The Luverne boys’ hockey team went 2-1 this week and moved their season record to 5-1.
The Cardinals beat Windom 5-2 on Tuesday, Dec. 14, and Worthington 6-3 Thursday, Dec. 16, in conference home games before losing to Rochester Lourdes 4-0 Saturday at the Blue Mound Ice Arena.
The Cardinals go on the road to play Two Rivers Wednesday, Dec. 22, in West St. Paul and then host Rochester for their holiday tournament starting Dec. 28.
Luverne 5, Windom 2
The Cardinals welcomed conference foe Windom to the BMIA Tuesday night, Dec. 14.
The Windom Eagles struck first seven minutes into the game, and the score remained 1-0 through the first period after both teams had scoring opportunities.
Shots on goal in the first period were nearly equal with Luverne at a slight advantage at 12-11.
The second period saw only one goal, this one from Luverne, to tie the game. Brady Bork beat Windom’s goalie Dan Stubbe with 2:30 left in the second period with assists going to Brock Behrend and Patrick Kroski.
Luverne goalie Tyler Arends had seven big saves in the period. Shots on goal were 14-7 in favor of the Cardinals.
The final period started with Behrend giving the Cardinals a 2-1 lead four minutes in.
Windom tied the game at 2 with six minutes left in the game.
Luverne battled back with Kroski beating Stubbe at 11:48 in the third to take a big 3-2 lead.
Luverne senior Zach Kruse gave the hometown Cardinals a 2-goal cushion when he found the back of the net with four minutes remaining in the contest.
Kroski then got his second goal of the game on an assist from fellow sophomore defenseman Henry Hartquist to give the Cardinals a 5-2 lead, and that’s how it ended.
Arends finished with 24 saves in the game. Luverne had a 38-26 advantage in shots on goal.
Luverne 6, Worthington 3
The Worthington Trojans came to Luverne Thursday night, Dec. 16, for a matchup at the Blue Mound Ice Arena in front of a packed house of Cardinals and Trojan fans.
Midway through the first period Worthington was blown for a roughing call that sent the Cardinals on the power play.
Elliot Domagala found line mate Patrick Kroski who beat Worthington goalie Steven Adams to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
Two minutes later it was Kroski and Domagala again, with Kroski getting his second of the game and giving the Cardinals a two-goal lead heading into the period break.
Tyler Arends had 11 saves for the Cardinals, and both teams had 11 shots on goal for the period.
Luverne scored three unanswered goals in the second period. Domagala crashed the net hard and got the rebound off Kroski’s wrister to make it 3-0 for the Cardinals.
Worthington had opportunities when Luverne was called for back-to-back penalties that gave the Trojans a 5-on-3 advantage.
After a flurry of shots, Arends stood tall and Luverne shook off the penalties with more momentum.
With just under five minutes left in the period Luverne’s Brock Behrend found a streaking Owen Sudenga who dove and tapped the puck past Adams in an incredible hockey play to make it 4-0.
It was Sudenga again two minutes later when he received the puck from Kroski and blasted a wrister bar down to give the Cardinals a 5-0 lead after 2.
Arends had 13 saves in the period with the Cardinals having a 13-12 advantage in shots on goal.
Worthington finally got on the board five minutes into the third period to cut the deficit to 4 points, but 24 seconds later Blaik Bork scored on a pass from Kroski to bring Luverne’s lead back to 6-1.
Worthington got a couple more goals late in the third to bring the Trojans within three points, but it wasn’t enough as the Cardinals went on to win the contest 6-3.
Arends finished with 29 saves and Luverne won the shots on goal battle for the game 34-32.
Luverne 0, Rochester Lourdes 4
The Rochester Lourdes Eagles came to Luverne on Saturday for an afternoon tilt at the Blue Mound Ice Arena.
Rochester Lourdes scored the only goal in the first period, beating Luverne goalie Tyler Arends with 5:19 left in the period.
Arends made 23 saves in the first to keep the Cardinals in the game. Luverne had 9 shots on goal.
Rochester Lourdes took a 2-0 lead just 20 second into the second period.
Luverne had some chances but just couldn’t capitalize on them.
The Eagles scored again halfway through the second period to take a 3-0 lead at the BMIA. Rochester had a 16-8 shots on goal advantage for the second period.
The speed and positioning of the Eagles eliminated a lot of chances for the hometown Cardinals.
The Eagles scored the only third-period goal and handed Luverne its first loss of the season by a total of 4-0.
Final shots on goal for the game were Rochester Lourdes 54 and Luverne 23. Arends ended with 50 saves.