WEST SALEM — The Onalaska/La Crosse co-op boys hockey team positioned itself this season to alter its goals.
But players and coaches alike still thought completing the inaugural Western Wisconsin Hockey Conference season with an unbeaten championship was pretty cool.
The Hilltoppers made that a reality with a 6-0 victory over West Salem/Bangor on Tuesday at the Panther Den.
“It means a lot to not just me but all the players,” Onalaska/La Crosse coach Drew Kjos said of the championship. “You can look back at the record of the seniors from their freshman year, sophomore year, junior year … they were never able to win it outright and obviously never went unbeaten in conference.”
While playing in a tiny MVC with the Avalanche and Tomah/Sparta, these seniors won three conference games and lost nine prior to this season. All three tied at 2-2 last winter to share the title.
The Hilltoppers left no doubt as to which team was the best this season and finished three games ahead of the second-place Avalanche on the way to winning 20 games and losing two.
Onalaska/La Crosse was rewarded for that success with a home game during the first round of the WIAA playoffs next week. The Hilltoppers are seeded fifth in Division 1 and will host 12th-seeded DeForest (6-16) on Feb. 17 at the OmniCenter.
Onalaska senior Carter Johnson scored the first two goals for the Hilltoppers on Tuesday, then assisted Onalaska junior Grayson Andel’s goal that made it 3-0 in the first minute of the second period.
Central sophomore Samuel Hansen, Onalaska freshman Zach Marso and Central junior Liam Branson also scored for the Hilltoppers in their second win of the season over the Panthers.
Central junior Parker Tripp stopped 13 shots and recorded his eighth shutout of the season. Onalaska/La Crosse has allowed four goals over the past six games and will play at La Crescent-Hokah (11-12) on Thursday and host Oregon (13-10) on Friday to close out the regular season.
Avalanche 13, Viroqua co-op 4
ONALASKA — The Holmen/Aquinas co-op scored five goals in the second period and six in the third to rout the Blackhawks.
The Avalanche (13-11, 7-3) put the finishing touch on a second-place conference finish and completely broke open the regular-season finale with the five goals in the second period.
G-E-T junior Mikah Vail, Holmen senior Cole Van Lin and Aquinas sophomore James Siegert all scored two goals for the co-op, which also includes C-FC and Luther.
Luther senior Jax Hendrickson had three assists and Holmen sophomore Cal Griffth, Holmen junior Corbin Meyer, Aquinas freshman Lydon Boberg and Holmen senior Ayden Dirks all had two.
Jack Barth, Weston Maier, Anthony Barton, Luke Boberg, Charlie Kirchner, Dirks and James Wing also scored once each for the Avalanche.
Barth, Vail, Luke Boberg, Van Lin, Siegert, Trevor Ehrat and Sawyer Genz each had one assist.
The Avalanche received a No. 9 seed for the upcoming Division 1 bracket and will play eighth-seeded Madison West (5-14-3) at the Madison Ice Arena on Feb. 17.
GIRLS
Wisconsin Valley Union 2, Coulee Region 0
STEVENS POINT — The Cyclones (4-17-2) allowed one goal in the first period and one in the third while being outshot 41-14.
Coulee Region is seeded seventh for the upcoming tournament series and opens at second-seeded Eau Claire North co-op (14-9-1).
