Hastings beats Cretin, 5-1

The Hastings Raiders are enjoying what is turning out to be a very strong girls hockey season. Hastings has a 7-1-3 record so far this season, including a convincing 5-1 win over Cretin-Derham Hall on Saturday, Dec. 8.

Coming into the game, C-DH was ranked No. 20 in the state.

“Giving up only 11 shots to them showed the work ethic … the girls played with that evening,” coach Jeff Corkish said. “Cretin is a very good hockey team, but the persistence that Hastings played with took away all their time and space and ultimately most of their opportunities.”

The game was never in doubt. Hastings scored two first period goals.

In the second period, Hastings went up 3-0 before Cretin got on the scoreboard.

By the end of the second period, though, Hastings pushed the lead to three goals again, going up 4-1 heading into the final period.

Kiki Radke led the Hastings offense, scoring one goal and adding three assists.

Sami Claussen had a goal and an assist. Hailey Lundquist had a goal and two assists. Natalie Simons had a goal, too.

“The kids were very physical on the forecheck, stopping the Raiders’ feet early and causing many turnovers which ended up in a lot of offensive time of possession,” Corkish said. “One of the goals the team had was to continue getting better at getting out of the corners and off the walls so they could control the middle of the ice and this was evident in the back check all night. If one girl got beat there was a second one right there with back pressure to take away any hope that Cretin had of getting the puck to the net.”

Hastings has a very young roster, including a number of freshmen and sophomores. Many of them saw extended playing time against Cretin.

“Some of our younger players got some valuable time on the ice and, combined with practice, are becoming more and more reliable, which will allow the team more options as we get to the point where we want to use more kids in more situations,” Corkish said. “It takes time to get everyone on the same page but kids like Anna Foster, Claire Williams, Elle Cooper, Abbey Putnam, Coley Chorney, Mikaela Leifeld, Sara Pevonka and Malerie McDowell are all showing how focus and attention to detail, sprinkled in with a high compete level make our overall team so much better.

“This young group really seems to understand that having quality practices are the key to success.”

Brooke Weber played in goal for Hastings and earned the win.

Hastings had 33 shots on goal.

Vs WBL

Hastings settled for a 0-0 tie this Saturday with White Bear Lake, a result Corkish called “shaky.”

“We were a hurting group trying to mend some injuries as well as trying to get somewhat healthy from different illnesses,” he said. “Credit (goes) to the girls for not quitting or wanting to win that game. We may not have put in our best effort but the pride was still there and that allowed us to outshoot the Bears, but did not allow us the opportunities to get the win.”

Weber made 23 saves on 23 shots.

Hastings had 27 shots on goal.

Vs Mounds View

Hastings suffered its first loss of the season on Tuesday night to Mounds View, 8-1. The Mustangs are now 11-0 on the season.

Hastings actually took a 1-0 lead in the game when Claussen scored at 20 seconds of the second period, assisted by Cooper and Mikayla Minnaert.

From that point on, though, it was all Mounds View. They scored three unanswered goals in the second period and then added five more in the third period.

Weber made 32 saves on 40 shots.

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