BELOIT — Entering Monday’s Badger Conference contest, Rock County Fury had already clinched a share of the title, but their 2-0 win over Beaver Dam ensured that the conference crown was theirs alone.

“We knew coming in that if we win this one, the conference is ours solely. It was a big game for them,” Rock County Fury head coach Luke Steurer said. “They came ready and focused on Senior Night, which makes it even bigger for them too.”

The Fury (15-6-0, 11-0-0) maintained possession of the puck early on, but as the period wore on, Beaver Dam (9-9-0, 6-5-0) drew closer and closer to scoring.

The Beavers’ Addy Damon had a wide-open look in front of the net, but her shot sailed well over goaltender Jillian Traver’s head. Two minutes later, another one of Damon’s shots hit the pipe. 

Rock County entered the locker room at first intermission with momentum, though, as Maizy Fonseca’s tipped shot nearly slipped past Emily Smedema. Still, the score remained knotted at 0.

Each goalie recorded a save in the opening minutes of the second frame before Beaver Dam’s Kamryn Albert was called for roughing. Less than a minute into the power play, the Fury scored on a goal from Macy Murphy, assisted by Emma Kligora.

“My line is a big help, especially Emma and Ava who pass to me a ton,” Murphy said. “They look out for me whenever they can to get me the puck.”

Murphy nearly notched her second goal two minutes later as Smedema gave up a rebound, but the shot went wide right.

Just as the Fury were gaining momentum, Lily Clark went to the box for roughing. Rock County was able to kill the penalty — Sophia Ferrera even had a breakaway, short-handed opportunity — but Fonseca was also called for roughing, leading to nearly four straight minutes of penalty kill.

The Fury came away unscathed, holding onto its one-goal lead.

“It was huge for us to kill those penalties. One goal could have been a big momentum shift for them,” Steurer said. “We’ve been working more on our penalty kill and power play. The girls we put out there have been doing a phenomenal job for us.”

With just over three minutes left in the second period, Kligora had a breakaway opportunity. Although Smedema stopped her shot, Murphy was there for the rebound, giving the Fury a 2-0 lead.

Rock County kept its foot on the gas, peppering Smedema with more shots. She continued to give up rebounds, but the Beaver defense was routinely there to clear the puck.

Neither team scored in the third period, resulting in a 2-0 victory for Fury and Traver’s fourth shutout of the season. She stopped all 34 shots on goal, including a 2-on-0 opportunity for the Beavers in the third period. Traver is currently ranked top 5 in the state in wins (15, 2nd), goals against average (1.87, 5th) and save percentage (.938, 2nd).

“If you put an average goalie in there, it’s a completely different story,” Stuerer said. “She (Traver) has been phenomenal for us all season. She stands on her head for us game after game.”

Although the 2-0 win ensured that Rock County did not have to share the conference title, the team has one more Badger game on the calendar against Metro Lynx (11-11-0, 8-2).

“We want to beat them. We want to keep our record clean,” Murphy said. “I think we’ll go in strong and hopefully come out hard.”