The Hutchinson girls hockey team made a statement Thursday morning with a dominant 9-4 win over the Willmar Cardinals in the Class A state consolation semifinals.
Back in November, Hutchinson lost to Willmar 4-3 in overtime. After Wednesday's 2-0 loss to Cloquet-Esko-Carlton in the state opener, the Tigers knew who they were facing and were ready to take it to the Cardinals for 51 minutes.
“We were definitely hungry,” Ainsela Jensen said. “They beat us at the beginning of the season and we wanted that one back.”
Revenge is a strong motivating facto, but so is trying to get a bad taste out of your mouth. CEC is very sound on both sides of the puck and didn't allow for Hutchinson to get any good looks or take clean shots. That all changed on Thursday.
“It feels really good to come out after our loss yesterday and leave it all on the ice,” Jensen said. “Felt really good about this game.”
Head coach Marc Telecky said that the team stayed up to watch the Rochester Lourdes vs. Luverne game Wednesday to study how they attack the puck, and that very much carried over into the consolation semifinal.
“As hard as those teams competed for pucks, it was good for some of our young girls to see that,” Telecky said. “I think a lot of that carried over into today, which is what you see, especially in our blue line with Hailee Martin, Ellie Peterson and Miranda (Piehl). I thought they played a whale of a game.”
But the star of the game was Maddy Seifert. She scored four goals including a hat trick in the second period. They all came in different varieties: wrist shots, rebounds and wrapping it around the goalie while on her knees.
“The team helped a lot today," Seifert said. “We were looking for each other. We weren't selfish. If we could take a shot, take it. We knew we had to beat a couple girls to pass the puck.”
The Tigers scored three goals in each of the periods, and four players did all the scoring. Along with Seifert, Sabrina Tracy and Britta Johnson each added two goals, and Alex Hantge scored one. Hutch jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and was up 6-2 at the end of the second before finishing the game strong. The comfortable lead even allowed Telecky to give goalie Hannah Ladwig a break in the final period and let Stella Docken get some state ice time.
Telecky said at the beginning of the year that he wanted to create a new culture within the girls hockey program. To give it a sense of pride and privilege to play hockey for Hutchinson. The Tigers have responded well, he said, and now they’ll play in the state consolation final at 10 a.m. Saturday at TRIA Rink at Treasure Island Center against either Luverne or South St. Paul, which played after the Tigers in the other consolation semifinal.
“The group of kids that we've got are extremely prideful,” Telecky said. “There's a lot of competitors in there. Yesterday, it was a tough game for us against Cloquet. They just didn't give us a lot once we got pucks on the net. They're a very structured team and disciplined team. It wasn't that we necessarily played poorly … we didn't get a lot of second and third chances. The girls knew that and they were disappointed in that. We told them to not keep their heads down and have a little bit of fun.”
Class A Consolation Semifinals (Feb. 20)
Hutchinson 9, Willmar 4
Hutchinson ... 3 3 3 — 9
Willmar ........ 0 2 2 — 4
First period: H—Britta Johnson (Alex Hantge, Laina Berthiaume) 7:02, H—Sabrina Tracy (Hantge, Johnson) 12:18, H—Hantge (Johnson) 14:55
Second period: H—Maddy Seifert (Tracy) 5:23, W – Bailey Olson (Tan Christensen) 7:50, H—Seifert (unassisted) 9:09, H—Seifert (Ainsela Jensen, Johnson) 11:06, W—Madison Garberding (Ashley Larson) 15:50
Third period: W—Garberding (Olson) 0:29, H—Johnson (Paige Telecky, Hantge) 3:45, H—Seifert (Hantge) 7:06, W—Nina Dawson (Christensen) 7:54, H—Tracy (Hantge) 10:50
PP: Hutch 2/5; Willmar 2/6
Shots: Hutch 30 (8-8-14); Willmar 26 (4-7-16)
Saves: H—Hannah Ladwig 18/22, Stella Docken 1/1, W—Bryton Carlson 14/22, Halle Mortenson 7/8
