The Burnsville Holiday Tournament is a scheduled three games over three days instead of a bracketed tournament. The four teams that participated were Hastings, Eastview, Hopkins and Metro-South (a combined group from Burnsville and other surrounding communities). Hastings defeated all three teams by a combined score of 14-1.
First up was the Eastview Lightning from Apple Valley. Eastview scored the only goal against the Raiders halfway through the first period. Ava Hoffman tied the game in the middle of the second period, with assists coming from Jade Schauer and Madyn Hanson.
Netminder Victoria Steinke and the Raider’s defense shut down the Lightning’s attempt to regain the lead and the Grace Petrich scored two in the third to give Hastings the victory in their first matchup. Petrich’s first goal came at 13:56 with assists to Schauer and Maddy Schuster, then an empty net goal with 28 seconds left with assists from Erickson and Lauren Muhl.
Hastings was perfect in the game with no penalties, but they were not able to take advantage of the four minutes of power plays thanks to two infractions by the Lightning. Hastings put 26 shots on net and only allowed 13 shots to reach Steinke, who stopped 12 of the 13 for a .923 save percentage.
Day two the Raiders took on the host team, the Metro-South Phoenix. It was fairly clear that the Phoenix are a young team with many new players as Hastings quickly took control of the game and never once looked like they could lose.
The first period saw four different Raiders score. Lauren Muhl scored first at 4:59, assists to Brooke Townsend and Kacey Plank. Olyvia Erickson scored unassisted at 7:10. Townsend scored at 7:45 assisted by Addie Seleski and Schauer, then Seleski scored at 12:20 assisted by Schauer and Autumn Burt.
In the second period, Haley Siebenaler scored at 1:21 assisted by Schuster. At 4:20, Schauer scored assisted by Seleski and at 11:41, Erickson scored her second goal, this time assisted by Emily Thuet and Petrich. This gave the Raiders the 7-0 lead.
Hastings had put 35 shots on goal in the first two periods and was up 7-0. In high school games, a six-goal lead means that running time kicks in for the third period. That also means that coaches on the winning team tend to put opportunities to improve into their gameplan, such as making three passes before shooting or utilizing a certain play concept such as the pass needs to come from the corner before you can shoot. Something to not run the score up but also be respectful of the opponent and the game. With this in mind, Hastings only took five shots on goal in the third period.
Hastings had a total of 40 shots to Metro-South’s 16. There was also a rare feat that occurred in the game, there were no penalties called on either team.
The third and final game was against Hopkins/St. Louis Park (HSLP). The first period looks like a slow one in the books until you dig a little further. There were four penalties in the first, but no goals despite the different player advantages each team had.
Schauer kicked off the scoring at 4:19 into the second period on the powerplay with help from Petrich and Erickson. Muhl scored unassisted at 12:11 and Hastings was up 2-0 heading into the second intermission.
Muhl scored her second goal 54 seconds into the third period to extend the Raider lead 3-0. Petrich and Erickson were credited with the assists. Erickson scored another powerplay goal at 15:11 assisted by Seleski to lock up the win at 4-0.
Hastings had six powerplays, converting on two, HSLP had four different player advantages and the Raiders held their ground stopping all four. The Raiders took 46 shots on goal and allowed 27. Steinke earned her second shutout of the tournament and fourth of the season in the win.
The girls do not get the lengthy break the boys do as they return to action right away on Jan. 3 against St. Paul/Two Rivers. This second meeting of the season will be at home at 7:00 p.m. Friday, Jan. 5 they travel to Woodbury to take on the Royals at 7:30 p.m. and then they return home to take on Simley at 7:00 p.m. on Jan. 9.