Class A Girls Hockey State Consolation Semifinals: Mankato East and Fergus Falls move on

Mankato East 5, Luverne 3

Mankato East (21-7) advanced in the consolation bracket with a 5-3 victory over Luverne (21-8) on Thursday, Feb. 23 at the TRIA Rink at Treasure Island Center in St. Paul.

 In the first period, Mankato East took advantage of two power play opportunities to gain an early 2-0 lead.  The Cougars opened the scoring at 4:56 of the first period with a power play goal by Mckenzie Keller.

At 7:30 of the first, Mankato East added its second power play goal of the period as Jessica Eykyn scored on a rebound that was set up by shot from the slot by Brielle Newton.  To finish the first period’s scoring, Newton added an unassisted even-strength goal at 11:16 to make it 3-0.  

In the second period, Luverne broke the shutout with a power play goal by Kamryn Van Batavia at the 12:15 mark of the period.  To complete the victory for Mankato East, Keller scored the game winner on a breakaway at 4:47 of the third period with assists from Eykyn and Newton.

Luverne rallied later in the third with a second power play goal by Van Batavia at 7:02 of the period to make it 4-2.  The Cardinals then narrowed the gap to 4-3 with an extra-attacker goal by Isabella Steensma at 15:46 with an assist from Macie Edstrom.  

Mankato East finished the game off in the final minute with a power play goal by Newton at 16:38 to make the final score 5-3.

Luverne outshot Mankato East 41-14 in the contest as the Cougars’ Annaliese Rader had 38 saves in goal.  On the power play, Mankato East ended the game with a 3-of-4 rate and Luverne was 2-of-5 on the advantage.

Mankato East will continue its season as the Cougars play for the Class A Girls Hockey State Tournament consolation championship on Saturday, Feb. 25 with an 8:00 a,m. game at the TRIA Rink at Treasure Island Center against the winner of today’s game between Albert Lea and Fergus Falls.

Mankato East (21-7) advanced in the consolation bracket with a 5-3 victory over Luverne (21-8) on Thursday, Feb. 23 at the TRIA Rink at Treasure Island Center in St. Paul.

 In the first period, Mankato East took advantage of two power play opportunities to gain an early 2-0 lead.  The Cougars opened the scoring at 4:56 of the first period with a power play goal by Mckenzie Keller.

At 7:30 of the first, Mankato East added its second power-play goal of the period as Jessica Eykyn scored on a rebound that was set up by a shot from the slot by Brielle Newton.  To finish the first period’s scoring, Newton added an unassisted even-strength goal at 11:16 to make it 3-0.  

In the second period, Luverne broke the shutout with a power play goal by Kamryn Van Batavia at the 12:15 mark of the period.  To complete the victory for Mankato East, Keller scored the game-winner on a breakaway at 4:47 of the third period with assists from Eykyn and Newton.

Luverne rallied later in the third with a second power-play goal by Van Batavia at 7:02 of the period to make it 4-2.  The Cardinals then narrowed the gap to 4-3 with an extra-attacker goal by Isabella Steensma at 15:46 with an assist from Macie Edstrom.  

Mankato East finished the game off in the final minute with a power play goal by Newton at 16:38 to make the final score 5-3.

Luverne outshot Mankato East 41-14 in the contest as the Cougars’ Annaliese Rader had 38 saves in goal.  On the power play, Mankato East ended the game with a 3-of-4 rate and Luverne was 2-of-5 on the advantage.

Fergus Falls 4, Albert Lea 1

Fergus Falls (23-5-1) rallied from a 1-0 first-period deficit to score a 4-1 victory over Albert Lea (18-9-1) in the Class A Girls Hockey State Tournament consolation bracket on Thursday, Feb. 23 at the TRIA Rink at Treasure Island Center.

A goal by Albert Lea’s Mika Chichosz at 2:53 gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead in the first period.  The even-strength goal for Albert Lea was assisted by Aryah Hansen.

The lead was short-lived at Fergus Falls replied less than two minutes later with a goal by Hannah Johnson at 4:12 that was assisted by the Otters’ Margaret Greenagel.  

In the second period, the Otters score the eventual game-winner with a power play marker by Madalyn Hunter at 9:01 that was assisted by Johnson.  Fergus Falls scored another special teams goal at 12:18 of the second period with a shorthanded goal by Hunter, which was assisted by Averie Tonneson.

To complete the scoring, the Otters’ Rylynn Krein scored an even-strength goal at 16:02 of the second with an assist from Mckenzie Sjolle.   Both squads skated to a scoreless draw in the third period and the Ottters finished with a 4-1 win.

Fergus Falls was 1-of-5 on the power play and was 5-of-5 on the penalty kill in the contest,  The Otters outshot the Tigers 27-19 in the contest as Alexis Metcalf made 18 saves and gained the win for Fergus Falls.  Jayda Moyer was the goalie of record for Albert Lea with 23 saves in the game.

Fergus Falls and Mankato East will play for the Class A Girls Hockey State Tournament consolation title on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 8:00 a.m. The game will be played at the TRIA Rink at Treasure Island Center in downtown St. Paul.