The Raider boys hockey team entered the new year at 4-2-1 and quickly made the move to 6-2-1 with wins over Eagan (37) and Dodge County (8-5). The wins did not help them in the Metro East standings, but helped with the overall schedule and gave the boys a confidence boost headed into the heart of their schedule.

At Eagan on Jan. 5th, the Raiders started the game a bit on the slow side. The forecheck was struggling to apply pressure and the team seemed to lack energy. This gave Eagan a huge head start on the scoreboard and by the end of the first, the Raiders were down 3-0.

The slow start has been the Raiders normal the last few games, but each game, Coach Matt Klein says something to them at the first intermission and they come out flying.

“The second period is a different kind of game,” said Klein. “It is a long change where you are a little bit further away from your bench. Our kids do a really good job of transitioning. When we get the puck up ice pretty good. When we get that first initial support, hockey becomes easier. Our defense did a good job getting up and our forwards did a good job of getting wide and playing fast.”

That quicker transition and improved forecheck made a huge difference in the second period. Mark DeNoyer scored at 1:02 into the period to narrow the gap 3-1. Jon Harris and Mark De-See Noyer had a 2-on-2 break with Harris on the right and De-Noyer on the left. Harris carried the puck into the zone and made a sweet pass over the Eagan defender and DeNoyer did a one-handed chip over the keeper for the goal.

The second goal came at the 4:18 mark. Austin Shanks and Roman McNamara won the battle for the puck in the corner and slid it out to Connor Zgoda who carried the puck through several defenders as he crossed in front of the Eagan goalie, sliding the shot between the keeper’s legs for the Raiders second goal of the evening.

The final goal of the second was an odd one. Several Raiders had taken shots, one even went off the facemask of the goalie. Eventually a shot was blocked that bounced behind the goal line. DeNoyer flipped the puck toward the front of the net for Joseph Iovino and at first glance, it looked like Iovino tipped it in. That is not what happened though. The goalie was so worried about the traffic up front that he anticipated the puck being passed to the front of the crease and he moved too soon. DeNoyer’s pass ended up hitting the back of the goalie square in the numbers and then took a Raider bounce into the net for DeNoyer’s second goal of the game, tying the score 33 with 31 seconds remaining in the period.

The third period was fast paced and fun to watch while both teams fought for the goahead goal. That goal finally came at the 10:51 mark of the third. Brody Carlson fed Danny Millner near the Raider blue line and Millner carried the puck across the neutral ice into the Eagan zone. Carlson was skating in on the right and Millner on the left when Millner opted to fire on the net. The shot was high, over the shoulder of the goalie who threw his glove hand up to make the grab. The puck bounced off the goalies glove and down into the net for the fourth unanswered goal for the Raiders giving them the lead for good.

With less than three minutes to play, Eagan pulled their goalie and then Iovino and the Raiders took advantage. Iovino scored two empty net goals first at the 15:56 mark then again at 16:44. The final, Hastings 6 -Eagan 3.

“When we can continue to play in the offensive zone like we did in the last two periods. It's easy, because everybody wants to play offense, but that has to be earned. And we did it the right way for the last 34 minutes. We got rewarded with a really fun story today,” explained Klein.

“It's just the ability to just to play coachable hockey. We change things up. We changed our forecheck in the second period, we changed up our neutral zone, we had a different thought coming out of the zone, we started flying guys. They bought in and they made plays and that's a great win for us,” added Klein.

Against Eagan, Hastings trailed Eagan for shots on goal 24-25 and both teams did a great job killing the three total penalties given out in the game. With just the penalties, the game was very clean and quick. Hastings had two visits to the box and Eagan had one for a total of six minutes of rest time for three players.

Kody Neiderkorn faced all 25 shots, stopping 22 for an .880 save percentage and the win, moving him to 5-2-1 on the season.

The Raiders then made the road trip to Dodge County on Jan. 7th to take on the Wildcats. Hastings easily won the contest 7-1. Six different Raiders scored, DeNoyer had two goals, Zgoda, Harris, Charlie Williams, Blake Vandehoef and Iovino each had one. Assists went to: Harris -3, Eddie Peine -2, Vandehoef, Iovino, DeNoyer, Carlson and John Teigland all had one.

This game was the polar opposite from Eagan for penalties. Hastings had six power play opportunities and they scored on four of them. Dodge County had four-man advantages and they were unable to convert on any. Hastings went to the box five times for 10 minutes and the Wildcats went seven times for 14 minutes.

In net, Niederkorn faced all 28 shots with one sneaking past him for a .964 save percentage. Niederkorn has had a very good season for the Raiders so far and the rankings are showing it. Currently, Niederkorn is tied at 24th in the state for wins, his Goals Against Average of 2.27 has him in 27th there and his save percentage of .923 has him 19th in the state in the rankings provided by the Star Tribune sports hub, the official stats site for Minnesota Sports. For a goalie to be in the rankings, they must play 40 percent of the maximum minutes the team has played for the season. No other Raiders made the boys rankings this week.

The Raiders have several weeks upcoming where they play three games a week. This week, the Raiders travelled to Rochester Century on Tuesday, we’ll have the recap of that next week. Wednesday, Jan. 11th, they play host to St. Louis Park. Jan. 13th, they head to Mahtomedi for a 7:00 p.m. puck drop, then they host Simley on Jan 17th. The home games are all scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Joseph Iovino saw nothing but open ice in front of him, not once, but twice as the game was entering the final minute of play. Iovino’s two empty net insurance goals gave the Raiders a 63 win over Eagan. Photo by Bruce Karnick