For Wausau Pilot & Review
WAUSAU – All good things must come to an end.
The Central Wisconsin Storm, playing their fourth game in seven days, saw their 12-game winning streak come to an end at the hands of the No. 3-ranked Bay Area Ice Bears, 5-0 on Thursday at the Marathon Park Ice Arena.
It was the first loss for the 19-4 Storm since Dec. 29.
On the Storm’s Senior Night, the Ice Bears jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead on goals by Faye Brunke and Stacey Cloute.
On a night when the puck wasn’t bouncing their way, the Storm squandered several excellent scoring chances in the game’s first three minutes. “We had some good looks at the net early,” said co-head coach Dan Bauer. “That first goal is always important to get, unfortunately tonight, it didn’t go in for us.”
CWS responded with a fantastic second period, controlling much of the play while outshooting Bay Area 9-5. reshman Ava Whitmore hit the pipe midway through the period, but Ice Bears goalie Anna Byczek kept CWS off the scoreboard. The Storm powerplay also came up empty on three second-period opportunities.
The game remained 2-0 until 9:01 of the third period when the Storm’s aggressive push got caught and Rachel Beeck got loose and slipped a breakaway goal past Senior Chloe Lemke to made it 3-0. Bay Area added two goals in the game’s final three minutes for a 5-0 final score. Bay Area (21-3) outshot the Storm 28-23 overall.
“It’s never as good as it seems, and tonight it isn’t as bad as it seems,” said Bauer. “We have carried the defending state champion and top ranking with us much of the season. It is an added burden, that brings out the best in everyone we play. e had many good chances to make this a one goal game, some night the puck just doesn’t go in, give Bay Area credit, they played well,” he added. “The scoresheet says 5-0 but this game was much closer than that. We’ll bounce back.”
It was the final regular season home game for seniors, Hannah Baumann, Chloe Lemke, Mackenzie Bautch, Kailey Grosskreutz and Carly Czerwinski. CWS will finish the regular season on Saturday with a 2:45 p.m. matinee vs. the Lakeshore Lightning at Ozaukee Ice Arena in Mequon.
