The Hastings Boys Hockey Team (1-5-1) added a decisive win against Irondale (2-5-0) on Dec. 17 at home, winning 5-2, ending the three-game slide. Part two of the two game homestand took place on Dec. 21 when the 1-8 Eagan Wildcats came to town after a crushing 8-0 loss to Park of Cottage Grove.
Versus Irondale
The Knights earned a penalty just 1:40 into the game putting the Raiders on the power play and the boys did not waste it. Jon Harris connected with Brody Carlson for the Raiders first goal less than two minutes into the game. The first period was all Hastings with Harris tallying three points, the assist to Carlson, the Raiders second goal with assists going to Aden Cavness and Brayden Krauth and the Raiders fourth goal with assists going to Krauth and Blake Weber. Luke Wahlstrom broke up the point streak by Harris, scoring the third goal of the game with assists going to Jack Woodwick and Lukas Niederkorn.
The Knights scored the only goal of the second period, but Hastings got one back in the third when Will Savage found the back of the net with assists going to Jackson Dohman and Matt Sherry. Irondale did score one more before the end of the game to cut into the Raiders lead, but it was too little, too late, Hastings won 5-2.
Irondale went to the box once for two minutes and Hastings capitalized on that powerplay. The other side of the penalty coin was a bit out of balance. Hastings was called for 24 minutes on just five infractions which include two five-minute major penalties plus a ten-minute misconduct penalty. On the upside of the penalties, Hastings only allowed one power play goal in 24 minutes.
Hastings had 26 shots on goal and Charlie Stoffel faced only 21 shots all game, stopping 19 for a .905 save percentage.
Versus Eagan
The Wildcats gave the Raiders a minor scare for the first 23 minutes of Saturday’s matchup against Hastings. At 1-8, Hastings seemed to underestimate their opponent briefly allowing Eagan to take the lead three separate times, with the third being the wakeup call the Raiders needed.
Eagan scored first to go up 1-0 with 8:05 expired in the first period. Then, with a Raider in the penalty box, Luke Wahlstrom found Carter Hanson who scored a shorthanded goal at 14:31 to tie the game before the first intermission.
In the second period, all heck broke loose with six goals scored. Eagan came out of the locker room fired up, scoring at the 1:50 mark to regain the lead with a power play goal. Then, the Wildcats had a miscue of their own giving Hastings the power play and Jon Harris made them pay. At 6:02, Carlson and Hanson connected with Harris to tie the game a second time.
Unfortunately, six seconds later, Eagan blasted a shot past Stoffel to regain the lead 3-2. Hastings made the minute and two seconds even more chaotic when Cavness scored at 7:04 with assists going to Harris and Brayden Krauth for the fourth total goal of the second period.
With three goals being scored in 1:02, one would think the scoring would have settled down, but Hastings had enough and they decided to take the lead for good when Harris connected with Brayden Krauth, this time for Krauth’s first goal of the game at 10:15. Krauth added a second goal to his stat line with just 1:08 left in the second period thanks to the help of Cavness and Harris. After two periods in the books, Hastings was up 5-3.
Followers of the boy’s hockey team and fans of KFAN’s the Common Man’s preposterous statement tournament know, from Fox Sports North’s Kevin Gorg, ‘the two-goal lead is the most dangerous lead in hockey’. Hastings has not had a lot of successes taking a two-goal lead into the third period this season and at 5:26, Raiders fans might have been thinking “oh no, here we go again. Eagan poked one past Stoffel to cut the Raider lead to 5-4.
The boys played tough the rest of the way and with 2:23 left in the period, the speedy Harris earned a breakaway that led to a shorthanded, empty net goal. Cavness decided he wanted in on the open net action with 34 seconds left in the game and he put the icing on the cake for the Hastings win 7-4.
In the game, Harris earned five points, Cavness and Brayden Krauth tallied three points each, Hanson added two and both Carlson and Wahlstrom earned one.
Stoffel saw 33 shots stopping 29 for a .879 save percentage while the Raider offense focused on quality, not quantity shooting on 25 times on net with seven goals.
Penalties were once again the sore spot for the Raiders with 10 minutes on five infractions, Eagan had eight minutes on four infractions and both teams scored once on the powerplay.
Up Next
The Raiders will skate up Highway 61 to Doug Woog Arena for the annual South St. Paul Premier tournament starting at 7:00 p.m. on Dec. 30. One thing to note, this tournament frequently runs behind schedule the later in the day the schedule goes, usually because the games are tightly contested. If you go, be on time, but also be prepared to have a delayed start to the games all weekend long.
The boys have one of the longer gaps crossing into 2025 with their first game of the new year scheduled for Jan. 9 at Tartan, also a 7:00 p.m. puck drop.