Hasting boys hockey entered the week at 4-3 with two games scheduled before Christmas, Lakeville North on Dec. 19 and Anoka on Dec. 21. First against North, the boys fell 5-3 in a raucous game that saw quite a few post-whistle action sequences. The game against Anoka was a bit less chippy and dominated by the Raiders who pulled out the win 6-3.
The game against Lakeville North was a strange one. Recently, the Panthers have had the Raiders’ number, but Hastings started out mostly in control of the game. 6:57 into the first period, Brody Geib and Lukas Niederkorn connected with Sawyer Tjomsland to give the Raiders the lead. That lead survived 3:16 when North tied the game at one. That goal set off a few of the Raiders, and things started to get chippy.
At the 11:54 mark in the first, Lakeville nearly scored a goal and a series of pushes and shoves escalated quickly into eight minutes of penalties. Two Raiders and two Panthers were sent to the box for roughing. Two minutes later, the Raiders nearly scored and the same thing happened. There was pushing, shoving and the next thing you know, there was a rugby scrum on the ice. That sent two more Raiders and two more Panthers to the box, again for roughing. There were eight penalties called in the first period.
The game stayed tied until 8:29 into the second when Blake Vandehoef and Mason Boeff helped Luke Wahlstrom score his third of the season to give the Raiders the 2-1 lead. A penalty late in the second gave Hastings a powerplay and they did not waste it. With three seconds left in the period, Vandehoef and Jon Harris found Brody Carlson for the powerplay goal that sent the game to the locker room with the Raiders leading by two.
Hastings held on to that lead and mostly controlled the game until 8:46 into the third when North scored their first goal of the period. Lakeville scored three more goals in the period, including one empty net goal to win 5-3. Hastings had a solid lead and all the momentum in the game but credit to the Panthers, they never gave up.
The game was a chippy one for sure with a total of 26 minutes of penalties on 13 infractions. Hastings had seven penalties and Lakeville had six. Hastings scored the only powerplay goal of the game. Hastings put the puck on the net 27 times and Clemens saw 26 shots in the loss for a .846 save percentage.
When Anoka came to town, it was a similar story - all Hastings in the first two periods and all their opponents in the third. Thankfully, the Raiders already had a 6-1 lead headed into the third. Harris kicked off the scoring 7:10 into the first with the assist going to Vandehoef. Ryder Regenscheid scored at 12:15 with the assist going to Wahlstrom and Johnny Teigland.
In the second, Connor Zgoda scored at 1:04, assisted by Harris, and then again at 7:46 with the assist to Harris and Teigland, giving the Raiders the 4-0 lead before Anoka scored their first goal. Harris scored his second goal of the game with help from Zgoda and Boeff with just 14 seconds remaining in the second period. Hastings took the 6-1 lead to the locker room. In the third, Anoka scored the next two goals to cut the gap to 6-3, but that was all they could come up with.
This game was a little less active for the officials with both teams going to the box for six minutes each on three infractions apiece and both teams shut down any powerplays they faced. Hastings put the puck on goal 45 times to Anoka’s 20, with Brooks Smyrski logging the win and a .850 save percentage.
The boys will finish 2023 with a trip up Highway 61 to Doug Woog Arena in South St. Paul. The tournament starts on Dec. 26 with a conference game against the Packers. The rest of the games are not scheduled yet. The first boy’s action in 2024 will be on Jan. 9 in Owatonna at 7 p.m.