In a must win game to advance, the Wisconsin Selects scored three unanswered goals to defeat the Adirondack Northstars and advance to the quarterfinals of the Chipotle USA National Tier II Tournament. Wisconsin will play Glenview, Illinois at 10am on Friday.

Behind the steady goaltending of Sydney Magnuson (saves unavailable) and a pair of goals by speedy center Reese Sheehan, Wisconsin broke a 2-2 second period tie to win 5-2.

With a spot in the quarterfinals at stake, the two teams would battle in beautiful Munn Arena on the campus of Michigan State. Wisconsin jumped out to a first period lead on a powerplay goal by Julia Purintun, her third goal in two games. After a face-off win by Sheehan, Ashley Slupe’s pass sent Purintun across the top of the left-wing circle where she snapped a wrist shot past Adirondack goaltender Ava Reynolds. The period ended with a 1-0 Selects lead.

Just 26 seconds into period two Sheehan took a great breakout feed from Purintun sending her on a breakaway where she lasered a shot under the crossbar for a 2-0 lead. The Northstars answered quickly on a goal by Madison Monanhan 22 seconds later to make it 2-1. At 6:47 of the second period, with Rhylee Buesgen off for hooking, impressive defenseman Bayley Duffy scored a powerplay goal to tie the game. With time running down in the period, Ashley Slupe ran down a loose puck in the neutral zone and fed it up ice to Brooke Brennen. Brennen dropped a pass to Savannah Harris just inside the blueline and the sophomore from Hayward drilled a wrist shot over the glove of Reynolds, for what would turn out to be the game winning goal.

At 4:48 of the third period, the Northstars would go on a crucial powerplay looking to tie the game. As the dangerous Duffy regrouped inside her blueline, Gabi Heuser applied pressure deflecting a pass that was intercepted by Sheehan. Seconds later on a breakaway Sheehan deked Reynolds and slid a backhand into the net for a 4-2 Selects lead. Ashley Slupe scored her third goal of the tournament from just inside the blueline with 43 seconds remaining to complete the scoring.

Final shots on goal for the game were not made available by USA Hockey.

The Selects and Glenview will meet for the fourth time this season. Wisconsin has won all three of the previous games, 4-0, 8-4 and a recent 1-0 victory at the Central District Championships.

Selects Scoring:

JULIA PURINTUN – Sheehan, Slupe  (02:59 1st)

REESE SHEEHAN – Stindt, Purintun (16:34 2nd)

SAVANNAH HARRIS – Brennan, Slupe  (02:22 2nd)

REESE SHEEHAN – Heuser  (04:32 3rd)

ASHLEY SLUPE – Hunter, Stindt (00:43 3rd)

Dan Bauer is a free-lance writer, retired teacher & hockey coach in Wausau, WI. You can contact him at drbauer13@gmail.com.