The Raider girls hockey team entered the week of Jan. 23rd on a four game losing streak with three games scheduled for the week of their five remaining games of the regular season. At 9-14, the Raiders are clinging on to fifth place in the conference, just two wins ahead of sixth place Two Rivers. First up on the schedule was the 4-15-3 Eagan Wildcats, followed by the 11-10 Blaine Bengals and finally the 15-6 Owatonna Huskies.

Eagan came to town on Monday, January 23 for parents’ night for the Raiders. Pre-game festivities celebrated and thanked the parents for their support through the years. This is a wonderful tradition that all Raiders sports embrace.

The first period of action was a lot of back and forth on the ice. Each team had opportunities to score, but neither could capitalize. Just 31 seconds into the second period, Eagan took the lead on a power play goal. Three and a half minutes later, the Raiders tied the game 1-1. Makayla Berquist and Addie Seleski setup Lauren Muhl for the goal. Unfortunately, that was all the offense Hastings could muster and they fell 3-1.

Shots on goal were very even: Eagan had 31, Hastings had 30. Bree Balster faced 30 shots, stopping 28 for a .933 save percentage. Penalties were a huge factor in the game. In all, 11 penalties were called, seven against Eagan for 14 minutes and four against Hastings for 18 minutes. One of the Raider penalties added a 10-minute misconduct penalty for what a Raider player had said to an official. Hastings was only able to convert on one of the six opportunities where they had a man advantage while Eagan capitalized on one of two.

On Thursday, Hastings travelled to Blaine to take on the Bengals in what appeared to be a slow paced game. Hastings scored the only goal of the game in the first period. Emily Thuet set up Libby Knoll for the even strength goal at 16:12 in the first. The game was so cleanly played that only one penalty was called the entire game and that was against Blaine in the third period. Hastings did not convert and the game finished a 1-0 win for Hastings.

Balster was in net, stopping all 36 shots. Hastings only managed 19 shots on net, but it only takes one more goal than the opponent to win, and that is what the Raiders did.

That efficiency and cleanliness did not follow the Raiders to Owatonna. There were 15 total penalties called in that game for a total of 30 minutes.

The Huskies opened the scoring just 1:30 into the first and Hastings did not tie the score until Kylie Gruden and Karissa Thompson set up Berquist for the only Raiders goal of the game at 13:20 in the first. After that, it was all Huskies after they scored twice in the second and twice in the third to win 5-1.

Owatonna had 34 shots on goal to Hastings’ 17. Balster stopped 29 of the 34 shots for an .853 save percentage. Both teams scored once on the power play with Hastings having seven power play opportunities and Owatonna having six. Hastings went to the penalty box for 14 minutes on seven infractions and Owatonna went for 16 minutes on eight infractions.

For the season, Balster has a .901 save percentage and a 3.13 goals against average. Makayla Berquist leads the Raiders in overall offensive points with 21 and goals with 10. Kyra Erickson leads the team in assists with 13. Eight Raiders have double digit points on the season.

Hastings is down to their final regular season game, Friday, February 3 at 4:00 p.m. against Hill-Murray. Of the eight teams in the section, Hastings sits in sixth place. If the section placement stays the same as the places are now, Hastings would start the playoffs against Park of Cottage Grove. A win could push Hastings ahead of Cretin-Derham Hall into fifth place and a loss likely does not drop the Raiders any further than sixth given the record of the teams below them. The problem is, this section takes coaches votes with more weight than anything else, so it would not be a surprise to see Hastings get pushed down to the eighth spot even though they deserve the six seed.