By Jay Austinson
The Albert Lea Girls High School hockey team picked up their second victory Tuesday in as many games, outscoring the Luverne Cardinals 4-1. Luverne is the five-time defending Section 3A champions and started the season with convincing victories over Austin and Wilmar.
The Tigers opened the scoring late in the first period, taking advantage of their first power play opportunity. Junior Hanna Austinson took a pass from senior Shelby Evans, beating Luverne goaltender Emma Saarloos low glove side with a nice one timer. Also assisting on the play was freshman Haley Austinson. Albert Lea had most of the scoring opportunities in the period, but only outshot the Cardinals 10-7.
The second period opened with Albert Lea playing in their own end for most of the opening minutes. Luverne outshot the Tigers 6-0 to start the period, resulting in an early goal by Luverne Sophomore Izzy Steensma. The Tigers settled down and capitalized on another power play with 3:48 seconds left in the period. Evans tapped in a loose puck in the crease from a point shot by Mika Cichosz. Hanna Austinson also assisted on the play. Just over a minute later, Haley Austinson took a cross ice pass from Cichosz in the neutral zone, rushing the puck down the left side and shooting top corner for her first goal of the season.
The Tigers held Luverne off the scoresheet again in the third, sealing the victory late in the period after a goal by senior Arayah Hansen. Cichosz pinched down the wall to keep the puck in Luverne’s defensive zone, poke checking the puck off a Luverne player’s stick. Hansen picked up the loose puck and beat the goaltender with a low wrist shot to seal the game.
Shots for the game were 27-27.
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