The St. Croix Area Fusion girls' hockey team came into last Tuesday's game against rival Hudson in the Wildcat Center with two wins in the first five games of their young season. Two of the three losses for Head Coach Matt Cranston's squad have come courtesy of the top two ranked teams in the state in #1 Bay Area (Appleton/Green Bay area co-op) and #2 Central Wisconsin (Wausau area co-op).

"We definitely have the toughest schedule in the state," said Cranston.

Tuesday's game against Hudson was another back-and-forth battle. Raider sophomore forward Arden Fenstermacher put Hudson up 1-0 with a wrister at 13:02 in the first period with a pass from junior Leah Milchak.

The Fusion tied it up just under 10 minutes later at the 3:48 mark when junior Morgan Kivel scored with a first assist from sophomore Jane Volgren and a second assist from her younger sister, sophomore Sydney Kivel. The game was knotted at one-apiece at the end of the first period.

For almost the entire second period, the Fusion were in control. Volgren was at it again, this time in the scoring department. Volgren lit the lamp at the 16:13 mark with an assist from senior captain Alexis Ralston. Morgan Kivel notched her second goal with 3:55 left in the second period. It was Kivel's team leading fifth goal of the season. She and fellow sophomore Volgren lead the Fusion with 8 points on the year.    

"Down 3-1, I was super nervous at that point," said Hudson senior goalie Sophia Thompson, "We had all that antsiness going since we've been on a losing streak. It was not going well."

With 47 seconds left in the second period, the momentum shifted in a big way. Hudson sophomore Marley Larson brought the Raiders back within one on a pass from freshman forward Laura Johnson.

The Fusion were hanging onto to a 3-2 lead. 

Near the beginning of the third period, at the 16:19 mark, Hudson's Laura Johnson had the offensive highlight of the night with a bullet from the top of the left face-off circle. Johnson's goal tied up the game at 3-3.

The Fusion's Morgan Kivel was called for tripping less than a minute later at 15:38 but St. Croix Area killed the Raider power play.

It was back and forth until 7:12 when the Raiders’ Larson scored her second goal of the game with a first assist by senior Brooke Monicken and a second assist by Laura Johnson. Hudson was staked to a 4-3 lead.

The Fusion's best chance to tie came with 3:28 left in the game. The Raiders’ Monicken received a 2-minute minor for slashing and the Fusion unleased a flurry of shots on the ensuing power play and remaining 1:28 with their goalie pulled, but Hudson senior goalie Sophia Thompson, who had 20 saves on the night, stopped all five quality Fusion shots in the waning minutes to give the Raiders the 4-3 win.

"Their goalie (Thompson) played great down the stretch," said Fusion Head Coach Cranston. "She played fantastic."

"They (teammates) had my back early on," said Thompson, "and I had their back late. We just kept grinding. It was a good team win."

"We need to work on crisp passing and catching passes," said Cranston. "We were just really sloppy. There was nothing crisp about tonight."

Senior captain Alexis Ralston said about the sloppy puck handling, "We definitely have some things to work on, but we'll build on it and get better."

Ralston and her two other team captains, Oaklie Holldorf and Lauren Linus, invited the Hudson players and parents to donate toys for a "Toys For Tots" drive to benefit the Pierce County Foster Care System. The event was organized by River Falls High School Activities Director David Crail and executed by both teams. Fusion Assistant Coach Jon Zevenbergen works at Walgreen's and received a sizeable donation from his employer.

In total, the Fusion and Raiders girls' hockey teams donated almost 30 full large trash bags of brand-new toys for foster children in Pierce County.

Hudson improved to 2-3-1 on the year. The Fusion fell to 2-4.