Girls Hockey: Wierschem's six points help Wilmar end skid
WILLMAR -- The Willmar Cardinals ended a 12-game losing skid on Thursday behind a six-point game from Chelsey Wierschem in a 7-3 win over St. Peter at the Civic Center.
Wierschem had both a natural playmaker (three assists in a row) to start the game and a natural hat trick (three goals in a row) to end it.
The Cardinals last won Dec. 9, 5-3 over River Lakes, also on home ice.
"The girls had a lot of nerves trying to end the losing streak," said Willmar coach Rick Dahle. "But this got the 800-pound gorilla off our backs. It was a team effort."
The Saints are a section team, so this will help Willmar's chances of getting a home game in playoffs.
Bailey Young stopped 27 shots for the win in net. Samantha Thompson, Ali Sing (twice) and Meckenzie Dahle shot Willmar into a 4-0 lead. But the Saints filed three straight goals and suddenly its was 4-3 in the middle of the second.
But Wierschem, who is second on Willmar's career-scoring list, took over to score three straight goals, the last shorthanded.
Willmar 7, St. Peter 3
St. Peter (5-7) 0 3 0 -- 3
Willmar (5-14) 3 2 2 -- 7
FIRST PERIOD - Wil: Samantha Thompson (unassisted), 3:57 ... Wil: Ali Sing (Chelsey Wierschem), sh, 5:11 ... Wil: Meckenzie Dahle (Wierschem, Brittney Serbus) 16:49
SECOND PERIOD - Wil: Sing (Wierschem) 4:11 ... SPL: Becca Anderson (Brittany Pell, Erin Seaver), pp, 5:35 ... SPL: Liz Wiers (unassisted) 6:04 ... SPL: Becca Studer (Sydney Johnson, Erin Seaver), pp, 7:07 ... Wil: Wierschem (unassisted) 10:24
THIRD PERIOD - Wil: Wierschem (Dahle) 6:26 ...Wil: Wierschem (unassisted), sh, 8:45
GOALIE SAVES - St. Peter: Kirsten Shaughnessy 5-17-8-30 ... Willmar: Bailey Young 7-7-13-27
Non-Conference
MBA 2, Marshall 0
Morris/Benson Area (14-4) put 54 shots on Marshall goalie Sarah Schneekloth, but only two found the back of the net. Sara Rajewsky scored unassisted in the first period and Sam Falk, assisted by Dani Schultz, added an insurance goal in the third.
Storm goalie Brooke Falk needed to make only 10 saves for the shutout.
Marshall 0 0 0 -- 0
MBA (14-4) 1 0 1 -- 2
FIRST PERIOD - MBA: Sara Rajewsky (unassisted), 8:26
SECOND PERIOD - no scoring
THIRD PERIOD - MBA: Sam Falk (Dani Schultz), 14:19
GOALIE SAVES - Marshall: Sarah Schneekloth 19-14-19-52 ... Morris/Benson Area: Brooke Falk 1-3-6-10
