The Waseca High School girls’ hockey team will take a three-game skid into the section tournament Saturday at Albert Lea. Above the Bluejays’ Emma Keith fires a shot.
Regular season ends 12-11 for hockey girls
Jays play Saturday at Albert Lea
Jays play Saturday at Albert Lea
Fri, 02/17/2023 - 2:55am
No matter the sport, it’s always good to go into the playoffs with a winning streak to give the team some momentum.
The Waseca High School girls’ hockey team was denied that with home losses to Minnesota River and Luverne. They will enter Albert Lea’s hockey arena with a three-game losing streak.
Bulldogs 2, Bluejays 1
The Bluejays’ problems on Thursday, Feb. 2 came from Minnesota River’s freshman forward Macy Portner.
Portner scored the first goal of the game 5:33 into the second period. Junior forward Emma Keith replied for the Jays almost seven minutes later.
But the Bulldogs were relentless, outshooting Waseca 30-20 throughout the game. Portner found the net again late into the third, this time on a power play.
“Minnesota River plays a very similar defense as we do, designed to keep everything outside and away from the goaltender,” Waseca coach Chas Benson explained. “They did a really good job taking away space while in our offensive zone, and their skaters blocked multiple shots. Going in we knew it was going to be a close, low scoring game.”
Eighth-grade goalie Ilamay Draheim ended the night blocking 28 of 30 shots.
Luverne 6, Waseca 1
Luverne wasted no time getting two scores on the board 2:30 into the first period. They were able to make it 3-0 less than eight minutes into it.
“In the first period we didn’t have an answer for their top forwards,” Benson said.
The Cardinals came out just as energetic in the second period with Kamryn Van Batavia scoring the fourth goal of the game just 58 seconds into it. Freshman forward Maddy Benson finally got Waseca on the board 13:45 into the middle period with the help of McKenna Mortenson. Van Batvia responded seven seconds later for her second goal of the game.
“After the first, I felt that the girls made good adjustments to limit their scoring chances,” Benson said. “Luverne is a tough team and was the conference favorite going into the year. They have a top line that is very skilled.”
The girls ended the regular season 12-11 overall and 5-9 in-conference for a fifth-place finish.
After receiving a first-round bye in the Section 1A tournament, Waseca, seeded No. 3, will face No. 2 Albert Lea Saturday, Feb. 11.