Rice Lake wins, Baldwin-Woodville / SCC loses in Division 2 semifinals – Twin Cities

MADISON, Wis. – Baldwin-Woodville / St. Croix Central’s boys hockey state title hopes Vanished in the span of 53 seconds.

The two-time Defending Champion Fond du Lac Springs took control with a pair of goals late in the second period for a 4-1 Victory over the Blackhawks on Thursday in the Division 2 semifinals of the Wisconsin boys hockey state tournament.

Second-Seeded Fond du Lac Springs (22-5) Advances to Saturday’s title game against top-Seeded Rice Lake (17-7), a 3-1 Winner over Lakeland in the opening semifinal.

“To be honest, I thought we probably outplayed them after the first eight minutes of the first period, and I thought we outplayed them for the majority of the second,” Baldwin-Woodville / SCC Coach Lucas Trickle said. “You have to give credit to them. They were very opportunistic when they had chances. ”

Baldwin-Woodville / SCC (23-4-1), making his first state tournament appearance, fell behind in the opening minute, and then immediately answered Springs’ second goal to pull within 2-1 early in the second period.

Eight minutes later, the Blackhawks found themselves down by three.

After a shot from just inside the blue line, Gabe Braun jumped on the deflection to put Springs in front 3-1 with 5:21 left in the second period. On the ensuing possession, Jonathon Korb tallied his second goal from out front on a redirected pass to push the lead to 4-1.

“We fought hard. We gave it our all, ”said Bazl Cook, one of the Blackhawks’ senior Captains. “Super proud of all these boys, making it to the state tournament for the first time. That’s huge. With everything we’ve accomplished this year, I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. ”

Dominic Hite had 27 saves for the Blackhawks, who had won their previous six games and were 14-0-1 over their past 15 games. Hayden Rising had 20 saves for the Ledgers.

Springs was called for 10 penalties, but the Blackhawks were unable to convert the power-play opportunities.

“Their penalty-killing, they played really aggressive,” said Cook, who had six of the Blackhawks’ 21 shots. “We had some trouble getting it set up in the zone. They’ve got a good penalty-kill group, I’ll give it to them. ”

Sam Sykora, another senior Captain, said the Ledgers were solid in all phases, but the Blackhawks showed they were capable of playing at that level.

“Kind of like the NHL Playoffs how it’s best-of-seven, I’d kind of like to see what the outcome would be if we played them seven times,” Sykora said. “I personally don’t think they’d sweep us, but they’re definitely a great team.”