Veteran Haliuk solves Northern Michigan goaltender en route to 5-0 victory

It took until the 15:34 mark of the second period for Madison Hailuk to find the back of the net, but when she did finally solve Northern Michigan goaltender Lauren Eager, the power-play tally was the eventual game winner as the Cougars advanced to the playoff round with a decisive 5-0 victory this afternoon.

Eager, a product of Brown City, Michigan faced 57 shots in a losing effort, but it was not without high praise for the game the goaltender played as the Cougars offence spent sustained time in the offensive zone peppering Eager at every turn.

Cougars rear guard Isabelle Gottselig shared that the Wildcats were a fast team, with a goalie who stood on her head. “We just kept peppering her with shots and going to the net and driving through the net. You have to do that with a goalie like that and eventually they will go in, and luckily, they started going in for us.”

Across the team the defensive effort was strong today as well, holding the Wildcats to 7 shots, making for what was a relatively easy night’s work for Cougars goaltender Rachel Halldorson.

“I think that one of our team’s strengths is being able to hem teams into their zone, and that comes with our defence pinching on the wall and our forwards being aware of the spaces they need to be in” said Gottselig..” If we play a good positional game, we can cause turnovers and pick up passes and maintain pressure.”

That aforementioned pressure was evident throughout the game as the score sheet through two periods wasn't the most accurate reflection of the Cougars overall effort today, which was stellar.

“I think we played an exceptional game of hockey from start to finish. As a coach, I have nothing to complain about. We came out right from the opening and put pressure, chased pucks, and as someone put it were ravenous.” said Charles Tweed, Cougars Head Coach. “We forechecked, caused pucks to pop loose, caused turnovers, took pucks to the net, and to be fair played against a goaltender who had a heck of a game.”

Binscarth product Madison Haliuk played arguably her best game of the tournament, which is high praise as all of her games thus-far have seen an abundance of solid, disciplined hockey.

“Maddy is a dog,” Tweed said with a chuckle. “Maddy is an exceptional hockey player, an exceptional person, an incredible teammate, and in the biggest situations Maddy is always going to show up, work hard and do the right thing. You can’t say enough good things about Madison the hockey player, but Madison the person is beloved by our team and it means a lot when she gets us going like that.” That love was evident as Haliuk’s second period goal blew the lid off the bench and the stands which was peppered with Cougars family and brought even more energy to an already amplified Cougars squad.

Next up is the semi-finals, with the Cougars facing Boston College in a single game elimination scenario. Tweed was quick to share that the team is ready. “You know it is going to be tough because it's nationals and you are going up against a team with the same goal as you. You just have to stick with your game plan for 60 minutes and you hope at the end that you are on the right side of it.”

Game time tomorrow is 2:30 p.m. from the Centenne Community Ice Centre. All the ACHA Women’s Division 2 action can be streamed on tournament broadcast partner flohockey.tv.