Luverne hockey coach Tony Sandbulte knew his team would face a stiff challenge when the Cardinal girls squared off against the Breck School in the quarterfinal round of the Minnesota State Class A Hockey Tournament in St. Paul Feb. 19.
After all, the Mustangs entered the game as two-time defending state champions and the No. 1 seed for the 2020 Tournament.
Sandbulte acknowledged the clash resembled a modern-day David-versus-Goliath showdown, but the LHS mentor did not anticipate the ambush staged by the Mustangs on his Cardinals early in the game at the Xcel Energy Center.
Led by senior captains Olivia Mobley and Ally Qualley, Breck erupted for eight goals in the game’s first period to give the Mustangs a commanding 8-0 lead.
Luverne couldn’t climb back into contention the rest of the night as Breck cruised to an 8-1 victory.
When asked what surprised him about the Breck squad, Sandbulte’s response came instantly.
“I was surprised they scored eight goals in the first period,” he offered.
“They have some outstanding players and if you give them open looks, they will put the puck in the net. I just thought it would be closer than an 8-0 game in the first period.”
It was Mobley and Qualley that led the early assault by registering first-period hat tricks for the Mustangs.
Freshman Ava Lindsay chipped in two goals for Breck.
The Mustangs scored their first five goals in the game’s first 8:06, but that didn’t come as a surprise to Breck coach Steve Persian.
“Our team has got off to quick starts in a lot of games this year, so that really didn’t surprise me,” Persian said.
“One of our goals for this game was to get off to a good start, and we did that by scoring eight times in the first period.”
Qualley, who led the state with 44 assists during the regular season, ignited the fire for Breck by scoring 55 seconds into the game.
Mobley, who produced 52 goals during the regular season (the state’s second-highest total), upped the lead to 3-0 by netting goals at the 3:40 and 7:21 marks before Qualley found the net 27 seconds later to make it a 4-0 game.
Lindsay joined the scoring spree with 9:54 remaining in the first period to cap Breck’s five-goal run in a span of 8:06.
Qualley completed her hat trick with a power-play goal that came with 6:49 left in the period, while Lindsay and Mobley added one goal each in the final 5:47 to complete the eight-goal stanza.
After producing eight goals and 25 shots on net in the first period, the Breck coaches and players made the decision to stop shooting the puck in the final two periods.
“There was no need to. There comes a time when enough is enough, and we don’t want to show up any of our opponents,” Persian said.
Sandbulte viewed the move by Breck as being a gracious act that was well received by the coaches, but he said his Cardinals needed something to happen to give his team a jolt of confidence leading into the consolation semifinals the next day.
Billi Connell provided that spark when she scored 2:45 into the third period after being set up by Reghan Bork and Rozilyn Oye.
“We told our girls that they have to keep on playing (at the second intermission) and said, ‘Let’s go out and win the third period,’ and that’s what we did,” Sandbulte said.