WOODBURY — Winless in its two previous games, the Stillwater girls hockey team closed out its Suburban East Conference schedule with a 3-1 victory over East Ridge on Saturday, Jan. 27 at Fairview Sports Center.
The Ponies (14-1-1 SEC, 16-7-1), who had already wrapped up the program’s fifth consecutive conference championship, travel to second-ranked Andover for their final regular season game on Saturday, Feb. 3 before the Section 4AA tournament kicks off on Feb. 10.
Stillwater finished four points four points ahead of conference runner-up Woodbury (12-3-1, 18-4-2) and third-place Roseville/Mahtomedi (12-4, 16-8) in the final league standings.
Senior Josie St. Martin scored all three goals for the Ponies in their victory over East Ridge, giving her 23 goals and 31 assists for 54 points.
It was the third hat trick of the season for the Ohio State University recruit, who has scored at least one point in 17 of her 20 games this season.
East Ridge (2-14, 6-18) goaltender Molly Bierwerth made 32 stops and kept the Ponies scoreless until St. Martin broke through with two minutes left in the opening period. She followed with another tally just 32 seconds into the second period and it remained tied until Caitlin Roth answered for the Raptors to climb within 2-1.
St. Martin answered just two minutes later as to regain a two-goal margin for the Ponies, who held a 35-17 advantage in shots on goal.
Haley Solnitzky finished with 16 saves for the Ponies, who outscored their conference opponents by a combined 84-23 this season.
Stillwater 1 1 1 — 3
East Ridge 0 0 1 — 1
First period — 1. St, Josie St. Martin (unassisted) 15:03.
Second period — 2. St, St. Martin (unassisted) :32.
Third period — 1. ER, Caitlin Roth (unassisted) 2:15; 3. St, St. Martin (Brooke Nelson) 4:26.
Penalties — St, 4-8:00; ER, 3-6:00.
Saves — St (Haley Solnitzky) 5-5-6—16; ER (Molly Bierwerth) 8-9-15—32.
Stillwater 6, Woodbury 6
Facing Woodbury for the second time in less than a week, the Ponies skated to a 6-all tie during their second conference game on Thursday, Jan. 25 at the St. Croix Valley Rec Center.
Stillwater blanked the Royals 6-0 on Jan. 20 in a victory that clinched at least a share of the league title. Stillwater followed with its conference first loss in more than two seasons in its next game against Roseville/Mahtomedi before tying the Royals and defeating East Ridge in its SEC finale.
The Ponies had not trailed in a game all season until losing to Roseville/Mahtomedi on Jan. 23, but they were in trouble early against Woodbury (12-3-1, 18-4-2). Alexa Bricko scored just 58 seconds into the game and the Royals jumped out to a 4-0 lead after goals by Abbey Lenzyk, Hailey Graunke and Olivia Mischacoff.
Brynn Laska eventually broke through for the Ponies with just a minute remaining in the period to climb within 4-1.
Brooke Nelson scored on the power play for Stillwater less than two minutes into the second period before Bricko notched her second goal, also on the power play, to push Woodbury’s lead to 5-2.
The Ponies closed the gap with power play goals by Josephine Lang at 6:29 and Addy Finn at 10:01 to pull within one at 5-4 after two periods. All four goals scored in the second came on the power play.
Belle McKenzie evened the score for Stillwater just 1:33 into the third and Brooke Nelson found the net again to put the Ponies in front 6-5 midway through the period. Lendzyk, however, struck for Woodbury with just two minutes remaining in regulation to even the score and force overtime.
Both teams put three shots on goal in overtime.
After entering the game in the first period, Haley Solnitzky allowed two goals and while making 21 saves for the Ponies.
Woodbury 4 1 1 0 — 6
Stillwater 1 3 2 0 — 6
First period — 1. Wo, Alexa Bricko (Hailey Graunke) :58; 2. Wo, Abbey Lendzyk (unassisted) 5:10; 3. Graunke (Maddison Boone, Stella Aune) 11:04; 4. Wo, Olivia Mishacoff (Laini Gnetz, Natalie Meeder) 12:42; 1. Brynne Laska (Brooke Nelson, Josie St. Martin) 16:00.
Second period — 2. St, Nelson (St. Martin, Josephine Lang) pp, 1:34; 5. Wo, Bricko (Gnetz) pp, 6:09; 3. St, Lang (Grace Cheney, St. Martin) pp, 6:29; 4. Addy Finn (Lang, St. Martin) pp, 10:01.
Third period — 5. St, Belle McKenzie (Finn, Kelsey Rose) 1:33; 6. St, Nelson (unassisted) 8:57; 6. Wo, Lendzyk (Paige Fasching) 14:59.
Overtime — No scoring.
Penalties — Wo, 6-12:00; St, 5-10:00.
Saves — Wo (Alyssa Polaski) 5-9-7-3—24; St (Lily Timmons) 6-x-x-x—6 and (Haley Solnitzky 2-7-9-3—21.
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