The Stars took third place during the Holiday Cup Tournament, to make their record 12-2, on the season.
On Monday, Dec. 28, the girls started their adventure. This was actually a good team experience as well. For the fact of having to ride a bus together for an hour and a half for three days, really can bond a team together. In the first round of the playoffs, River Lakes defeated Brainerd 2-0.
This had a very competitive first period and there was no scoring. Kari Turkowski had the first penalty for high sticking. Because of the tough competi-tion, the Stars knew they had to pick it up if they wanted to win. The second period was just the same. Neither team scored, but the Stars played hard and were getting fired up.
That is how they came out on the ice before the third period, fired up. Within five minutes Natalie Rinn, for the Stars, scored the first goal of the game. Her goal was assisted by Turkowski and Missy Sieben. This really got the Stars roared up to go and that is what they did. That goal kept them going the whole game and because of this, Rinn scored another goal, which was assisted by Turkowski. This ended the first round giving the Stars a win of 2-0.
Benson
On Tuesday, River Lakes lost for only the second time all season. This was to Benson, 4-2.
The Stars knew this was going to be a tough game, because Benson was undefeated coming into the game.
During warmups, the Stars were fired up and also a little nervous being faced with an undefeated team. To make matters a little worse, the Minnesota Gopher women’s hockey coach and the St. Ben’s hockey coach were there to watch.
In the first period, it took the Stars awhile to get going, but they did score the first goal, which was scored by Rinn again and was assisted by Turkowski. This meant that the Stars were playing side by side with the Braves. You could really tell the tension out on the ice after the first period and before the second.
The second period was a crucial one for both teams. In the middle of the period, Benson managed to slip one through the Stars goalie, Shari Vogt. That goal just meant that the Stars had to pick it up and play even harder. To put Benson on the power play, Mary Beth Johannes was called with roughing and put in the penalty box for two minutes. That is when Benson scored their second goal of the game putting the score at the end of the second period, 2-1 Benson.
The third period was the last chance for the Stars to prove they could do it. This was a back and forth period you could say. Benson scored another, then the Stars scored. This goal was scored by Rinn and was again assisted by Turkowski and Sieben. This goal cut the Benson lead to 3-2. Turkowski was called with roughing to put Benson in control. Towards the end of the period, Marya Losinski collided with a Benson player. This penalty left the Stars short handed so they had to pull together and finish strong. The Stars had to finish the game short handed. River Lakes had a great and tough game but had to skate away with a loss of 4-2. Losinski was all right.
Princeton
On Wednesday, the Stars captured third place by defeating Princeton 3-2.
Remembering the last time the Stars played Princeton, they knew if they wanted to win they had to play their positions.
The Stars started out really slow and were not having good passes and because of that, Princeton scored their first goal. As the period continued, the competition grew. Turkowski was called with roughing and a few Princeton players were also called.
The beginning of the second period started out just the same as the first, a little slow. To make things worse Princeton scored their second goal. The Stars had to pull through and win this game if they wanted to take third place. Anne Bohlman was called with roughing as well and that ended the period with a score of 2-0, Princeton.
The third period was a great one. It was probably one of the best periods the Stars had ever played. They made some great passes, they were really all playing together and they really picked it up. With that, Turkowski scored a goal that was assisted by Johannes. Within five minutes Turkowski scored again to tie the game 2-2.
Princeton had called a time out. There wasn’t much time on the clock so the Stars had to really put their heads together cause they didn’t want to go into overtime. The line of Courtney Karsch, Melissa Jungels, and Jenny Habben went out on the ice. The puck was dropped and shot into the Stars scoring zone. Jungles had some great shots to Karsch and Habben, but none went in until Jungles had a great shot to Karsch and with 29 seconds left in the game, Karsch shot and scored!!! Tears of joy were flowing and the Stars had won the game. After the shaking of hands, the Stars received their third place medals. They were so excited with their victory of 3-2.
The Stars had a game yesterday, ironically against Benson for a rematch. The girls had a great tournament and next year hope to come home with a first place trophy.