By Bruce Karnick

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An 11-game win streak is a big deal in any sport. When you reach that level of team success, doubters will chime in with excuses as to why a team is so good. For the Raiders, some opponents are saying they haven’t beat any teams that are experiencing a good year or have top tier players. Looking at the schedule of teams they have defeated during the streak, Simley is currently in second in the conference at 6-3-0 (14-6-1 overall), Woodbury is 11-8 and the toughest game team they have faced since the St. Thomas Academy game has been Mahtomedi.

The Zephyrs returned the majority of their players from last year’s team. Mahtomedi is a team built very much like Hastings is. They are fast, well-coached, and they play well together. Mahtomedi’s goalie is ranked as one of the top goalies in the state. Mahtomedi was the Class 1A Champion last year too, and they are currently ranked as the number three Class 1A team behind Warroad and Hermantown.

Mahtomedi paid Hastings a visit on Jan. 27, which was also Parent Appreciation night. The fast-paced game was full of big hits, tight-windowed passes and plenty of scoring. Hastings took the lead at 9:13 in the first period. Logan DeBettignies scored a power play goal to give the Raiders the early 1-0 lead. DeBettignies was assisted on the goal by Collin Stewart and Luke Chorlton.

At 3:13 of the second, Mahtomedi tied the score and five minutes later, Hastings answered and took the lead. Luke Savage scored with Conner Stoffel and Jake Harris assisting. Mahtomedi scored twice more to take the lead heading into the third.

16 seconds into the third period, DeBettignies connected with Stephen Reifenberger who buried it to tie the game at three. Both teams kept the pressure up and the action high and with 3:38 left in the game, Jack Nicklay gave Hastings the lead back. On the assist were DeBettignies and Reifeberger.

That is where the game ended, 4-3, Hastings. Many fans were expressing how they thought that was the best high school hockey game they have witnessed all season, and they were right. It was an exhilarating game all night long.

Holden Richardson faced 20 shots all night, while Hastings managed to put 33 on net at the other end of the ice. Penalties were a bit of an issue all night. Hastings went to the box five times for 10 minutes and Mahtomedi four times for eight minutes. Hastings scored on one of their five power plays while successfully killing all the penalties they had.

Against South St. Paul, the Raiders seemed to think they would have an easy time with the Packers based on the previous meeting where Hastings won 10-0. South St. Paul had other ideas and they came into the Hastings Civic arena ready to make Hastings earn the win. Ultimately, Hastings won 6-1 but it took a tie game to light the fire under them. Jackson Sweeney scored in the first with assists going to Stoffel and Harris and that was it for period one.

South St. Paul tied the game 1-1 at the 7-minute mark of the second period. The Packers kept Hastings mostly at bay for 24 minutes until that point. That fight stayed for over 30 minutes until Reifenberger scored with the help of John Chorlton and Stewart. Connor Stoffel ended his scoring slump with the help of Sweeney and Stewart to end the second at 3-1 for Hastings.

The third period belonged to Jake Harris. At 8:46, Savage hit Stoffel who fed Harris for his first goal of the period. Then, during a penalty kill, Reifenberger fed Harris, not once, but twice for two short-handed goals giving Harris the true Hattrick on the night.

Kody Niederkorn picked up the win for Hastings stopping 14 of the 15 shots he faced while his teammates put on a clinic shooting 43 times. Hastings had 12 minutes of penalties on 6 infractions and the Packers had seven minutes on two. Both teams scored once on the powerplay.

After the game, Luke Savage explained what it means to beat a team like Mahomedi. “We haven’t really played a bunch of super strong teams. It’s good to play a team like that with that caliber and win like that. We stuck to our game plan, just pucks in pucks out, and the blue line working hard, getting down and keeping them pinned in their zone” Jack Nicklay scored the game winner. “The whole team working down low, doing exactly what we have been doing all week at practice. Stevie Reif makes a good play right to my tape and I shot it right in. Second period, we had a lot of good chances, the shots just didn’t go our way, so we just kept rolling knowing our chances will come and they did.”

Hastings has a week off from games and will travel to West St. Paul to take on Two Rivers, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. They then host East Ridge at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 8.

Jack Nicklay scored the game winning goal at 13:22 of the third period. Assisted by Stephen Reifenberger and Logan DeBettignies. Photo by Bruce Karnick