By Bruce Karnick

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Hastings was ready, but Cretin-Derham Hall (CDH) was at the top of its game in their opening section game Thursday.

“We were ready, Alexis was ready, she had great practices all week, she was ready,” said Head Coach Tim Duggan after the game. “I had all the confidence in the world in her and all of a sudden we were down four goals in the first five minutes.”

Alexis Steinke started the game in goal for Hastings and she had been playing some great hockey. Her teammates were playing great defense in front of her too, making for some fun to watch team hockey. Then the Cretin game happened. Defenders were out of position enough that the back door was left open. CDH was able to take shots at will on Steinke and the first goal she allowed was a sniper shot that not many goalies could have stopped.

After the fourth goal, Nicole Vander Hayden stepped in. This was a bit of a wakeup call for the rest of the Raiders.

“I had to make the change,” explained Duggan. “We can’t be down four goals to a team like Cretin and expect to win. The rest of the girls stepped up big and the remainder of the game was much better overall.”

The second period started with a quick Raider goal. 58 seconds into the second period. Ireland Zaruba and Skov connected with Lauren Hubbart to make the game 4-1. Cretin added another goal 7:17 later and took the 5-1 lead into the second intermission.

The third period was once again all Cretin where they added two more goals to end the Raiders season with a 7-1 loss in the Section 3AA quarterfinal.

Hastings had 24 shots on goal to Cretin’s 31. Cretin had four penalties for eight minutes and Hastings two penalties for four minutes. Cretin was able to score on one powerplay.

With the season over, Hastings finished with an 8-18-0 overall record and 2-9-0 conference mark.

“It was not the season we had hoped to have. I felt we really had a chance at a .500 season with the players we have. We have a lot of great players on this team. It just didn’t work out like we planned,” added Duggan.

Hastings loses six seniors: Nicole Vander Heyden, Lau- ren Hubbart, Lauren Skov, Ireland Zaruba, Ashlyn Endres, and Maddy Daley.

As is my customary end to each sports season, I break that fourth wall as a reporter. I feel it is important to take a few moments and use some of this space to thank the coaches: Tim Duggan, Terry Brown and Jordy Vogelgesang for their support this year. Tim and Terry spent a lot of time after games just talking about the game of hockey, the Hastings girls program and providing me with more information than I could ever hope to use. To the girls on the team, my hat is off too you all. Thank you for bringing me into the fold, thank you for trusting me to tell your story and thank you for the friendships built. I wish nothing but the best for you and I know you will do great things.