Prep girls hockey: Marshall solves CEC defense in 5-1 section win

VIRGINIA — No. 3 seed Cloquet-Esko-Carlton saw its 12-game winning streak come to an end at the hands of No. 2 seed Duluth Marshall in the Section 7A semifinals, Saturday, Feb. 12 at Iron Trail Motors Event Center.

The Lumberjacks had surrendered only one goal in their last nine games before the Hilltoppers erupted for five in a 5-1 final. The five-goal mark stands as a season-high in goals allowed for CEC, who finished the 2021-2022 season with a 19-7-1 record overall.

“Obviously it didn't end the way any of us would’ve liked it to, but unfortunately only two teams get to end on a win, so the majority of us feel the agony of defeat,” CEC coach Courtney Olin said. “I think in the moment tonight, it stings a little bit, but big picture I think without a question we got better as the season went on and our players hopefully had a good experience.”

Olin tipped her cap to the Hilltoppers, whose skill proved to be too much for the ‘Jacks to contain.

“At the end of the day their skill just beat our defensive play,” Olin said. “We spend a lot of time on systems and working hard, and I genuinely feel our girls worked as hard as they could, but I think their skill just surpassed our systems and our defensive style of play.”

Marshall’s victory was aided by a strong performance in net by Rae Anderson, who was especially sharp early on in the first period in the face of numerous quality scoring chances for the Lumberjacks on the forecheck.

“In the first eight minutes she was really tested and we really needed her to be big in that moment and she was,” Marshall coach Amanda Boulier said. “She has a funny way of coming up big when we’re not playing well, and I think she did that today. She was really the key to us getting that first power-play goal and really pouring it on from there.”

The opening frame remained scoreless until Kendra Royer found the back of the net on the power play for the Hilltoppers at the 14:32 mark. The power play goal given up by CEC was its first since Dec. 18 against Sartell/Sauk Rapids.

Boulier came away pleased with the team’s puck movement with the extra skater.

“I think our power play does such a great job of getting possession and just moving their killers around,” Boulier said. “We ran some switch plays and just ways to kind of move their kill in a way that teams haven’t done before. So our power play did a great job and we were able to execute on just kind of a greasy goal in front.”

Jake Przytarski / Cloquet Pine Journal

The Hilltoppers dominated the middle frame with their depth up front continuing to wear down the Lumberjacks.

Goaltender Araya Kiminski stood tall in the face of the barrage, but was unable to stop a shot by Annika Lindgren at the midway point of the period that put Marshall up 2-0. The Hilltoppers added a third goal four minutes later by Ilsa Lindaman to make it 3-0.

Jake Przytarski / Cloquet Pine Journal

In desperate need of a spark, CEC moved defenseman Tenley Stewart to forward in hopes of generating offense. The decision paid off, as Stewart cut the deficit back to two with 27 seconds remaining in the period with a much-needed goal.

“Tenley’s just a very versatile player…We knew we needed to get on the scoreboard. Just with her skill we thought we’d throw her up front and fortunately we were able to get one with her up there,” Olin said. “She’s just one of those kids that will do whatever it takes to help her team win.”

The Lumberjacks’ hopes for a comeback were put to bed just over a minute into the third period when Meredith Boettcher added a back-breaking fourth goal for the Hilltoppers. Danica Mark went on to add the fifth and final goal for Marshall in a 5-1 final.

The victory for the Hilltoppers moves them into the Section 7A finals where they will take on No. 1 seed Proctor/Hermantown on Wednesday in Virginia.