Greg Peters

The last and only time the River Falls Wildcat boys' hockey team made it to the state tournament in 1997, current Head Coach Cam Wilken wasn't even born yet.

Slightly more than three years ago, Wilken graduated from North Dakota State University and accepted a phy ed teaching and coaching job with the Wildcat hockey program. Hockey was in his blood. He played it growing up in Eden Prairie, Minn. His grandfather coached high school hockey in Moorhead, Minn., and for Concordia College.

The term "puck luck" is a common term in hockey and the Wildcats haven't had much of it on the boys' side in the past quarter century. While the girls' Fusion co-op hockey coach Matt Cranston has spent the last 19 years building a perennial power in Wisconsin, the Wildcat boys' program has had nine different

coaching changes since that lone state tournament run in 1997. That historic run saw the Wildcats lose to eventual state champ Sun Prairie in the state semi-finals.

The Fusion are also headed to the state championship on the girls' side again this year, Cranston's fifth trip to the state tournament, winning three in a row from 2009-11. The girls' hockey team has had their share of ink and accolades and they will receive more in the weeks to come. Puck luck, however, has finally bounced the right way for Wildcat boys' hockey.

It's not luck the Wildcats are in the state tournament, though. They've earned the right with a gauntlet for a regular season schedule in the toughest hockey conference in the state. In the last four years since the WIAA has had a two-class state tournament, Section 3 has sent four different schools with the #1

section seed never advancing to the state tournament yet.

The #1 seed was cursed again this year, as the second seeded Wildcats punched their ticket to the state tournament with a dominating 2-0 win over Menomonie this past Saturday in Somerset.

The reason for the long drought is a culmination of many factors according to Wilken.

"We have to play the blue bloods every year and hockey wasn't most of the guys' first sport. The best athletes were playing basketball and wrestling in the winter at a young age. It's hard to dig yourself out of that,” he said.

Digging out did take time. The year before Wilken arrived, the Wildcats won one game in 2020-21 during the Covid-shortened 13-game season. Where the puck luck wrapped its favorable foil around the Wildcat hands came in the form of who shared a phy ed office with the new 23-year-old head coach at River Falls High School in the fall of 2021. Wildcat Head Baseball Coach Ryan Bishop began his tenure in River Falls in the fall of 1998, right after graduating from UW-River Falls. He had been in the exact same shoes Cam Wilken was in the fall of 2021, the perfect coaching mentor, sharing an office sitting just a few feet away.

"I really look up to Ryan," said Wilken. "He's the first person I turn to if something's going wrong. He hasn't had a losing season since in, like, forever, and that's not by accident."

Wilken had Bishop speak to his team on Friday before the section final game against Menomonie.

"Ryan's talk was about what you do when you face adversity and how you dig yourself out," said Wilken. "We had 22 guys who were laser focused listening to what he had to say. You can see how much us

winning meant to him."

The Wildcats have dug themselves out of mediocrity and Wilkens says it was the guys on the team who took the shovel and started working.

"We have the right group of kids and they said 'enough is enough.' There's no reason why River Falls can't be good at hockey,” he said.

A young coach having the self-awareness to ask advice is a big factor, but that isn't his best quality as a coach, according to senior captain Jack Rock.

"He (Wilken) does a great job listening. Everything is player-led and I know that's what he's been pushing for. He wants the players to own it and we do,” Rock said.

A great example of listening and humility happened on Saturday in the section finals.

"I thought the refs were a little one-sided early on and was getting a little animated," said Wilken.

"Freshman Chase Weissinger hollered at me and said, 'This is what Coach Bishop was talking about, we got it. You don't have to yell.' Right there, I knew we were going to win."

The disciples of Bobby Knight's coaching philosophy would be turning over in their graves right now after reading that comment, but it's tough to argue Wilken's results. Later in the second period on Saturday, the freshman Weissinger whipped a sweet cross-ice pass to streaking sophomore Jaxon Flanagan and

Flanagan lit the lamp for a 1-0 lead the Wildcats would not relinquish.

"Jaxon is starting to realize he can take over a game if he wants to," said Wilken. "And that's fun to see." "We've had a lot of ups and downs over the years," said senior captain Ben Johnson. "We're finally

making something out if it and it's pretty special, especially in my senior year."

"Ben is the guy our team follows," said Wilken. "He's the kind of guy where he leads by example. He doesn't say much but when he does, the guys listen."

"Sometimes less is more," said Johnson. "And I just have to let them (teammates) do their thing and talk when the time comes. We hold each other accountable and we don't let each other slack off."

Play-off hockey can be won between the pipes with great goaltending and according to Coach Wilken, "The best two goalies at the D2 state tournament are wearing blue and gold."

Junior Luke Linehan and freshman Danny Linn have been sharing time mending the net for the Wildcats this season.

"It's a public position," said Wilken. "And that can be tough for high schoolers. It's like being a field goal kicker in football. Nobody notices you until you don't do your job."

Linehan and Linn have been doing their jobs of late every time their number is called. Linn had 48 saves against this weekend's #1 seeded New Richmond Tigers on Feb. 24 in a 3-2 win. Linn saved 21 shots in a 7-0 first round blowout, but then Linehan notched 32 saves in the section semi-finals against Somerset and notched a shut-out against Menomonie in the section finals.

"I can't take credit for the shutout," said Linehan, "We played so good in our D-zone, so the whole team contributed to that shutout. Me and Danny met each other this summer and we really clicked. It's a competition between us, but it's a healthy competition."

River Falls Sports YouTube play-by-play man Chris Larsen summed up the season change to-date, "Early in the year, if things weren't going well, you'd see a lot of heads down. That's not the case anymore.”

"We're always moving forward now," said Johnson.

"The old culture is out and the new culture is in," said Rock. "And I think we started something that is staying here for a long time."

The Wildcats will play Saint Mary's Springs Academy out of Fond du Lac on Thursday in the Bob Suter Capitol Ice Arena in Middleton, Wis. The puck drops at 1:30 p.m. The game will be live-streamed on the NFHS Network at wiaawi.org.

New Richmond will face off against Tomahawk in the other state semi-final game Thursday. The championship will take place on Saturday at 9:30 a.m.