On Tuesday night, the Jacks chopped down the Silver Bay Mariners 5-0 behind the shutout goaltending of Sarah Gustafson and two goals by Sadie Lundquist.
CEC managed just one goal in the first period when Jessica Baublitz picked up a marker at 16:24 of the period on assists from Danielle Beck and Montana Vichorek.
The Jacks went up at 1:19 of the second period when Jessie Ryan scored on a pass from Sadie Lundquist, but that was the only goal CEC could muster in the period as they took a 2-0 lead entering the final period.
Lundquist scored the first of her two goals from Courtney Esse and Ryan at 21 seconds of the third period to start a three-goal onslaught. Lundquist picked up her second goal at 1:41 and then Whitney Anderson tallied the final goal for the Jacks at 3:31 with Sarah Williams assisting.
Gustafson made 20 saves to get the shutout while Silver Bay goalie Alexi Warnecke finished with 32 saves on 40 shots.
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The CEC girls impressed last week as well starting on Thursday as the Jacks defeated Proctor-Hermantown-Marshall at home. On Friday, they took to the road and defeated Hill Murray - one of the metro area's top teams.
"Our [defensive] core of Vichorek, Allen, Williams, Lamirande and Rowell did a good job of moving the puck quickly against Hill Murray," said coach Dick Bartholdi. "That helped negate the Pioneer forecheck."
CEC scored just 1:17 into the first period when Montana Vichorek dumped the puck on net, started to leave the ice for a line change and the puck slipped past a shocked Pioneer net minder.
The Jacks went up 2-0 on a Sadie Lundquist goal that came on the power play at 2:21 of the first period with an assist to Jessie Ryan.
Ryan scored the Jacks final goal of the game in the second period at 10:29 on a power play with Vichorek and Lundquist assisting.
"Sarah Gustafson continued her strong play in goal," Bartholdi mentioned after the game. "She allowed very few rebounds and is playing very solid down low."
CEC had to kill seven penalties and had just two power plays themselves, but they managed to score on both of those chances.
Gustafson finished with 32 saves and the only goal she allowed came just :23 seconds into the final period when Maggie McDowell scored.
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- On Thursday, the Jacks picked up a huge section seeding win by downing Proctor-Hermantown-Marshall (PHM) 2-1 at the Cloquet Area Recreational Center in Cloquet.
"PHM has been working hard like other teams at getting more girls into hockey," explained Bartholdi. "Last year during the playoffs we defeated them in the semifinals of the section by a score of 2-1 in a game that could have gone either way."
Megan Flesvig scored just 2:05 into the game with an assist to Stephanie Strapple to give PHM a 1-0 edge.
CEC responded with a goal at 5:43 by Vichorek with Lundquist notching the assist and the game was dead even at 1-1 after the first period.
The Jacks took the lead for good at 1:23 of the second period when Courtney Esse buried a chance against Mirage goalie Katie Gilderman with the assist going to Lundquist.
For the game, the Jacks outshot the Mirage 28 to 20 as Gustafson made 19 saves for CEC and Gilderman picked up 26 for PHM.
CEC is 5-5 on the season.
