Cardinal girls' hockey team takes down Tigers and Bluejays

The Luverne girls’ hockey team improved to 18-1 on the year with wins over Albert Lea 6-0 on Jan. 11 at home and over Waseca 6-1 on the road Saturday.
The girls have a big week with a Monday night game scheduled with Minnesota River in Le Sueur.
They’ll have a huge rematch with New Ulm in New Ulm Thursday, Jan. 20, then return home to take on Dodge County on Jan. 22.
 
Luverne 6, Albert Lea 0
Luverne took on the Albert Lea Tigers Tuesday, Jan. 11, at the Blue Mound Ice Arena.
Luverne got three first-period goals to take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission.
Billi Connell started the scoring on a power play at the 7:30 mark of the period with the assist going to Greta McClure.
The duo of Kamryn Van Batavia and Reghan Bork picked up the game’s second and third goals.
Bork got the second with assists from Van Batavia and Ella Apel.
Van Batavia scored the final goal of the period with the assist going to Bork.
Luverne had a 10-7 shots-on-goal advantage for the period. Luverne goalie Cheyenne Schutz made seven saves in the period.
 The second period saw Luverne increase its lead to 5-0 with a couple of goals.
Van Batavia scored her second on the night with assists going to line mates Payton Behr and Bork.
The Cardinals got a power play goal with two minutes left in the period to increase their commanding lead. Shots on goal were 7-7 for the period.
Van Batavia got a hat trick with her third goal of the game just over two minutes in the final period with assists going to Behr and Macie Edstrom.
Albert Lea had chances, but Schutz would keep the goose egg on the board, picking up her seventh shutout of the year.
She finished with 24 saves in the game. Shots on goal for the final period were 10-10, and Luverne finished with a 32-24 advantage for the game.
 
Luverne 6, Waseca 1
 The Luverne  girls took on the Waseca Bluejays for a Saturday afternoon doubleheader with the boys in Waseca.
Kamryn Van Batavia gave the visiting Cardinals a 1-0 lead six minutes into the game.
Reghan Bork made it 2-0 with her assist going to Van Batavia.
Luverne put 25 first-period shots on Waseca’s goalie Illamy Draheim, but Waseca was able to get only two shots on senior goalie Cheyenne Schutz.
Van Batavia made it 5-0 with three goals in Period 2. She found the back of the net at the seven-, 10-, and 12-minute marks of the period.
Mallory Nelson, Payton Behr, Annika Boll and Bork assisted on Van Batavia’s goals in Period 2. Shots on goal were heavily in favor of the Cardinals with a 27-1 advantage.
Waseca finally broke through the Cardinal D and goaltending when Maizee Storey beat Schutz to cut the lead to 5-1 just a little over five minutes into the final period.
Van Batavia picked up her fifth goal of the game and increased Luverne’s lead to 6-1, which is how the score would stand.
Shots on goal for the period were 17-4 Luverne and 69-7 in favor of Luverne for the game. Schutz finished with six saves in the game.