With all the wacky weather this winter, Hastings’ sports schedules have been messed with a lot. The girl’s hockey team had one game last week, a road trip to West St. Paul to take on the Two Rivers / St. Paul Riveters, a team that is a cooperative of five different schools. The Raiders entered the week at 7-8 and Two Rivers came in at 5-8.

The trip to the West St. Paul ice arena always seems to be a chilly one. The last few years the Raiders have made the trek seem to be on the colder nights of the winter. It is tough to remember a trip to West St. Paul that temps were above 10 degrees. The cold weather just makes the coldest arena in the area that much colder for both players and fans.

The extra cold night did not affect the Raiders on the ice. Hastings jumped out to an early lead when Sam Brunner scored her first varsity goal thanks to the assistance of Kacey Plank and Jorja Riches at 4:42 in the first period. Roughly four minutes later, Two Rivers evened the score on a snipe of a shot over the blocker of starter Alexis Steinke who mentioned she reacted just a split second too slow to make the save.

The second period was all Hastings. The forecheck, resiliency and conditioning of the Raiders helped Hastings grind down the Riveters all night long. At 3:55 into the period, Karissa Thompson found the back of the net with the help of Jade Schauer and Madyn Hanson to give the Raiders the lead for good at 2-1. The game seemed to be a game of firsts for Hastings. At 8:43, Riches scored her first varsity goal with the help of Emily Thuet and Autumn Burt. The assist was Burt’s first varsity points of her career, and the goal was a nice insurance piece for the Raiders heading into the third.

The third turned out to be an exciting period even though no goals were scored. Hastings had three of their four penalties for the game called in the third and surprisingly, the Riveters stayed out of the box despite their very aggressive and somewhat sloppy play. Two Rivers had several questionable moments that could have been penalties, but none were called. The game ended 3-1 Hastings.

What made the third period even more interesting was the flip of the shots on goal. Two Rivers really dialed up the pressure, but Steinke and the Raider defense kept them at bay. In the first period, Hastings lead the shots on goal count 10-6. Hastings added 14 in the second and Two Rivers only added 10. The third saw eight shots for Hastings for a total of 32 and 12 shots for Two Rivers for a total of 28.

One huge difference maker for the Raiders is the defense’s quickness at jumping on the rebounds quickly and moving the puck quickly to the Raider forwards, limiting the second and third shots on goal, which dramatically helps the stress level of the goalies. If Steinke had a rebound out of reach to cover, most of the time, the defense was on it for her. This was the highest number of game time shots she has faced this season.

For the game, Steinke played all 51 minutes, bringing her season total to 385:44. With the one goal on 28 shots, her save percentage was 96.4 for the game. Season stats for Steinke: the win moved her record to 6-1 and she has faced 146 shots on goal with a 1.06 goals against average and a 94.5 percent save percentage.

According to the Star Tribune’s Girls Hockey Hub, Steinke is statistically the second-best girl’s goalie in the state for Goals Against Average, while the leader is Minnetonka’s Ashlyn Hazlett with 0.55. Steinke is also tied for seventh in Save Percentage with a .945. The leader there is Dani Strom from Maple Grove with a .961. Bree Balster and Kyra Erickson join Steinke on the top 100 ranking list. Balster’s Goals Against Average of 3.20 puts her at 82nd and her .892 Save Percentage puts her at 83rd. That means that Hastings has two top 100 goalies in the state. To be on the list, according to the site, goalies must play a minimum of 40% of the maximum minutes for the team. Erickson is on the list for assists and she sits tied at 59th with 13 assists for the season. Makayla Berquist is very close to cracking the top 100 with nine goals and nine assists. Two goals would get her on both the top goals and total points lists.

Offensively, Makayla Berquist still has the points lead for Hastings at 18 despite being held to two points in the last six games. Berquist is due and Simley would be a perfect game for her next batch of points. Kyra Erickson is another huge part of the Raider offense. Erickson leads the team in assists with 13 and is second behind Berquist in points with 17. Madyn Hanson and Karissa Thompson are tied at 15. Kylie Gruden returned to the lineup at Two Rivers and she remains tied with Jade Schauer with 14 points, and Addie Seleski is the final Raider with double digit points at 10.

Hastings (8-8) has eight games left for the season. The next two games are on the road, a trip to Gentry Academy (13-1) on Jan. 14th at 6:00 p.m. then to Tartan (5-7) on Jan. 17th at 7:00 p.m. The Raiders return home to take on South St. Paul (11-4-1) on Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m.