The Raider Boys Hockey team entered the week at 7-2-1 near the midway point of the season. The first opponent was St. Louis Park (4-7-1) at home and then a trip to Stillwater to take on the Metro East Conference-leading Mahtomedi Zephyrs (8-3-0).

At home against the Orioles, Hastings came out with a ton of energy but could not match the speed and size of St. Louis Park. The Orioles kept the puck in the Raider defensive zone for the majority of the first period, firing 14 shots at Kody Niederkorn, the starting goalie for Hastings. Conversely, Hastings only managed four shots in the first. At the end of 17 minutes, the game was tied at zero.

Hastings drew first blood 3:22 into the second period when several Raiders crashed the Oriole net. Brody Larsen, Blake Vandehoef and Charlie Williams all took swats at the puck before Williams netted the goal with the other two earning assists. Nine minutes later, St. Louis Park tied the game 1-1 and Hastings wasted no time taking back the lead. Joseph Iovino took the Mark DeNoyer and Jon Harris pass and scored at 13:01.

This is where things got a little weird for a moment. The Raiders were clearing the puck from their zone when an Oriole player made a great steal at the blue line. That quickly turned into a two on zero but Niederkorn was not aware of the second Oriole skater. A quick pass and Niederkorn was forced to make a desperation save and he did. He threw his right leg up and left arm behind his back and made a highlight reel save.

After making an improbable save, Niederkorn could not keep the barrage of shots out of the net and by the end of the second period, he had faced 22 additional shots and Hastings trailed 3-2. The Raiders did a better job getting the puck into the Oriole’s end, logging two goals on 10 second period shots.

In the third, Hastings only managed to take seven shots, but they made the best of them when Brody Larsen put John Teigland’s rebound under the pad of the Oriole keeper. Regulation time expired with the game tied at three.

The eight-minute overtime period started, and Hastings kept the pace with St. Louis Park. With roughly 4:30 expired, Vandehoef had a breakaway opportunity. The chance was such a good one, Raider fans erupted into cheers. The Oriole goalie made a great save on Vandehoef’s shot and the puck raced the other way. The Orioles shot and Niederkorn was unable to make the save. The game was over at 5:05 in overtime, Hastings fell 4-3.

The Raider offense was only able to muster 24 shots in 56 minutes of play to St. Louis Park’s 52 shots. Niederkorn kept 48 of the 52 shots out of the net for a .923 save percentage.

Hastings went to the penalty box six times for 12 minutes and the Orioles went two times for four minutes. One of the penalties was concurrent with others so Hastings only had one powerplay and they were unable to convert on it. St. Louis Park converted 2-of-6 powerplays.

Hastings then travelled to take on the Zephyrs from Mahtomedi. The game took place in Stillwater due to ice availability. This game did not go well for Hastings. Eddie Peine scored the only goal for the Raiders. The goal came at 13:21 into the third period with assists going to Vandehoef and Larsen.

Mahtomedi scored four times in the first, twice in the second and once in the third. After the second period, Coach Matt Klein made the decision to sit Niederkorn who had played 80 minutes and faced 88 shots in a 24 hour period. Hastings ultimately fell to Mahtomedi 71.

For the game, Niederkorn faced 36 shots stopping 30 for a .833 save percentage, Clemens faced nine shots stopping eight for an .889 save percentage. For the year, Clemens has played two games and has an .889 save percentage because he faced no shots in the first appearance of the year. He has a 1.50 goals against average. Niederkorn now has a save percentage of .920 and a goals against average of 2.59.

Hastings now has three straight games at home with the first being Simley on Jan. 17th before Tartan on Jan. 19th, both of those are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. puck drops. Then, Hastings will host Owatonna on Jan. 21st at 3:30 p.m. The schedule continues to be grueling for the Raiders as they travel to Farmington on Jan. 23 at 7:00 p.m. and then they host St. Thomas Academy on Jan. 24th and then Two Rivers on Jan. 26th both at 7:30 p.m.

Charlie Williams kicked off the scoring against St. Louis Park by sliding the rebound under the goalie. Brody Larsen and Blake Vandehoef were each credited with an assist. Photo by Bruce Karnick