Senior Farewell

After taking down a Concordia College squad that already punched its ticket to the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) playoffs Friday evening, the St. Catherine University hockey team hoped it could put the pressure on the Cobbers and send out a remarkable senior class on a high note with a sweep. Thanks to several clutch goals and solid goaltending from senior Samantha Geissler (Elk River, Minn./Elk River), the Wildcats were able to pull off their fourth win in a row and second-consevecutive MIAC sweep witha 3-2 decision over the Cobbers Saturday afternoon at Drake Arena in St. Paul. 

Unlike Friday, the Wildcats never had to play from behind as they took the first lead and had to hold off the Cobebrs late in third period to secure their seventh conference win. They outshot the Cobebrs 32-25 with a 18 shots coming in a second period that the Wildcats managed to take over after both teams were held scoreless in the first. 

Just 3:13 into the second period, Maddy Zastrow (Greendale, Wis./Greendale) scored her second goal in as many games when she tipped a shot from Alex Pederson (Park Rapids, Minn./Park Rapids) on a 5-on-3 power play opportunity. Senior Shelby Salmonsen (Faribault, Minn./Faribault) picked up an assist on the goal for her third point in her final three games in a Wildcat unifrom. 

The Wildcats confidently took a 1-0 lead into the third period after domintaing play in the second. However, the Cobbers started to look dangerous in the third as they controlled possession int he Wildcat zone for the early part of final 20 minutes. Then, Tori Davis scored on a setup from Jess Nelson at 8:34 to tie the game with less than 12 minutes to play. 

However, the Wildcats responded quickly when Mallory Ryan (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park) made a pass from deep in the defensive zone to senior Bailey Rasmussen (Grand Rapids, Minn./Grand Rapids) who snuck behind the Cobber defense and beat Madison Denny for her sixth goal of the season at 10:08 giving the Wildcats back the lead. 

Then, just over a minute later, Annie Buttermore (Mahtomedi, Minn./Mahtomedi) gave the Wildcats some breathing room when she beat Denny out front on a pass from Zoe Verkerke (Menominee, Mich./Menominee) from behind the goal. The Wildcats were now up 3-1 with 8:44 remaining in the game. 

The Cobbers began to build the pressure as they looked to salvage the game and tried to rattle a Wildcat power play that ended up finishing the day just 1-of-9. Finally, the MIAC's leading scorer in conference games in Madison Gendreau took advantage of a bad Wildcat pass on the blue line and beat Geissler on a short handed chance with 3:59 to play cutting the Wildcat lead to 3-2. 

Geissler made several key saves in the final minutes to lift the Wildcats to victory. She ended her final game in a Wildcat uniform with 23 saves for her second win of the year. Geissler ends her career No. 3 all-time at St. Kate's in wins with 18, No. 3 in goals against average and No. 5 in save percentage. 

With her goal Saturday, Rasmussen ends her three seasons in a Wildcat uniform with 38 career points, 26 goals and 12 assists. During her time, she led the Wildcats in goals in two seasons and led the MIAC in game-winning goals in 2013-14. Salmonsen ended her career with 21 points, 14 assists and seven goals after scoring in back-to-back games Friday. She also finished with five career multi-point games in her 92 games played. 

Senior Megan Killmer (Savage, Minn./Burnsville) played her 100th game in a Wildcat uniform Saturday and ends her career No. 5 all-time at St. Kate's in assists (38), No. 9 in career points (68) and No. 10 in career goals (30). She also finishes the season as the team's leading scorer for the second time in her career with 16 points. 

The Wildcats end the season 9-11-5 overall and 7-7-4 in the MIAC 18 points for sixth in the final MIAC regualr season standings. 

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