Westonka Girls Beat Chaska in Overtime

The White Hawks recorded their fourth overtime win of the season late last week, beating Missota Conference leader Chaska 5-4 in overtime.

In a fast-paced and physical game, the White Hawks opened the scoring in the first period when Jess Nkhata scored a power play goal with a low shot from the point. Chaska was successful killing off three penalties early in the first period before the White Hawks finally capitalized for the 1-0 lead.

Chaska scored midway through the second period to tie the game, but Westonka took back the lead just two minutes later when Nkhata was checked into the Chaska goalie. In the commotion, Jori Mazurek took a blistering snap shot from the point that found the lower left corner.   

On the next shift, the White Hawks extended their lead to 3-1 when Kia Johnson tipped an Abby Brustad shot between the goalie's pads.

Westonka took a commanding 4-1 lead when Nkhta scored her second goal of the game, and it looked like the White Hawks would walk away with a victory.  

But Chaska was in no mood to quit and scored three unanswered goals to send the game into overtime.

After winning their three previous overtime games, the White Hawks came out flying and looked intent on ending the game early. After several good scoring chances were turned away by the Chaska goalie, the overtime settled into a defensive struggle.  

With less than one minute to go in overtime, Emily Halvarson won a faceoff and pushed the puck forward. Abby Brustad, lined up at left wing, crashed the net, reached back, found the puck and stuffed it in the short side between the goalie's leg pads and the post for the game winner.

Girls Drop Close games to Rogers and Dodge County

In defensive games against Rogers and Dodge County on Jan. 24 and 28, the White Hawks came up just short, losing both games by one goal. Abby Brustad continued her hot scoring streak, scoring twice in the 3-2 loss to Rogers and scored the lone goal in the 2-1 loss to Dodge County.   

Next up is senior night on Jan 31st in a home against Cambridge and the regular season ends with a home game against conference rival Orono on Feb 2nd.