By Jim den Hollander
Editor/Publisher
Saukhockey.info
After a solid start, the South-Central Girls 18U team found the road a bit bumpy at the Tier II State Championship tournament in Chippewa Falls this past weekend.
The South-Central all-star squad includes Sauk County players Ryleigh Bychinski, Paige Othmer, Emma Diehl and Elizabeth Haag.
Also competing in the five-team event were regional Wisconsin Elite Hockey League (WEHL) teams from North Central/NorthEast, SouthWest, Western and SouthEast.
The local squad started the event Friday with a 2-1 edge against Western, but fell 7-1 later in the day against the SouthWest team.
On Saturday South-Central was shutout 4-0 by NorthCentral/NorthEast and Sunday saw them edged 5-3 in their final game against SouthEast.
Following is a quick look at the tournament for South Central:
South Central 2 Western 1
Teams played through a scoreless opening period in the opener before Diehl set up Brita Lake for the opening goal in the sixth minute of the second period.
That lead held up until the final minute of the period when the Western squad tied it, setting the stage for Kinley Laux who sank the game winner 22 seconds from the final buzzer.
The main factor in the win for South Central was the work in goal from Jillian Traver who kicked out 31 shots and led her team to the win despite a 32-15 edge in shots for the opposition.
Southwest 7 South Central 1
The thrill of capturing the win in the opener was blunted by SouthWest who grabbed a 3-1 lead in the second game and doubled it to 6-1 by the start of the third period.
Ava Kligora fired the lone South Central goal from Emma Kligora. Traver and Lily Rosenthal split the work in goal for the South Central squad.
South Central 0 North Central/Northeast 4
Lily
Traver did all she could early, turning aside 19 of 20 through the first two periods but NC/NE dominated with another dozen shots in the final period on its way to the shutout win. Overall, the shots advantage was 32-15.
SouthEast 5 South-Central 3
On Sunday, the South-Central team played its final game of a season that started at the end of August.
Teams were even at 1-1 after a period but by the start of the final frame, SouthEest held a 4-2 edge.
Leah Grudzinski and Emma Kligora notched the goals from Olivia Dull, Bychinski and Mya Roller.
Grudzinski’s second, from Bychinski and Emma Kligora had the South-Central team within a shot of pulling even, but an empty net maker with 50 seconds to play lifted SouthEast to the two-goal win.
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