By Bruce Karnick

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For students, the 2020-2021 school year has been anything but normal. That is what makes Saturday’s win at McGree Rink even more special. This year for hockey, fans were limited to two per player per team at most rinks, some allow none and others only one per player. Two per player means it is often only parents in the stands. The school’s requirement for fans to buy tickets in a season pass format meant no individual ticket sales happen at the door. A staff member is given a predetermined list and checks fans in before they enter. Those not on the list are not allowed in.

Saturday was different. Saturday was, for lack of a better term, special. Parents got together and decided to give their tickets to two of their players friends. The students jumped at the chance.

“It’s awesome to be here,” said Danny Peters.

Other students talked off the record about how they missed seeing sports live, loved hanging out with their friends and being part of the crowd cheering for their Raiders. It was obvious they missed it. The kids were engaged the entire game, banging on the glass and being loud, sports loving fans. It was incredible and, no offense to the parents, it made the game so much more fun for everyone.

JV Players Jackson Sweeny, Joe Schuster and Colton Richardson were also in attendance, something they have not been allowed to do all year even though they practice with the Varsity team.

“It’s awesome to come and watch and support. It makes it a lot better than just going home right away. It’s nice to see, like, what level of play you should be at to watch the guys above you,” Richardson said.

“Going off what he said you can definitely learn a lot from watching the guys above you,” added Schuster.

Sweeny talked about how a fast goal can change the tone of the game, “it really sets the tone gets the game going fast gets the boys excited to get out on the next shift.”

The Raiders started their week in West St. Paul taking on the Henry Sibley Warriors. The Warriors started the scoring in the first, scoring on Simon Hedin who got the start for the Raiders. That turned out to be the only goal allowed by either Raider goalie. Hedin split the game with Tyler McCarville, each goalie saw just over 25 minutes of playing time. Hedin stopped six of seven and McCarville eight of eight.

Scoring goals for the Raiders were Kyle Bauer, Jager Kendall, Jax Schauer, Logan DeBettignies and Connor Stoffel.

By the time it was all said and done, Hastings won their sixth straight by a score of 5-1 and moved to 4-2 in the conference, 7-3 overall.

Saturday’s game started out the same way. Simley scored first, 22 seconds after the puck drop. Jonathon Peine evened the score at one on a powerplay goal and a minute later, Jax Shauer gave the Raiders the lead. Simley tied the game at two on a powerplay goal but Hastings’ Connor Stoffel quickly took the lead back for the first.

The second period, Simley scored 29 seconds in, the second quick goal of the game tying it up at three. Then the Raiders pulled out a huge, short handed goal 15 seconds into a Simley powerplay.

“I just look towards getting past what I let in, I’m always focused on the next play that’s what I like to work on,” Raider Goalie Tyler McCarville said on the shorthanded goal, Head Coach Adam Welch was a bit more excited about the shorthanded goal.

“100% I mean that’s, first of all, it’s a big kill. At the end of the period after coming out of a timeout right and then we score short-handed. And then, you know, there’s still a minute 45 on the kill, right so a lot of times, when you score shorthand like that guys kind of ease off. Our guys did a great job.”

What was he looking for the rest of the game?

“As long as we just keep playing five on five. I’d love to play five on five and stay out of the box,” Welch explained.

Penalties were a huge part of the game, so much so, that combined, players spent 30 minutes in the box. One player for Simley was given a 10-minute misconduct. Frustrations with officials became obvious for both teams, and both coaches had to settle their guys down.

Coming into the third period, the Raiders had a 5-3 lead and neither team showed signs of slowing down. The game became more chippy, with a lot of action happening all over the ice. Big hits drew loud roars of approval from the student section and a few more penalties. Connor Stoffel finished the Raider scoring for the day giving Hastings the 6-3 win, moving them to 8-3 overall and 5-2 in the conference. Unfortunately, unless St. Thomas loses three, which is highly unlikely, the best the Raiders can do in the conference standings is finish where they are currently, which is second.

McCarville stopped 22 of the 25 shots he faced for the Raiders and the Hastings offense managed to get 39 shots on Simley.

Up next for Hastings, Tartan at home Tuesday the 23rd, at Tria Rink in St. Paul against Mahtomedi Saturday the 27th and then March 2nd at Doug Woog Arena against South St. Paul.

Jonathon Peine scored with five seconds left in the second period, giving the Raiders a chance to celebrate in front of the first student section of the 20-21 season thanks to parents donating their tickets to the kids. Photo by Bruce Karnick

Kyle Bauer scores and even strength goal with 4:55 left in the second period to give the Raiders the 4-3 lead. Photo by Bruce Karnick