Friday’s matchup for the Otters was a gun-slinging Osseo-Maple Grove squad.   OMGHA scored first at the halfway point of the first period.  Midway through the second, Evelyn Wedll snuck past two defenders, banking the puck off the boards before tying the score for Fergus.  The Otters kept pace with the OMGHA team through the first and most of the second, but Osseo-Maple Grove ran away with the game in the final 15, winning 8-1.  Otter Goalie, Mia Olson, earned a season-record 32 saves in a stunning turn in the crease, against the eventual Tournament champions.

Early Saturday morning, Fergus faced off against Champlin Park-Coon Rapids.  No goals were scored in the first period, but CPCR strung together three quick ones in the second.  Next, Maddison Brimhall scored an unassisted short-hander for the Otters, but the opponents answered back with a PowerPlay goal shortly thereafter, and another to close the period.  Maggie Greenagel and Averie Tonneson earned goals #2 & 3 for the Maroon & Gold (Brimhall assisted on the Tonneson goal), but CPCR’s offensive burst proved too much to overcome, and the score ended 5-3.  In a turn of events from game one, shots on goal were relatively low on both sides of the ice.

After a lunch break and a team photo shoot, it was the Canadian team, Brandon Wheat Kings, which was the Otters’ next foe.  It would be the girls from the South scoring first, with Greenagel sinking a rebound goal from Tonneson.  Greenagel then set the stage for Brimhall to put the Otters up 2-0. Brandon scored once before the close of the first period, but Tonneson answered back in the second with an unassisted biscuit.  After one more Wheat Kings goal, Brimhall and Greenagel each scored unassisted once more, for a final of 5-2 Otters.  In addition to the 5 reaching the netting, Brandon’s goalie turned away 32 Otter shots on goal.

In the final game of the tournament on Sunday, the Otters drew Bloomington as a competitor.   Brimhall took the first faceoff of the game and marched straight down to light the lamp, scoring just 8 seconds in.  Two more Otter goals would hit the scoreboard in the first, before Bloomington’s only score of the matchup.  With a final score of 9-1, the Otters showed their dominance throughout the game.  Scoring goals were Brimhall (3), Greenagel (3), Kynzie Zender, Tonneson & Aubree Nelson.  Assists went to Greenagel (2) & Nelson.

Next up for the 11-5-1 Otters is a double-header against Alexandria on home ice Saturday, January 11th.