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Cardinals fall in opening round of state hockey tournament to undefeated Proctor-Hermantown

Lead Summary
By
Brennen Rupp

For the second straight year, the Luverne Cardinals girls’ hockey team traveled to the Xcel Energy Center for state tournament action.
Last year the Cardinals opened the state tournament against Breck, the eventual state champions. The Cardinals fell to Breck 8-1. In the consolation bracket, the Cardinals lost to South St. Paul 8-4.
Fast forward a year and the Cardinals fell to undefeated Proctor/Hermantown 8-0 in the opening round.
The opening period was a competitive affair with the Cardinals killing off two penalties in the first 10 minutes.
With the game tied at 0-0, it appeared that the Cardinals and the Mirage were going to head into the locker room deadlocked. Then with 43 seconds left in the period, Proctor/Hermantown’s Alyssa Watkins put one between the pipes to give the Mirage a 1-0 lead.
In the second period the Cardinals simply had no answer for Watkins and the Mirage.
Watkins scored a goal 14 seconds into the period to extend their lead to 2-0.
She scored four more goals in the period, and her teammate Reese Heltzman added one for good measure to put the Mirage up 6-0 after the first two periods.
In the third period the Mirage added two more goals to make the final score 8-0.
With the loss, the Cardinals finished the season with a 16-5 record.
It marked the final game for LHS seniors Regan Feit, Roz Oye, Shelby Kracht, Rylee Gee, Brynn Thier and Sophie Holmberg.
Gee finished her final season as a Cardinal with 20 goals and 16 assists.
Oye scored 13 goals and recorded 12 assists for the season.
Kracht recorded 12 assists and scored four goals.
Thier recorded 11 assists and scored three goals.
Feit recorded seven assists and scored three goals.
Holmberg recorded seven assists and scored one goal.
The Cardinals will return three of their top four goal leaders, Kamryn Van Batavia, Reghan Bork and Peyton Behr, next year.
Mallory Nelson, Anika Boll, Mallory Von Tersch, Cheyenne Schutz, Zariah Holmgren and Brenn Siebenahler will all return as the Cardinals will look to try and make it three straight trips to the state tournament next season.

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