Hockey: Girls take defending state champs to OT
The Hudson girls’ hockey squad played three top-ten teams in five days last week, and although the Raiders didn’t register any victories, they came close to pulling off a big upset.
- Sara Iacobello tries to catch up with the puck
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The Hudson girls’ hockey squad played three top-ten teams in five days last week, and although the Raiders didn’t register any victories, they came close to pulling off a big upset.
The week started with 3-0 loss to Minnesota’s top-ten Henry Sibley last Tuesday, Jan. 3 at Gornick Arena. Two nights later they took the three-time defending Wisconsin state champion St. Croix Valley Fusion to overtime before dropping a 4-3 decision.
Saturday, Jan. 7, they lost to the fifth-ranked team in Minnesota Class AA—Irondale—7-0.
The Raiders’ next game is this Thursday, Jan. 12, at 7:30 p.m. at Hobbs Arena in Eau Claire against the Eau Claire-Altoona Co-op Stars.
Last Tuesday the Raiders faced off against the Henry Sibley Warriors, a top-ten team in Minnesota Class A from the Classic Suburban conference, which includes seven top ten teams in Minnesota’s AA and A rankings.
The Raiders battled Sibley even in shots-on-goal in the first and third period, but were unable to generate any goals. The Warriors notched one goal in each period and returned to the Twin Cities with a 3-0 victory.
Nali Mullan stopped 28 Sibley shots, while Sammi Harrity turned back 21 Hudson shots in the shutout.
On Thursday, Jan. 5, a crowd of 400 hockey fans was in attendance at Gornick Arena as the Raiders renewed their rivalry with the St. Croix Valley Fusion. The Raiders skated onto the ice wearing neon pink jerseys specially made for the breast cancer fundraiser held during the game.
The Fusion entered the game as the No. 3-ranked team in Wisconsin and have won the last three WIAA state titles. The Raiders’ only victory over the Fusion in the last several years was a 4-2 win on home ice in 2010.
The game started at a fever pitch with the teams skating end-to-end. The Fusion opened the scoring at 8:28 of the first period on a goal by Lindsay Veenendall. At 13:06 of the period, the Fusion’s leading scoring, Hailey Rock put the Fusion up 2-0. The Fusion outshot the Raiders 12-10 in the first period.
Sydney Squires pulled the Raiders to within one on a power play goal at 2:50 of the second period, assisted by Racheal Knoke and Alex Willi.
The Raiders continued to pressure Fusion goalie Kalli Armogost and were presented with another power play opportunity six minutes into the second period. Seventeen seconds later, Knoke drove the puck up the boards, passed to Squires on the low post, who in turn shuttled the pass to Willi who crashed the net and put the puck past Armogost to tie the game, 2-2.
Ninety seconds later, Willi broke through the Fusion defensive corps and passed the puck to Knoke, whose goal gave the Raiders a 3-2 lead.
Miranda VanDell pulled the Fusion even at 12:58 of the second period. The Raiders outshot the Fusion 13-8 in the second stanza.
The teams continued their frantic pace in the third period, but neither team was able to score. The Fusion held a 9-8 edge in shots in the period.
The Fusion was put on the power play at 4:14 of the overtime period and 32 seconds later, Sally Cranston scored the game-winner as the puck deflected off her stick in a mass of bodies in front of Raider goalie Mullan.
Mullan finished the game with 27 saves while Armogost stopped 30 Hudson shots.
In addition to giving the huge crowd an extremely entertaining game, the night’s fundraising activities garnered more than $1,000 which was donated to the American Cancer Society and Relay For Life of Hudson.
On Saturday, Jan. 7, the Raiders ran into a buzzsaw when they played the Irondale Knights at the Schwan Super Rink in Blaine. The Knights dominated all three periods in a 7-0 victory. The Knights outshot Hudson 34-5, with Nali Mullan making 27 saves.
Tags: sports, hockey, raiders, prep
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