The St. Croix Valley Fusion needed all of junior Kendall Sundby’s hat trick performance on Saturday Dec. 17, at home against the then-undefeated Fox Cities Stars.

After falling behind 4-2 with less than five minutes to play in the third period, it looked like the St. Croix Valley Fusion were dead in the water. That’s when Sundby took control of the contest and scored two goals in the final four minutes to force overtime, where the Fusion eventually secured a 5-4 win to knock off one of the best teams in the state.

“It’s big and it’s a huge win for us,” St. Croix Valley Fusion head coach Matt Cranston said after the win. “We played great and this is really helpful because we were down after losing to Hudson. This will bring (the girls) up. It was a little, but it was really fun and I think our kids played great.”

Fox Cities got on the board first six minutes into the opening period when junior forward Teagan Tomoda scored an unassisted goal to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. St. Croix Valley responded four minutes later when Fusion freshman Oaklie Holldorf scored on a wrist shot from just inside the blue line which tied the game 1-1.

Then with three minutes to play in the first period, Fusion senior forward Trinity Mittl found herself in a two-on-one breakaway with the aforementioned Sundby. As they attacked the goal, Mittl dished the puck to Sundby who flipped it into the net over the goaltender’s outstretched glove. Sundby’s first score of the afternoon gave the Fusion a 2-1 advantage heading into the second period.

Neither the Fusion nor the Stars could get anything going through the first 13 minutes of the second period. That was until Fox Cities junior forward Maleiyah Streck scored on an assist from freshman teammate Evie Mursau to knot the game 2-2 going into the final period.

With five minutes left in the third, the Stars scored two goals within 90 seconds of one another to take a commanding 4-2 lead. Shortly after the ensuing face-off Sundby broke loose, dangled a defender, and launched a shot past the goaltender to make it a 4-3 game with just under four minutes to play.

A minute later, Fox Cities freshman Margaret Thomas got called for hooking, a two-minute minor penalty which gave the Fusion a power play. Less than a minute into the five-on-four advantage, Mittl passed to Sundby who scored on a slapshot to send the game into overtime, 4-4. Coach Cranston spoke about Sundby’s hat trick.

“It was great to see Kendall step it up and find the upper comer on those last two goals,” Cranston said. “The last couple of goalies we’ve played against were really big and tall, so it was hard to get anything low, but they left a little bit up top. That’s what she’s been thinking about and she took advantage of that.”

The game appeared to be destined for a shootout as neither team had scored through the first seven minutes of the eight-minute overtime period. Then with under 30 seconds to play, the Fusion got puck control and began attacking the Stars’ defense.

With just 14 seconds remaining, Sundby got behind the opposition’s net and dished a pass to Mittl who flipped it past the Stars’ goaltender to secure the 5-4 win in overtime. The game-winning assist gave Sundby her fourth point of the day. Mittl’s goal was her third point of the afternoon.

“Trinity Mittl obviously had a great game,” Cranston said. “Her work ethic was crazy good and I’m super proud of her. She ended up getting that game-winner. She was voted a captain by the players and she leads by example. She outworks everyone and there is nothing more impressive than that.”

With the win, the Fusion improved to 4-4 overall and gained important momentum heading into a critical game on the road against the Eau Claire Area Stars on Tuesday, Dec. 20. The Fusion and Stars are currently tied for second in the BRC standings behind Hudson.

For coach Cranston, Tuesday’s game is a chance to grab sole possession of the second place in the league standings while also closing the gap that Hudson has built through the first month of the season. He spoke about the conference and upcoming game.

“We go to Eau Claire to play the Stars and they’re solid, our conference is crazy solid – anyone can win,” Cranston said. “It’s not like the old days where one or two teams are quite a bit better than the others, they’re all good. It’s the same with the section too.”

Although the Fusion certainly shot well against the Fox Cities Stars on Saturday afternoon, that hasn’t been the case throughout the season. Coach Cranston spoke about what needs to get better if his team is going to make a run this year.

“We need to score more,” Cranston said. “We outshoot our opponents a lot and we haven’t won as much as I’d like to. We need to shoot better and I knew it was going to be that way coming into the year. You have to be able to shoot the puck.”

The Fusion travel to play the Eau Claire Area Stars on Tuesday, Dec. 20. Puck drop for that game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.