Jacks Beat Mirage Behind Gustafson’s Incredible Performance

Dec 10

Kerry Rodd-NSO

CLOQUET – The lobby was buzzing following Thursday nights Cloquet-Esko-Carlton’s 4-1 win over Proctor-Hermantown-Marshall in girls hockey. The buzz was not because of the win, but because of the once in a lifetime performance of CEC net minder Sarah Gustafson who made 46 saves on 47 shots.

“Sarah Gustafson displayed the near and technical side of CEC goaltending with the help of her scrambling teammates,” said CEC coach Dick Bartholdi. “She was Dominik Hasek or Martin Brodeur in her never giving up on the puck.”

Adjectives like spectacular, incredible, phenomenal and others do not carry enough weight for the performance that fans were treated to by Gustafson. After giving up a goal to Emma Stauber in the first period, the senior goalie continually robbed the Mirage more than Robin Hood robbed the rich in days of lore.

“It is a credit to how hard Sarah has worked in the summer to be one of the elite goalies in the state,” mentioned Bartholdi. “The Mirage had revenge on their mind and they had us bottled up in our defensive zone, but Courtney Esse bailed us out with a hat trick and some fine selective shooting.”

For the record, the Lumberjacks were outshot 47-11 for the game, but CEC made the most out of their chances and much of that can be attributed to the play of senior forward Courtney Esse who pumped in three goals and an assist to lead the Jacks offensively.

Jessie Ryan found Esse streaking down the right side at 2:42 of the first period and Esse did the rest with a blistering shot that beat Anja Morris, the PHM goalie, to the stick side. Stauber then tied the game after Julia Gilbert won the draw with 8:53 left in the first period to tie the game for the Mirage, but little did they know that the diminutive senior, Gustafson, would stand to Paul Bunyanesque heights.

After being outshot 18-3 in the first period, the Mirage stormed the CEC net in the second period, but Gustafson repelled the attack. Finally Ryan and Melissa Clark teamed to get the puck to Esse at the 13:07 mark and Esse flipped the puck top shelf for a 2-1 lead. The Jacks added another tally from Melissa Clark at 15:56 on the power play that seemed to shock the Mirage as CEC came out of the period leading 3-1, despite being outshot 30-9 after two periods.

The third period saw the Mirage on a 5-on-3 power play near the 10-minute mark, but Gustafson and her defenders continually swept away shots from point blank range. In fact, at one point the Mirage pounded six shots on goal in a five second span that Gustafson knocked away with a stick, a glove, and then who knows what to keep them off the board.

CEC finally gave themselves some breathing room when Dalyce Gustafson made a picture perfect pass to Esse, who snapped in a shot for a goal with just 2:02 remaining in the final period for a 4-1 lead. The Mirage outshot the Jacks 17-2 in the final period.

“The Mirage showed us that we have a lot to work on to be ready for the next time we play them,” commented Bartholdi. “We have had six games in two weeks and it has been difficult to work on a lot of the stuff we need to work on.”

Julia Gilbert was spectacular for the Mirage playing a two-way game that was excellent. In fact, Gilbert had tons of chances to score on Gustafson, but it was Gustafson who won the battle. However, that did not diminish the great play of Gilbert who may be one of the best forwards to have stepped on the ice at the Cloquet Area Recreation Center in recent history.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com