The River Lakes Stars girls' hockey team made history with a season-high performance in beating Sartell/Sauk Rapids 4-2 on the road in the first round of section playoffs on Saturday, Feb. 3.The victory was the Stars' first in the playoffs. The girls have never won in the first round in previous years.
Jenny Habben (11) passes to a teammate in the loss against Tech. She scored the Stars' final goal in their 4-2 playoff victory.
The Stars also scored four goals in a game for the first time this season, which beats their previous high of two goals in a game.
Coach Tom Petroski said, "It was nice for the coaches and fans to see the girls rewarded for all of their hard work during a difficult season. They started the game on an aggressive and determined note and continued their strong play for the entire length of the game."
The Stars' Karen Hafner scored the first goal of the game on a pass from Angie Schramel. The goal was Hafner's first of the season.
Sartell/Sauk Rapids answered with a goal a few minutes later to tie the score at one.
Close to the end of the first period, Emily Moschkau took a break-out pass from Tiffany Clements and shot high on the Sartell/Sauk Rapids' goalie, who was unable to cover the bouncy puck.
Moshkau's goal gave the Stars a 2-1 lead going into the second period.
Sartell/Sauk Rapids came out strong in the second period, scoring again to tie the game at 2-2.
Late into the second period, Julie Mehr made a great shot on net and was able to get her first goal of the season, giving the Stars a one-goal lead again.
In the third period, the Stars increased their lead to two with the only goal of the period. Jenny Habben received a great pass from Amber Schultzetenberg and was able to get the puck past the Sartell/Sauk Rapids' defense. That made the score 4-2, which turned out to be the final tally.
Sartell/Sauk Rapids pulled their goalie during the last few minutes of the third period to have an extra skater. The Stars had great defensive coverage and kept the puck in Sauk Rapids' zone for a majority of the time.
The Stars outshot Sartell/Sauk Rapids in all three periods and 26-21 for the game. Trisha Wendlandt made 19 saves for the Stars.
The Stars played the St. Cloud Icebreakers on Tuesday, Feb. 6, in the second round of playoffs.
| River Lakes-- | 2 | 1 | 1 | - 4 |
| Sartell-- | 1 | 1 | 0 | - 2 |
First Period: RL-Karen Hafner (Angie Schramel); SSR-unavailable; RL-Emily Moschkau (Tiffany Clements).
Second Period: SSR-unavailable; RL-Julie Mehr.
Third Period: RL-Habben (Amber Schultzetenberg).
St. Cloud Tech 6
River Lakes 0
The River Lakes Stars were overpowered by the skillful St. Cloud Tech team on Thursday in Richmond. The Stars lost their last regular season game 6-0.
The Stars were outshot 14-2 in the first period as Tech scored twice.
Speedy Andrea Herold had a hat trick and Mia Langsjoen had a goal and two assists for Tech.
The Tigers were just too fast for River Lakes Stars to keep up with.
Despite three power play advantages, the Stars were unable to score in the game.
The Tigers played hard and skated fast throughout the game, scoring twice in all three periods.
Tech outshot the Stars 36-9.
| St. CLoud Tech-- | 2 | 2 | 2 | - 6 |
| River Lakes-- | 0 | 0 | 0 | - 0 |
First Period: SCT-Steph Thebert (Mia Langsjoen, Sam DeLong); SCT- Andrea Herold (Liz Scherer).
Second Period: SCT-Herold (Kelly Person, Scherer); SCT-Herold (Britt Pennington).
Third Period: SCT-DeLong (Thebert, Langsjoen); SCT-Langsjoen (Kati Cowardin).