CEC Girls Skate Right With The State’s Top Teams

Click here for the CEC vs Roseville box score

Click here for the CEC vs Stillwater box score

Nov 19, 2012

Kerry Rodd-NSO

The opening schedule for the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton girls hockey team is about as tough as it gets this season. The Jacks are opening against some of the top teams in the state and on Friday they fell 4-3 to Roseville, the state’s #5 ranked team with arguably the state’s top player in Kate Flug. Saturday the Jacks hit the road and tied Stillwater, ranked #9 in the state, 3-3.

After falling behind on Friday night 1-0 in the first period the Jacks powered home three goals in the second period to take a 3-1 lead. Emily Gustafson scored on the power play at 8:56 from Carley Esse and Kaitlyn Miller to tie the game at 1-1 at 8:56. Then at 10:48 it was Ashley Krisak scoring from Miller and Esse to give CEC a 2-1 edge. The Jacks went up 3-1 when Gustafson slammed home a power play goal at 11:11 from Krisak and Miller.

However, Roseville stormed back in the third period with three goals of their own at; 3:09, 6:24 and 10:04 to take the win. Katie Beckman finished with 27 saves for the Jacks in the loss.

“I thought we played a great game for two periods and then fell apart in the third,” said first year Jacks coach Lance Horvat. “We had some break downs in coverage, but it was a great improvement over our first game of the season against Forest Lake.”

As if playing a good team at home was not enough, the Jacks then hit the road on Saturday for a late afternoon affair against the Stillwater Ponies, the state’s #9 ranked team. CEC skated away with a 3-3 tie and a lot of confidence.

The Ponies took a 2-0 lead after one period on goals by Dana Almquist and Hannah Okerstrom; but the Lumberjacks bounced back to cut into the lead in the second period on a power play goal by Gustafson at 2:46 from Esse and Miller to make it 2-1. Stillwater added a Sara Bustad goal on the power play at 6:44, but before the end of the period Gustafson notched another power play goal for CEC at 7:53 from Esse and Miller to make it 3-2 after two periods.

Gustafson completed the hat trick in the third period at 5:31 with a shorthanded tally that tied the score and then the Jacks relied on defense and goalie Alyssa Acheson to slam the door on anymore scoring by the Ponies. Acheson was strong with 50 saves for CEC, while Allison Pasiuk had 15 saves for Stillwater.

“I was worried after a hard game the night before against Roseville,” commented Horvat. “I wondered how our team was going to respond in back-to-back tough games. The girls played very well, and we were obviously outshot by a lot, but they all came together and played a good game against a very tough team.”

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com