The Luverne Cardinals girls’ hockey team picked up three wins and a championship in the Herb Brooks Classic Hockey Tournament at the Schwan’s Super Rink in Blaine Dec. 27-29.
The Cardinals played in the Silver Division of the tournament, beating University School of Milwaukee 8-0, Moose Lake Area 6-3 and Marshall 5-1.
The Cardinals improved to 14-1 on the season, bringing the first-place hardware back to Luverne.
The Luverne girls were scheduled to play Fairmont on the road Tuesday before coming back to the Blue Mound Ice Arena Friday to take on Breckenridge-Wahpeton. They’ll meet Albert Lea in the Blue Mound Ice Arena Tuesday, Jan. 11.
Luverne 8, University School of Milwaukee 0
Luverne opened the Herb Brooks Classic Tournament in Blaine with an impressive win.
The Cardinals got on the board just over four minutes into the game when senior Reghan Bork got a feed from Kamryn Van Batavia to take the early lead.
Just two minutes later it was Van Batavia lighting the lamp with the assist going to Payton Behr. Luverne had a 16-7 shots on goal advantage in the first period, and Luverne goalie Cheyenne Schutz had seven saves.
The second period only saw one goal, Van Batavia’s second of the game, with the assist going to Macie Edstrom at the 7:44 mark. Schutz made all six saves she faced.
Luverne put up another 11 shots in the second and brought a 3-0 lead into the second intermission.
In the third period the Cardinals put up five goals.
Van Batavia got it going at 3:21 of the third and Bork scored her second of the game just three minutes later. Behr also got her second of the game just a minute later.
Van Batavia scored her fourth and fifth goals of the game to close out the final period and give the Cardinals a commanding 8-0 win.
Third period shots on goal were 16-3 in favor of Cardinals. Total shots on goal for the game were 43-16 Luverne.
Schutz finished with 16 saves for the Cardinals and registered her sixth shutout of the year.
Luverne 6, Moose Lake Area 3
The Cardinals met the Moose Lake Area Rebels in the semifinals of the Herb Brooks Classic at the Blaine Super Rink.
Minnesota’s state leading scorer Kamryn Van Batavia gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead six minutes into the first with an assist from Reghan Bork.
Van Batavia also gave the Cardinals a two-goal advantage midway through the period, Payton Behr assisted on Van Batavia’s second of the game.
Luverne took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. Schutz had 11 saves in the first to keep the Rebels off the scoreboard. Luverne had eight shots on goal in the first period.
The second period saw plenty of action from both teams.
Sandra Ribich put the Rebels on the board just 42 seconds into the second period, cutting the lead to one. Two minutes later Luverne’s Mallory Nelson beat Moose Lake Area goalie Mallory Hartl to put the Cardinals up 3-1.
Forty-five seconds later Moose Lake’s Raechel Painovich responded to again cut the lead to one.
Luverne answered back with a couple more goals. It was Van Batavia at 5:27 and Ella Apel at the 12:35 mark of the second to take a 5-2 lead into the locker room.
Shots on goal were 15-12 in favor of the Rebels.
The final stanza started with the Rebels cutting the lead to two with Gracie Hartl getting her first of the game. Van Batavia scored an empty net goal with just 11 seconds left in the game to give the Cardinals the 6-3 victory.
Schutz finished with an impressive 32 saves in the game. Total shots were knotted at 32 for the game between the Rebels and Cardinals.
Luverne 5, Marshall 1
Luverne faced familiar competition in the championship round of the Herb Brooks Classic Silver Division.
Luverne took on conference foe and Section 3 rival Marshall at the TRIA Rink.
The first period saw plenty of shots from both teams but remained scoreless. Luverne held an 11-10 shot advantage in the first.
In the second period Luverne got a couple of goals from junior standout Kamryn Van Batavia to take a two-goal lead into the second intermission. Van Batavia sc0red at the 4:42 and the 14:46 marks of the period with assists going to Mallory Von Tersch, Ella Apel and Reghan Bork.
Marshall outshot Luverne 13-11 in the second. Schutz saved all 11 shots she faced in the second.
In the final period Van Batavia gave the Cardinals a 3-0 lead just 53 seconds in.
Marshall’s Reghan Loft put the Tigers on the board at 7:37 of Period 3, but that’s all Marshall would get past Schutz.
Van Batavia and Mallory Nelson picked up Luverne’s fourth and fifth goals respectively to give the Cardinals a 5-1 win and the Silver Division Championship of the Herb Brooks Classic.
Schutz finished with 30 saves in the contest. Final shots on goal for the game were 34-31 in favor of the Cardinals.