Girls hockey ready for playoffs

Talk about it

The WIAA girls hockey tournament season starts this Thursday for the New Richmond girls.

The Tigers will be playing at Hudson at 5 p.m. on Thursday in the opening round of WIAA tournament play. The Tigers are the fifth seed in the sectional bracket while Hudson is the fourth team.

The winner of Thursday’s game will be back in action next Tuesday at 5 p.m., in the WIAA sectional semifinals. The winner will advance to face the St. Croix Valley Fusion in River Falls. The Fusion are the number one ranked team in the state. The Tigers played the Fusion last week, battling them evenly for two periods. The Fusion then scored twice in the third period to gain a 4-2 win over the Tigers.

The Tigers are busy getting ready for Thursday’s game at Hudson. One change they’ve made is shifting Megan Cox back to forward and Rachel Mullendore back to defense. This change was made during the third period of Saturday’s 4-1 loss at Superior.

Coach Jake Hetzel said the move was made to give the Tigers to their best opportunity of winning at Hudson on Thursday. Cox was moved to defense to give her more open-ice opportunities. Mullendore, who has been shifted between forward and defense numerous times in her career, will still have the green light to make open-ice rushes whenever they are available, Hetzel said.

One of the main goals in getting to the playoffs is to cut down on turnovers. If there’s been a consistent weakness for the Tigers this season, it’s been turning the puck over in their own end. This has been a main source of opponents’ goals. Hetzel said all four of Superior’s goals on Saturday came off turnovers. Turnovers also were a key part of Hudson’s goals when the Raiders won at the New Richmond Sports Center last Tuesday 3-2.

Though the Tigers lost to Hudson, they also found how close they are to beating the Raiders. Tiger goalie Liz Nadeau is playing her best hockey of the season. “Liz has been playing out of her mind lately,” Hetzel said.

The Tigers scored first against Hudson. Caitlynn Singerhouse put in a sweet back-handed shot off a feed from Mullendore. Exactly a minute later, Hudson’s Abby Singerhouse tied the score. On this goal Singerhouse used a Tiger defender as a screen, leaving Nadeau little chance to stop the shot.

Hudson then scored in the second and third periods, before Tiger sophomore Carley Schmidt scored with just over five minutes left in the game on a power play.

The only goal for the Tigers at Superior was scored by Mullendore, off assists from Emily Cook and Dani Edin. It gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead six minutes into the game.

Hudson 3,

New Richmond 2

First Period: 1. NR, Caitlynn Singerhouse (Rachel Mullendore) 14:36. 2. Hudson, Abby Singerhouse (un) 15:36.

Second Period: 3. Hudson, Bryanna Johnson (un) 11:30.

Third Period: 4. Hudson, Alex Bernard (Hallie Bennewitz) 11:15. 5. NR, Carley Schmidt (Leah Egan, Dani Edin) pp 11:46.

Saves: New Richmond (Elizabeth Nadeau) 26; Hudson (Danni Krinke) 20.

Tags: sports, wiaa, girls, hockey