February 8
After the girls basketball game, a short break for a nosh and I was off to the opening game of the girls hockey section 8AA tournament . . .
[These two teams split their regular season games. I think the consensus among those who know such things (well, the 2 or 3 that I know) was that the Icebreakers should have been the #4 seed . . . ]
[OK, captain of the visiting team, call the flip of the coin . . . ]
[The crack KXRA radio crew was on hand for the game . . . ]
[DMac and BCun ready at the mics . . . ]
[Showing complete teamliness, all the helmets are aligned in the same direction . . . ]
[Oh yeah, they didn’t have to have a coin toss at the beginning . . . ]
[The Cardinal line from the top: Anna Doherty (5), Kaci Trosvig (25) and Lauren Maras (27) . . . ]
[Two photos . . . ]
[And I still can’t get the number of the Cardinal speeding into the Icebreakers’ zone . . . ]
[That’s Makenna Aure (17) on the left (and probably in two above photos) with Hanley Block (28), as the two of them take on the entire St. Cloud team . . . ]
[And the two of them are trying to control the puck behind the net . . . ]
[There it is on the left! Lauren appears to be on it . . . ]
[Kaci tries to keep the puck in the zone . . . ]
[Makenna, one on three . . . ]
[Marki Oberg (10) follows a shop attempt . . . ]
[A 3rd line with Micah Summer (8), Meg Shercliffe (5), and Peyton Boesl (6). Reise Waldorf (16) is on defense . . . ]
[Micah to Reise . . . ]
[Hanley’s on with Meg . . . ]
[Jordan O’Kane (1) was terrific in goal and all through the last games . . . ]
[Kaci’s back in on offense . . . ]
[Ella Westlund (19) has joined the fray . . . ]
[Kaci begins to circle to . . . ]
[Get to the front of the net . . . ]
[A good first period with the Cards having a slight advantage . . . ]
[A good crowd was on hand . . . ]
[Jordan repairs to her game-time den . . . ]
[You pass it to me, I’ll pass to her . . . ]
[She’ll pass it back to me and I’ll put it in the goal . . . ]
[And almost as Lauren closes in on it . . . ]
[Makenna races in. And when she races, she races . . . ]
[Kaci on her backhand – I’ve seen her score with that shot but not this time . . . ]
[Kaci races behind the net, Anna races in front of it . . . ]
[Pile up in aisle 3 . . . ]
[Anna with puck in the right circle . . . ]
[Lauren, with 3 of her closest Icebreaker friends . . . ]
[Kaci and Lauren . . . ]
[And my shot of Mayson Toft (14) . . . ]
[As she circles the net with Micah in front . . . ]
[The Icebreaker goalie smothers the puck with Meg and Marki in the neighborhood . . . ]
[And that pair was then joined by Kaci . . . ]
[We have a plethora of Cards in front of the goal, the fans behind the glass are cheering, but the ref is waving his arms as Anna approaches him perplexed . . . ]
[Anna had just put in a beautiful shot from the right circle, to be the first goal of the game, but the ref called it off, signalling a Cardinal had been in the crease . . . ]
[So, Makenna decided she give it the ole college try . . . ]
[Past defenders and into the offensive zone . . . ]
[Away she goes . . . ]
[Hanley, Micah, and Kaci tussle behind the goal . . . ]
[Kaci chases after it with Lauren out front . . . ]
[Then Lauren chased it around the boards . . . ]
[Back and forth, with Meg this time . . . ]
[After two periods, yet to be a score . . . ]
[GOOOOAAAALLLLLL! A beautiful straight on long shot by Mayson . . . ]
[With only 7 minutes left in the game, it seemed that one goal might hold up . . . ]
[But the Icebreakers tied it up 3 minutes later. Makenna, Hanley, and Marki tried a late rush to pull it out . . . ]
[But the game ended in a tie – exciting from start to finish . . . ]
[In the first overtime, Kaci was on the doorstep . . . ]
[With friends Anna and Lauren right there with her, the puck nevertheless snuck out the back door . . . ]
[So they all turned to find it . . . ]
[Mayson, Lauren, and Anna skate past a sprawling goalie . . . ]
[Who seems none the worse for wear . . . ]
[Whoa, the Lauren, Kaci, Anna with another shot at it . . . ]
[But again, the puck escapes . . . ]
[Ohhhh, a near miss . . . ]
[Marki, Meg, and Anna, as Marki appears to have encountered a wrestling move . . . ]
[And here we are again!]
[Lauren chases down the rascal, as Hanley and Ella take up scoring positions . . . ]
[Hanley says when they go high, I go low . . . ]
[The 8-minute first overtime ended without a winner. They Zambonied the ice before the start of the 2nd OT period, a full 17 minute one . . . ]
[At this point the team is thinking pizza and Coke . . . ]
[But they have to take care of business first . . . ]
[And they did. Less than 3 minutes in period 5, Anna scored the game winner! It seemed fitting since she lost a goal earlier in the game . . . ]
[The celebration begins . . . ]
[The mosh pile begins . . . ]
[One hated to see anyone lose this game. It was well played by both teams . . . ]
[THE AGONY OF DEFEAT. This is my favorite photo of the entire weekend . . . ]
[Wow . . . ]
[Good game, good game, good game, nice game, good game, good game. And it was . . . ]
[The Cards would lose the section semi-final at Brainerd/Little Falls the following Tuesday. A last minute goal after the Cards had gone empty net made the final 3 – 1. A good showing in their first season in class AA. Brainerd graduates 10 seniors; the Cards have most everybody back (as does St. Cloud). Wait till next year . . . ]
We get nose jobs all the time in the NHL, and we don’t even have to go to the hospital. ~ Brad Park
Up Next: Boys basketball
alexandriacardinals2.wordpress.com 