Last Updated on Wednesday, 30 December 2015 16:25
The St. Croix Valley Fusion high school girls’ hockey team is ranked fifth in Wisconsin with eyes on a fourth state title
By Andrew Vitalis
The definition of “fuse” in verb form is “to join or blend, form a single entity.” One could also take that definition to describe family. No matter how you apply the word to the St. Croix Valley Fusion high school girls’ hockey team, it fits.
Flourishing as one of the most successful co-op programs in Wisconsin (River Falls, Baldwin-Woodville, Glenwood City and St. Croix Central), head coach Matt Cranston knows that success would not have been achieved throughout the last 10 years without the general concept that before wins and losses, they are a family first and foremost. Certainly the accomplished head coach can rattle off records and team accomplishments, but when asked about how the Fusion has become one of the model programs in the state, Cranston starts there first.
“All our youth coaches and I are a family,” Cranston said. “The U10, U12 and U14; I am involved in all of those teams. We have the same philosophy, same systems and same ideas. We like to move our feet, like to cycle and we start that early so by the time I get them, right from game one, they are ready to go. Some of those coaches come and help me and I help them. We have meetings; really a tight family.”
If you want more proof, just look at Cranston and his family. Cranston has coached three daughters through the years, and during each of the Fusion’s three state championship seasons (2009, 2010, 2011), he had at least two of his daughters on the respective state title teams. In 2010, Cranston had the pleasure of having three daughters on the team at the time. Furthermore, Cranston’s brother, Joe, is the head coach of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls women’s hockey team which has become one of the best Division III programs in the nation. As a matter of fact, Matt Cranston’s daughter, Alice, starred for her uncle as a member of the Falcons from 2011-15 and Joe’s daughter, Irene, is a freshman forward on Matt’s team this season.
Got that? It’s probably not much of a shock when you find out both programs have several similarities, especially on offense where the Fusion (and Falcons) have become the model of consistency with their, well, consistent balanced attack.
“Our theory goes from our U10 all the way to UWRF, our offense cycles consistently, our feet are moving all the time – we never stand around,” Matt Cranston said. “That’s been a common thread. We move, create opportunities and that makes it harder to defend. Our defensemen are very skilled. They are a huge part of the game and if they have open ice, they go. At the same time, we try and close gaps early.
“We have a pretty solid team this year. We have five solid defensemen. Maddie (Rowe) and Hanna (Zevenbergen) are our two anchors there; they are both seniors. Our first line is all seniors and they have been playing a long time. Our second line is pretty much all sophomores and then we sprinkle everyone else in from there. We can play three lines and I think play with anyone.”
They can and they have. The Fusion has been one of the power programs in the state of Wisconsin since girls’ hockey got started. Since the very first state tournament in 2002, the River Falls co-op has won more state titles than any other and has punched their ticket to the state tournament more times than any of their opponents. No doubt, one huge reason why has been the Fusion’s ability to year in and year out produce a superstar (or two) to help stir the drink.
Lately it’s been the Maddie Rowe show. Before the season, the senior defenseman and University of Wisconsin signee was named to the AFI All-USA team (American Family Insurance). To date (as of Dec. 29) Rowe has already tallied 20 points in just seven games. In total, as a program, the Fusion has had 12 first team all-state performers and six second team players. You can bet, at the end of the season, those numbers are going to rise again.
“We have always had a player like Maddie,” Cranston said. “Over the last seven years, we have had the Big Rivers Conference Player of the Year. Over the last seven years, we’ve always had a Maddie Rowe and that’s one of the reasons why we have made it to the section finals every single year of our existence. This will be year 10. Obviously we’ve had a whole bunch of good players; Alice Cranston was before Maddie. Maddie is following right in her footprints. We’ve just always have had a solid, really good player and that obviously helps with hockey to have a really good player out there almost every shift.”
And Rowe is just the beginning. Fourteen players have already registered a point for the Fusion and 10 have notched at least one goal. In total, when comparing the team to their opponents at this point in the season, the Fusion have scored five or more goals in five of their seven games, while on defense the Fusion have given up more than two goals just twice. Yes, a string of solid blueliners mixed with a balanced offense and netminders Ellen Coggio (4-2) and Olivia Klund means the Fusion will once again be the odds-on favorite to take the Big Rivers crown again this season. What was the definition of a fuse again? Join or blend to become a single entity?
“That’s exactly what we wanted,” Cranston said when asked about his coaching goals when he first took over. “We wanted to keep all of our girls home and to build a strong program so they can all have fun and don’t have to go anywhere else; have it all right here. It’s very humbling and I’m very proud of it. I’m just a part of it. There are a group of other people, coaches in our associations, who have helped me along the way so it wasn’t just me. It’s a group effort of a whole bunch of unselfish parents who are just givers. We give more than we take here. That’s why we are successful”.
The Fusion have been tested but their biggest obstacles have yet to be tackled with 12 games in the month of January, including battles with Central Wisconsin (rated No. 2 as of the Dec. 28 Wisconsin Prep Hockey poll), Hayward (No. 4), Bay Area (No. 3) and rival Hudson (No. 9). Battles with Central Wisconsin and Hayward are at home while St. Croix Valley (ranked No. 5) travels to Bay Area and Hudson during a brutal six-day stretch during the second week of January.
It’s a tall order for the Fusion, but a challenge Cranston is confident his team is ready for. For the veteran head coach, things like injuries, cold streaks and tough stretches in the schedule come and go, but team character will always win out. The Fusion will be ready. They always are.
Andrew Vitalis writes columns in LPH geared towards Wisconsin hockey. He can be reached at lphprep@yahoo.com.
