'Heartbreak' for Bay Area Ice Bears after coming up short in WIAA girls hockey state title game
MIDDLETON – The tears being shed were different this year for the Bay Area Ice Bears hockey team.
These weren’t ones of joy for the defending WIAA girls state champions.
The Ice Bears’ bid for back-to-back titles fell one win short in a 4-3 loss to the Central Wisconsin Storm in the state championship Saturday at Bob Suter’s Capitol Ice Arena.
A team that showed great resiliency this season, finding ways to come back from deficits and win on several occasions, simply had the magic run out at the very end.
“Heartbreak,” Ice Bears coach Joe Gerarden said. “Especially when you leave it all out there on the ice. We are sad, but they will pick themselves up. We will pick them all up. I think we will bounce back and be fine.”
The Ice Bears and Storm have combined to win each of the last three state titles and five of the last 10 since 2014.
The team split two earlier meetings this season. Both games went into overtime, and like this one, both were decided by one goal.
“Super proud of these girls, super proud of this team,” Central Wisconsin coach Jana Wimmer said. “Obviously, this is a goal that starts back in November. We knew it would be a battle. We knew Bay Area is tough. We knew they were deep. … From top to bottom, the whole team just sold out tonight. Left it all on the ice. That’s all you can ask for. To play in the final game of the year is always the goal. To win it is truly special.”
Bay Area jumps out first
The Ice Bears took a 1-0 lead after a scoreless first period on a power play goal from Addison Dahl with 12 minutes, 56 seconds remaining in the second period.
Their only lead of the day lasted just more than one minute.
Central Wisconsin tied the score on a power play goal of its own from standout senior forward and team captain Tristan Wicklund with 11:49 left in the period.
It set up a wild final 17 minutes.
The Storm took its first advantage of the game with 15:34 left on a goal by sophomore forward Ava Whitmore.
It looked like a shot Ice Bears goalie Parker Bartholomaus would make an easy save on. But the puck didn't stay on the ice and slide into her glove but instead bounced up and through a slight opening in her arm.
The senior went down to cover the puck, only to find it in the back of the net.
Gerarden felt there were a few more lucky bounces for the Storm than his team, and if so, that probably was the biggest one.
“You just hope she can mentally bounce back, and I thought she did,” said Gerarden, whose team outshot Central Wisconsin 31-19. “I thought she did pretty good. Parker was doing a great job on the first saves like we asked her to. You know, having a little bit of inexperience in the net, that can happen. We were used to it all year long, and I think the group knew that. We turned it around and tried to battle back from it.”
But not before the Ice Bears found themselves in a 3-1 hole after Wicklund scored her second goal of the game and the fourth of the two-game tournament less than three minutes after the one from Whitmore.
“I knew with this last week, I was just going to give everything I have,” Wicklund said. “These past two games were probably my best games of the whole year, and I feel like without this whole team, I wouldn’t be as successful as I am. I owe it all to them.”
It was going to be difficult for Bay Area to win at that point, in part because Central Wisconsin and the goaltending duo of Claire Calmes and IIsa Brunner had allowed four goals in a game only one time in the first 26 contests.
Not that the Ice Bears were about to go away.
After it momentarily looked like they cut their deficit to one goal with 10:20 left only for it to be waved off, they actually did with a power play goal from sophomore forward Faye Brunke with 9:13 remaining.
They never got closer the rest of the way, although they did their best to make things interesting.
Central Wisconsin took a 4-2 advantage with 2 minutes remaining on a goal from junior forward Sophie Bohlin, before Bay Area pulled its goalie for an extra attacker and scored a minute later on a goal from sophomore forward Hannah VonHaden.
But the comeback attempt and the season ended 60 seconds later.
“We obviously made it a lot farther than a lot of other teams,” said Bay Area junior forward Julianne Bradford, who was elected team captain in 2023-24. “We are grateful we got to extend our season this far. We know that we have a strong group coming back, so there is no reason we can’t do it again next year.”
Ice Bears have bright future
Did somebody say next year?
The Ice Bears always knew there was a good chance for an extended run of success after winning state last season with a young roster.
They had only three seniors on the squad this season and return all five players who scored 10 or more goals.
The team must replace Bartholomaus in goal the way it did with Anna Byczek going into this season, but there is little reason to believe Bay Area can’t be back in this same spot next March.
“For sure,” Bradford said. “It’s a super strong group that we have. We are really lucky that we get to keep training over the summer and start all over again in a couple months.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Bay Area Ice Bears fall to Storm in WIAA girls hockey title showdown
