By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne girls’ hockey team went 1-2 and placed sixth out of seven teams at the Fairmont Tournament late last week.
The Cardinals dropped a one-goal decision to the host team in the tournament opener Thursday before securing a six-goal victory over Northfield Friday. Luverne wrapped up the event by losing a five-goal game to St. Peter-Le Sueur-Henderson Saturday.
Luverne, 6-5 overall, hosts Waseca Saturday before traveling to Marshall Tuesday.
SP-L-H 7, Luverne 2
SP-L-H scored the game’s first seven goals and coasted to a five-goal win during the Fairmont Tournament finale Saturday.
Cassie Hansen recorded a hat trick and Alissa Koenig added a pair of goals to lead a SP-L-H squad that outshot Luverne 38-12 to victory.
Hansen netted a pair of power-play goals and Koenig added another as SP-L-H opened a 3-0 lead in the first period.
Koenig and Lindsey Seaven scored in the second period to make it 5-0, and Stacy Gross and Hansen netted the first two goals of the third period to cap the scoring for SP-L-H.
Natalie Domagala scored unassisted goals with 4:30 and 30 seconds remaining to keep the Cardinals from being blanked.
Alyssa Wieneke made 31 saves for the Cards.
Luverne 11,
Northfield 5
Outstanding offensive performances from Domagala, Jenny Braa and Stephanie Morgan proved to be the highlight of Luverne’s six-goal victory over Northfield Friday.
The LHS trio combined efforts to record a total of 17 points in the lopsided contest.
Domagala had eight points (five goals and three assists, Braa five (three goals and two assists) and Morgan added four (two goals and two assists).
A five-goal run by the Cards in a wild first period set the stage for a 6-2 advantage for LHS at stanza’s end.
Domagala (an assist going to Braa) and Northfield’s M.Robinson exchanged goals to start the game before the Cards gained control with their five-goal run.
Morgan netted her goals to give LHS a 3-1 lead it would never relinquish. Domagala and Braa received assists for Morgan’s go-ahead tally. Domagala picked up an assist for her second goal.
Braa netted an unassisted goal to make it 4-1 before Domagala scored twice with Morgan receiving assists for both tallies to give LHS a 6-1 cushion.
Robinson scored for Northfield at the end of the first period and early in the second stanza to make it a 6-3 game before Sadie Dietrich and Braa countered with goals for Luverne to give the Cards an 8-3 advantage.
Dietrich’s goal was unassisted. Maggie Vanden Hoek received an assist for Braa’s power-play goal.
Northfield’s R.Veland scored a power-play goal late in the second period and teammate L.Peterson opened the scoring in the third period to trim Luverne’s advantage to three goals at 8-5.
Luverne responded with a goal from Braa that was set up by Domagala before Domagala capped the scoring with a pair of unassisted tallies to give the Cards a six-goal victory.
Luverne had a 51-19 advantage in shots on goal. Wieneke made 14 saves in the net.
Fairmont 5, Luverne 4
The Cardinals opened the tournament by dropping a one-goal decision to the host team Thursday.
Luverne sported 1-0 and 2-1 leads in the game’s first period, but Fairmont’s J.Kilpatrick scored four goals for Fairmont to set the stage for victory.
The Cards led 1-0 when Domagala scored after being set up by Dietrich with 9:19 remaining in the first period before Kilpatrick knotted the score with an unassisted effort at 5:44.
Domagala answered with an unassisted goal 39 seconds later to give the Cards a 2-1 edge, but Kilpatrick tied the game with an unassisted goal at 2:50 mark of the opening period before giving Fairmont a 3-2 edge with a short-handed effort with 26 seconds left.
Kilpatrick scored an unassisted goal in the second period before teammate N.Feyder found the net at the 14:36 mark of the third period to give the hosts a 5-2 advantage.
Dietrich scored an unassisted power-play goal with 4:22 left to play and Braa added an unassisted goal with 1:22 remaining to make it a one-goal difference in the end.
Luverne outshot Fairmont 34-24 in the game. Wieneke made 19 saves.