Girls’ hockey had a two-game home stand start on Dec. 3 against the 2-5 St. Paul/Two Rivers Riveters and the 3-6 Simley Spartans on Dec. 5. Against the Riveters, Hastings played solid defense controlling the puck most of the game. Against the Spartans, Hastings had a dog fight on their hands, and they came out on top, 1-0. The two wins earned them the top of the Metro East Conference (MEC) standings at 6-1 overall and 2-0 in the MEC.
St. Paul/Two Rivers
The girl’s hockey co-op team of St. Paul and Two Rivers, the Riveters, came to town on Dec. 3. Hastings jumped out to the early 1-0 lead at 3:59 when Jade Schauer and Grace Petrich connected with Olyvia Erickson for her third goal of the season.
Hastings took the 1-0 lead into the intermission and 2:17 into the second, they extended their lead when Allie Werner and Anni Schriefer set up Haley Siebenaler for her first varsity goal. At 9:45, Petrich scored her second goal of the season on the powerplay with the help of Erickson and Schauer. Hastings took the 3-0 lead to the second intermission and between the two periods, they outshot the Riveters 25-19.
23 seconds into the third period, Hastings committed a penalty and 25 seconds later, Two Rivers scored their first goal of the game. Another infraction by Hastings gave the Riveters another powerplay at 8:46 and less than a minute later, it was 3-2.
Despite the two-goal run from the Riveters, Hastings never let the pressure get to them. They kept their pressure and aggressive play which led to Addie Seleski adding another goal to her stat line. Seleski scored with 46 seconds left in the game to dagger any comeback chance for the Riveters. Schriefer and Siebenaler earned the assist.
In the 4-2 win, Victoria Steinke faced 27 shots, stopping 25 for a .926 save percentage. Hastings outshot the Riveters 36-27, both teams had six penalty minutes on three infractions. Two Rivers scored on two of their three powerplay opportunities while Hastings was able to score once. The Raiders penalty kill is stopping roughly 87 percent of the powerplays they face.
Jade Schauer, Haley Siebenaler, Anni Schriefer, Grace Petrich and Olyvia Erickson each had two points in this game, Allie Werner had one.
Simley Spartans
The matchup with Simley was expected to be a great one with both teams having a strong defense, an aggressive offense and exceptional goaltending. This game did not disappoint. Both teams combined for a total of 60 shots on goal and the keepers stopped 59 of them. That did not include all the blocked shots by the defense on both sides.
The story of the game was both the defense and the goalies. Steinke for Hastings and Sydney Ries for Simley. Both girls played extremely well with Ries stopping 34 of the 35 shots faced for a .971 save percentage and Steinke finally logging a shutout which she has truly deserved in several of the Raider’s games this season.
The only goal of the game came with 54 seconds remaining in the second period. Josie Hamann snuck behind the Simley offense and Erickson connected with Seleski who set up Hamann for the breakaway. Hamann was denied on her first shot by Ries, but a quick reaction to the rebound allowed Hamann a second shot and she found the back of the net to give the Raiders the 1-0 lead.
The only “troubling” spot of the game for Hastings was the penalties. Hastings had 10 minutes of penalties on five infractions to Simley’s six minutes on three infractions. In the second period, there were incidental interference penalties, so a player from each team sat for two minutes but it did not make either team shorthanded.
MEC Standings
Overall (MEC games only)
Hastings 6-1-0 (2-0)
Hill-Murray 7-1-0 (1-0)
South St. Paul 6-3-0 (1-1)
St. Paul/Two Rivers 2-7-0 (0-1)
Simley 3-7-0 (0-2)
Next up
The next chance to catch the Raider ladies is Dec. 13 at home against Eastview at 6:30 p.m. Hastings then travels to South St. Paul on Dec. 17 at 7:00 p.m. Dec. 19 they travel to Hudson for a 7:00 p.m. puck drop and then they return home to take on Park of Cottage Grove outdoors at United Heroes League at noon on Dec. 21.