The Luverne Cardinals improved their girls’ hockey record to 16-1 with a pair of wins this past week.
They traveled to Fairmont for an 8-2 win Tuesday, Jan. 4, before returning home Friday to beat Wahpeton-Breckenridge 9-1.
Luverne 8, Fairmont 2
It took a little time to get the Luverne girls rolling on Tuesday night in Fairmont.
Luverne’s Reghan Bork scored the only goal in the first period to give Luverne the 1-0 lead.
Shots on goal for the period were 12-10 in favor of Fairmont. Luverne goalie Cheyenne Schutz made 12 saves in the period.
Kamryn Van Batavia gave the visiting Cardinals a two-goal lead midway through the second with the assist going to Macie Edstrom.
Twenty-three seconds later senior standout Reghan Bork made it 3-0 with Van Batavia and Ella Apel assisting.
Van Batavia got her second of the game with just over three minutes remaining with assist going to Anika Boll and Bork.
Fairmont took advantage of a Luverne penalty late in the second when Fairmont’s Jozie Hoefker beat Schutz to cut Luverne’s lead to 4-1 heading into the second period intermission.
Shots on goal for the period were 19-13 Luverne.
Luverne took over the game in the third period when Van Batavia wasted no time getting a pass from Ella Apel and beating Fairmont’s goalie Rachel O’ Connor just 18 seconds into the period.
Van Batavia scored three more times in the period to give Luverne a commanding 8-1 lead.
Edstrom and Bork had two assists each on Van Batavia’s goals.
Fairmont’s Mackenzie Householder scored a goal with just five seconds left in the period, and that’s how it ended in the Martin County Arena with the visiting Cardinals winning 8-2.
Shots on goal for the period were 18-10 and 47-35 for the game in favor of Luverne. Schutz finished with 33 saves.
Luverne 9, Breckenridge-Wahpeton 1
Luverne welcomed Breckenridge-Wahpeton Blades to the Blue Mound Ice Arena in Luverne Friday night for a 7 p.m. tilt.
Junior Kamryn Van Batavia entered the game leading the state of Minnesota in scoring, with 197 total goals for her career and approaching a rare milestone of 200.
Van Batavia didn’t take long to give the Cardinals an early lead, dazzling her way through the Blades defenders just minutes into the game.
It was her line mate Payton Behr who made it 2-0 early in the first with just a snipe of a wrister over the Blades’ goalie Kolle Schuler’s glove.
Van Batavia took a pass from Reghan Bork, skated into the zone and fired a no-look wrister past Schuler to give the Cardinals a three-goal lead early in the first.
For the fans who thought they would have to wait to see Van Batavia hit 200, they were wrong.
Van Batavia took a pass and came in all alone on a breakaway, beating Schuler’s sprawling butterfly with a little over six minutes left in the period.
Luverne goalie Cheyenne Schutz kept the Blades scoreless, making a huge save on a two on zero that the Blades took advantage of on a Luverne turnover.
Luverne took a 4-0 lead into the first intermission. Shots on goal for the period were 7-6 Luverne. Schutz had six saves in the period.
In the second period the Cardinals got on the board when Van Batavia was knocked to her knees and was still able to slide a pass over to Bork who launched a wrister past Schuler to make it 5-0.
A Blades penalty put the Cardinals on the power play at the 10-minute mark of Period 2.
Bork took a pass from Ella Apel, skated in and blasted a wrister on the ice to make it 6-0. Annika Boll also assisted on the goal.
Van Batavia again beat Schuler with a wrister late in the period.
Forty seconds later it was No. 3 for Bork, with the assist going to Van Batavia to make it an eight-goal lead after two periods.
Luverne goalie Emma Saarloos started the second period in replacement of Schutz and made 10 big saves in the period to keep the Blades scoreless.
The final period had the Cardinals and Blades each getting a goal.
Breckenridge-Wahpeton’s Kennedy Schuler got the Blades on the board at the 7:31 mark of Period 3.
Luverne got another with Van Batavia getting her sixth of the game and No. 203 of her career with assist going to Ella Apel.
Shots on goal for the period were 5-2 and 21-18 for the game with the Cardinals holding the advantage.
Saarloos finished with 11 saves in the game, and Schutz registered six saves in her first-period action.
After the game Van Batavia shared thoughts on her 200th career goal and her team’s success this season.
“It has been very exciting, and I really enjoyed seeing all the support from my coaches, teammates, family and fans,” she said.
“When I think about our success this year, I relate it to a practice goal we have set for our team: ‘Practice at a high tempo, play at even a higher tempo.’ We go hard at practice and stay humble, and it’s starting to pay off.”