Girls hockey team heads into playoffs on a high note

A road trip to the western part of the state was just what the doctor ordered for the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton girls hockey team this past weekend. The ’Jacks notched a 4-1 win over Bemidji Friday and then traveled to Thief River Falls Saturday and beat the No. 6-ranked Prowlers by the same 4-1 score. The two wins pushed the Lumberjack record to 17-7 as they wrapped up their regular season schedule and prepped for the playoffs.

CEC head coach Courtney Olin said the girls played in Bemidji at 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 1, and then attended the Bemidji State vs. Wisconsin game that evening, staying overnight in Bemidji before traveling up to Thief River Falls Saturday, Feb. 2.

Against Bemidji, the game was scoreless through one period of play. In the second period, CEC broke things open by scoring three of the four goals in the period as they took a 3-1 lead.

“Our Achilles heel has been finishing on the scoring opportunities that we have created and we finally broke that open in the second period against Bemidji,” Olin said. “I think it relieved some of the pressure the players were feeling and we started to play more relaxed and overall cleaner hockey.”

Jaxie Pogorelc scored 1:23 into the second period with assists going to Dea DeLeon and Brea Rasmussen, giving CEC a 1-0 lead. After Bemidji tied the game on a Maggie Marcotte goal at 4:03, the Lumberjacks found the back of the net twice with Kiana Bender scoring at 10:35 on the power play and Emmie Ellena adding an unassisted goal at 12:47. Bender’s goal was assisted by Taylor Nelson and Keagan Anderson.

The only goal of the third period came off the stick of Dana Jones with an assist from Bender on the power play at 13:19, making the final 4-1. The game saw CEC outshoot Bemidji 39-11. Elise Lund finished with 10 saves in picking up the win in goal for the ’Jacks.

“Another point of emphasis we have focused on this year is not passing up on scoring opportunities,” Olin said. “It’s pretty hard to score if you don’t shoot the puck, so we were happy to see the girls getting shots off. Getting the puck to the net helped create more scoring opportunities and we just fed off that.”

Saturday the No. 7-ranked Lumberjacks took on No. 6 Thief River Falls in their final regular season game of the year. The game played out much like the game the previous night when CEC scored first, then allowed a tying score before scoring the final three markers of the game.

“In my opinion the game against Thief River Falls was one of our best all season,” Olin said. “We played very solid position and overall we had poise with the puck.”

Taylor Nelson was the scoring hero for CEC, finishing with a hat trick for the ’Jacks. Lund was stellar in the nets by saving 15 of 16 Prowler shots.

“I was really happy with our puck possession and the puck control we demonstrated,” Olin said. “It was so fun to see the execution on systems we have been working on. In order to compete with the best, our top players have to be top players in big games like this weekend, and they certainly rose to the occasion.”

Nelson scored a pair of goals in the first period with the first goal an even-strength goal assisted by Bender and Jenna Zdebski, and the second goal a power play tally assisted by Keagan Anderson. Dana Jones added the third goal of the first period for CEC on an unassisted play at 14:10 to close out the period, giving CEC a 3-1 lead and an 8-4 shot advantage on the shot clock.

The second and most of the third periods were played tight to the vest with CEC outshooting the Prowlers 10-9 in the second and 5-3 in the final period. Still, the only shot on net that counted was Nelson hitting an empty net with 1:02 left to play with the Thief River Falls goalie, Faith Porter, pulled for an extra attacker. Bender and Jones recorded assists on the empty net goal by Nelson.

“I think the goal of everyone is to peak at playoff time, and after this weekend, I believe we are doing just that,” explained Olin. “Beating the No. 6-ranked team a few days before going to the playoffs is definitely a confidence booster for our team. I think we are in a good place to be competitive in the postseason.”

The win improved CEC to 17-7 on the season, which is the best regular season record since the 2005-2006 season which resulted in a third-place AA state tournament finish that year. By winning, the Lumberjacks nabbed the No. 3 seed in the Section 7A playoffs and were scheduled to host the No. 6 seeded Eveleth-Gilbert at Northwoods Credit Union Arena Thursday night. Editor's note: Because of Thursday's winter weather, the game was rescheduled for Friday night at 7 p.m. at Northwoods