Girl skaters complete tough slate with win, host playoff game

Talk about it

The Raider girls hockey team trekked south on Saturday to face off with the Onalaska co-op team, then headed back north as 5-1 victors over the Hilltoppers.

Hudson drew first blood at 14:38 of the first period when junior Jessica Tipp-Harden squeezed the puck past the goalie. Assists went to fellow juniors Abby Singerhouse and Emily Stankevitz. Twenty seconds later,

Onalaska tied the score and that’s the way the first period ended.

The Raiders pulled away in the second period. Six minutes in, Singerhouse scored, assisted by Stankevitz and junior defender Amy Rose Hutchison. Three minutes later, Tipp-Harden scored her second goal of the game on a pass from junior Hailie Bennewitz.

Hudson scored twice in the third to seal the win. Singerhouse found net again, assisted by Stankevitz at 5:29 of the third. Erin Anderson notched a goal with six minutes left, assisted by Meyer and freshman Alex Willi.

Riedel had a stellar performance in the goal, stopped 29 of 30 shots for Hudson.

The team also traveled to Eau Claire last Tuesday and was defeated by the ECA Stars 4-1.

The Stars, a co-op team with skaters from Eau Claire North, Eau Claire Memorial and Altoona, tallied the first goal less than 30 seconds into the game when defender Macki Fadness ricocheted a shot off the pipe and past Riedel. The Stars scored about three minutes later to go up 2-0.

At 6:31 of the first period, Hutchison slapped a shot off the ECA goalie’s pads and sophomore Bonnie Meyer rushed the net and tapped in the puck to pull the Raiders within a goal. But ECA countered with a goal 27 seconds later and took a 3-1 lead into the second period. The Stars scored in the first minute of the second to finish the scoring.

Riedel stopped 26 shots in net for Hudson.

The Raiders finished their season on Tuesday against the New Richmond co-op team.

Hudson received the No. 3 seed in WIAA Section 1 and plays host to the Superior Spartans at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20, in the first round of the playoffs.

The Raiders season record before the New Richmond game stood at 8-11, including a win over the No. 6 team in the state. The seven losses to WIAA teams came against teams ranked 1, 2, 5 and 8 in the state and the other four losses came against always-tough Twin Cities metro squads. Hudson is looking forward to using the lessons from this grueling schedule, coaches said, and making a bid to return to Madison for the state tournament.

Tags: sports, hudson, girls, hockey, raiders