Raiders girls hockey falls to Cretin in sections

The Hastings Raiders girls hockey team suffered a disappointing 7-1 loss in sections to the Cretin-Derham Hall Warriors Wednesday night. Cretin scored four times in the first six minutes of the first period to put Hastings deep in the hole, which they were never able to climb out of.

The loss ends Hastings' season in the first round of the Section 3AA playoffs. They were the No. 7 seed after finishing the regular season 8-17 overall and 2-9 in the Metro East Conference. 

Abby Broz scored just 1 minute, 47 seconds into the game for Cretin to start the scoring, assisted by Ari Evans and Lily Anderson. A minute-and-a-half later, Sammy Muetzel found the net for Cretin with help from Maggie Dolan and Lily Geist. They then scored two more goals - courtesy of Broz and Ryan Sherry – in the span of 16 seconds during the sixth minute to go up 4-0, which was the score after the first period.

Hastings got on the board just 58 seconds into the second period when senior Lauren Hubbart scored, assisted by fellow seniors Ireland Zaruba and Lauren Skov. Midway through the period, Cretin would answer with a power-play goal by Evans to make it 5-1 heading into the third period.

Cretin added on two more goals in the third period by Alida Ahern and Anderson for the 7-1 final.

Hastings committed two penalties in the game to Cretin’s four but went 0-for-4 on power plays while Cretin was 1-for-1. 

Cretin narrowly outshot Hastings 31-24 for the game. Hastings’ senior goalie Nicole Vander Heydan made 24 saves.

Hastings loses seven seniors to graduation: Hubbart, Zaruba, Skov, Maddy Daley, Ashlyn Endres, Vander Heydan and Lauren Dubej. However, should the rest of the team return, they will bring back four of their top-six points-scorers, including their top three of junior Kiki Radant, freshman Jade Schauer and sophomore Kyra Erickson.