By Bruce Karnick

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The Raider girls hockey team finished the regular season with a loss at Mahtomedi on Feb. 1. Hastings jumped out to the early 1-0 lead when Lauren Skov and Lauren Hubbart connected with Kiki Radant for the first points of February 46 seconds into the game. It took Mahtomedi almost 14 minutes to tie the game. Makayla Berquist scored with under a minute remaining to send the teams to the locker room with Hastings up 2-1. Lauren Muhl and Kyra Erickson earned assists on Muhl’s goal.

Unfortunately for Hastings, Mahtomedi scored one in the second to tie it and then another in the third to take the lead and the victory, their first conference win of the season.

Hastings outplayed the Zephyrs most of the game, including winning the shots on goal, 29-23. Where Mahtomedi took control was on the powerplay. Each team had 10 minutes of penalty time on five infractions, but one of the penalties called was a coincidental penalty so they get counted differently in calculating the powerplays. Mahtomedi went 2-for-4 in scoring on the powerplay while successfully killing all four chances Hastings had with the skater advantage.

Hastings finished sixth overall in the conference with four points from a 2-9-0 conference record. Overall, the team finished 8-17-0. That gave them the seventh seed in the 3AA section ahead of Cottage Grove Park.

Hastings will travel to take on #2 Cretin-Derham Hall on Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. An upset win over the Pioneers and the Raiders will play again on Feb 12 against the winner of #3 Rosemount and #6 Eagan.