The River Falls Fusion’s 6-3 loss at home in the sectional semi-final to the Western Wisconsin Stars on Wednesday, Feb. 25, was a disappointing end to an otherwise wildly successful season, according to head coach Matt Cranston.

The Fusion came out strong in the first period and scored two goals in the opening five minutes of the game. The first goal came via senior forward Makenzie Weiss, who scored an even-strength goal less than two minutes into the game. Senior defenseman Natalie Roussopoulos and junior forward Trinity Mittl assisted on the goal.

Less than two minutes later, the Fusion again found the back of the net. This time it was Roussopoulos with a power play goal to take a 2-0 lead over the Stars, a Somerset area co-op program. Sophomore defenseman Kendall Sundby assisted the Roussopoulos goal.

The Western Wisconsin Stars scored an even-strength goal late in the first period to make it 2-1 going into the second period. The second period was one of the best of the Stars’ season and one of the worst for the Fusion. The Stars scored four goals unanswered in the second period, one short-handed, two on the power play and one at evenstrength. Coach Cranston spoke about the second period.

“We had a terrible second period and that cost us, basically,” Cranston said. “We beat them in the first period and tied them in the third period. In hockey, you have to play all three and we didn’t. Unfortunately, that cost us the game and our season.”

Sometimes in sports, there’s just not much to analyze. Coach Cranston spoke about not knowing what was going wrong, and if he did, adjustments would have been made during the game. The Stars just played a fantastic period.

“I don’t really know, or I would have changed it,” Cranston said. “They just had a great period, and we didn’t. They just gave it and our girls kind of were laying back with that one-goal lead and became complacent and they didn’t. They went on a roll, got some momentum, and (it was going to be) tough to come back.”

After giving up four goals in the second period and falling behind 5-2, Mittl scored on the power play five minutes into the third period with an assist from Sundby and junior forward Kiara Therriault to make the score 5-3. A goal by the Stars less than three minutes later made it 6-3 and eventually ended the Fusion’s season. Coach Cranston spoke about the talent of the Stars and their ability to score goals in droves.

“They have, I think, the #1 and #3 scorers in the state,” Cranston said. “They have an amazing offense and have some shooters that can really shoot the puck. I knew what we were getting into, I just wasn’t ready for six goals.”

For Cranston, everything went wrong in the second period. It wasn’t the fault of the offense, the defense or the goaltender specifically. It was a complete team blunder that can’t be hung on one group.

“It was on everyone,” Cranston said. “It was a complete group letdown in the second period, no one person or one position more than another. I’m disappointed, but that’s the way that it is.”

While the season ended much sooner than anyone involved with the Fusion Hockey program would have hoped, overall, Cranston said the season is still a success and that they accomplished many of their goals for the year.

Because of the strength of the Fusion roster and the history of success in the program, the pre-season goals were quite lofty. Cranston wanted his squad to win the Big Rivers Conference championship, which they achieved. He also wanted his team to be the #1 seed in their region of the tournament, which they also achieved. He spoke about the goals.

“We met both of our biggest goals this year,” Cranston said. “We had a terrific season. We just didn’t finish the way that we wanted. It was pretty successful. We have a super hard schedule. In the strength of schedule rankings, we were #3 in the state.”

Cranston wasn’t the only one who thought that he had a talented squad this season. The Fusion spent nearly the entire season in the top 10 of the state rankings as voted on by the coaches. The success of this season was in large part due to an excellent senior class, all of whom played their final high school game against the Stars on Wednesday night. Cranston spoke about his senior class of girls.

“They’re just fantastic,” Cranston said. “Jenna Bergmanis was one of our captains, Bella Rasmuson, who never played a game because of a pre-season surgery, but she was still there for us to help us through everything. Our seniors were just terrific. Ally Noll, Sammy Johnson, they’re all just wonderful girls. We’re going to miss them.”

The seven Saint Croix Valley Fusion seniors Emilia Lindus, Allie Noll, Kenzie Weiss, Jenna Bergmanis, Natalie Roussopoulus, Sammie Johnson and Bella Rasmuson enjoy time together during their last high school season. The Fusion wrote in a social media post “Onto the ‘World’ for this fabulous group of senior girls. Been hockey sisters most of them since they could walk, always sad to see a season end and say goodbye to our seniors. Do great things!” Photo courtesy of Fusion Hockey