their surroundings; consequently, the home team scored the game's first goal. The Cardinals scored it on a power play.  As the Sun Prairie players moved the puck in the USM zone, Alexis Peterson sent it to Jamie Henderson behind the net. Henderson skated out on a wrap around and jammed the puck under USM's goaltender Heidi Golembiewski's pads at 10:02 of the first period.

USM tied it up in the last minute of the first period. Cycling the puck deep in the Sun Prairie zone, Nina Andersen sent it to Rose Revolinski below the goal line.  Revolinski furthered the favor by passing it to Megan Bailey in the right corner.  Bailey skated up the boards and turned toward the net. Like a master chef she heated her shot into the oven behind the Cardinals' goalie Dani Deltgen at 16:19.

USM took the lead on a second period power play. Once again the line of Andersen, Revolinski and Bailey worked their goal-scoring magic. Andersen fed the puck to Revolinski behind the Sun Prairie net. Revolinski passed it to Bailey on the right boards and then moved in front to screen Deltgen. Bailey moved into the low right circle and fired the puck into the net at 10:36.

The action got furious late in the third period, and three goals were scored in just over two minutes. USM scored two of them. The first came at 11:01. Forechecking, Laine Tomesch rushed in below the Sun Prairie goal line and stripped the puck away from a defender. Tomesch turned and went toward the left post. She tried to stuff it past Deltgen, but the goalie stopped it. The rebound popped out to Liz Curley in the near circle. Curley one-timed a shot over Deltgen's shoulder for what would prove to be the game winner.

USM's had to kill three third-period penalties, and the Cardinals were able to tally their second power play goal on one of them. In the USM end, Amber Deltgen passed the puck to Henderson in the left circle. Henderson spotted an open seam and crossed the puck to Peterson in the far circle. Peterson immediately whipped a wrist shot into the net at 12:07.

Just over a minute later the Wildcats scored again. Just inside the Sun Prairie blue line, Ellie Wigdale stopped the puck on a Sun Prairie clearing attempt and threw it deep into the zone. Her cousin Abby Wigdale went for the puck, battling for it in the left corner. Abby Wigdale won control of it and passed it out front to Tomesch who immediately blasted a shot into the net at 13:18. 

USM had its third penalty late in the period, and Sun Prairie pulled Deltgen for an added skater. Golembiewski stopped the Sun Prairie shots, and the Wildcats' penalty killers cleared the puck quickly. Their collective efforts effectively killed the penalty, and, soon, they effectively killed the home team's hopes.

In the game Deltgen made 22 saves and Golembiewski made 25 saves.

Sun Prairie is now 8-6-1. USM is 11-2. The Wildcats’ next game is an Eastern Shores Conference game against Arrowhead in Hartland at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.