For Wausau Pilot & Review
WAUSAU – As February looms just around the corner, the Central Wisconsin Storm girls hockey team continues to gather momentum, running off their seventh straight win with a 5-0 shutout of the Wisconsin Valley Union Tuesday night at Marathon Park.
The Storm rode a balanced attack with five different players scoring and sophomore goaltender Claire Calmes turning in 18 saves in registering her fifth shutout in seven games played this season.
The teams battled through a pretty even first period until Storm junior Tristan Wicklund executed a perfect give-and-go with linemate Hannah Baumann, who buried a wrist shot from just inside the dot to give them a 1-0 lead. Shots on goal were 9-4 in favor of the Storm after one period.
The competitive play continued into period two when Wicklund, coming off the wall, found a rare seam to the net and snapped a wrist shot past WVU goalie Grace Lawrence for a 2-0 lead.
“They (WVU) did a nice job defensively of limiting our high danger scoring chances,” said Co-Head Coach Dan Bauer of the Storm. Later in the period, the depth of the Storm began to take its toll on the Union. With the period winding down CWS would tally twice to take a 4-0 lead into the locker room. Sophomore defenseman Ava Rode drilled a shot from the top of the circles and freshman Ava Whitmore knocked in a rebound just under a minute later for CWS.
Sophie Bolin converted a beautiful pass from Gabi Hauser late in third period to finish the scoring. The Storm finished the game with 34-18 shots on goal advantage.
Calmes, with the shutout, lowered her season GAA to 0.69 and raised her save percentage to .965. She is 7-0 on the season. “Our goaltending tandem (Calmes & senior Chloe Lemke) has proven to be every bit as good as we expected it to be coming into the season,” said Bauer.
The Storm improved to 14-3 on the season and will play the Northern Edge at 7 p.m. Thursday night at Greenheck Fieldhouse at D.C. Everest High School. It will be the “Pink the Rink” game to raise money for cancer awareness.
Storm 5, Union 0
Wisconsin Valley 0 0 0 – 0
Central Wisconsin 1 3 1 – 5
First period: 1. CW, Hannah Baumann (Tristan Wicklund, Julia DeByle), 6:42.
Second period: 2. CW, Wicklund, 9:10; 3. CW, Ava Rode (Abigail Dhein), 14:57; 4. CW, Ava Whitmore (Madeline Kelter), 15:53.
Third period: 5. CW, Sophie Bohlin (Gabi Heuser), 15:10.
Saves: WV, Grace Lawrence 29; CW, Claire Calmes 18.
Records: Wisconsin Valley 4-15; Central Wisconsin 14-3.
