Thursday’s girls’ hockey game against Windom in the Blue Mound Ice Arena. The Cardinals scored six goals in the first two periods to set the stage for a 6-3 win over the Eagles.
By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne girls’ hockey team split a pair of home games late last week to give them a 7-10 record heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.
The Cardinals toppled Windom in a Southwest Conference tilt Thursday before falling by one goal to St. Peter-Le Sueur-Henderson Friday.
Luverne travels to Windom for a non-conference game Tuesday.
SP-L-H 3, Luverne 2
The Cardinals were unable to win back-to-back games when they played St Peter-Le Sueur-Henderson in the Blue Mound Ice Arena Friday.
SP-L-H scored one goal in every period and never trailed in the game while nipping Luverne by one goal at game’s end.
The guests opened the scoring 2:42 into the game before Luverne battled back to knot the score at one with 7:28 remaining in the first period. Stephanie Morgan scored the game-tying goal after being set up by Natalie Domagala.
SP-L-H moved in front 2-1 at 11:36 of the second period before netting a power-play goal at 11:11 of the third period to gain a two-goal lead.
Domagala produced an unassisted tally with 50 seconds remaining to cap the scoring.
SP-L-H outshot the Cards 22-16 in the game. Taylor Nelson stopped 19 shots as Luverne’s goalie.
Luverne 6, Windom 3
The Cardinals snapped a five-game losing skid when they entertained the Eagles for a Southwest Conference game Thursday in Luverne.
Domagala and Heather Kruse scored five goals for an LHS squad that scored six times in the first two periods in a game that fell into the favor of the hosts by three goals.
Domagala had a five-point night with three goals and two assists. Kruse found the net twice in the second period.
Windom led 1-0 when Samantha Harold netted a power-play goal at the 5:35 mark of the first period, but the Cardinals answered with three goals in a span of 4:08 to take a 3-1 advantage by period’s end.
Stephanie Steensma knotted the score at one after being set up by Domagala when the Cardinals were in a power-play situation at the 5:19 mark of the period.
Domagala netted a short-handed goal after being set up by Natalie Morgan at 3:09 to give the hosts their first lead, and Domagala scored a power-play goal at 1:11 with an assist going to Stephanie Morgan.
Kruse gave the Cards a three-goal cushion (4-1) when she opened the second-period scoring at 12:31 with an assist going to Stephanie Morgan, but the Eagles countered with a goal from Katie MacRae at 8:38 to make it a 4-2 game.
Luverne gained control of the contest when Kruse and Domagala scored at 6:20 and 1:34 respectively to make it a 6-2 game.
Domagala set up Kruse’s goal before completing her hat trick with an unassisted effort.
Windom’s Trista Goldie scored the lone third-period goal at 5:19.
Luverne outshot the Eagles 35-23 in the contest. Nelson made 20 saves in net for LHS.