Although they didn’t finish it on a high note, last week was a productive one for the Minnesota River hockey girls as they won two out of three: a 3-1 victory over visiting Rochester Mayo on Tuesday followed by a 1-0 triumph over Big South Conference rival New Ulm on Thursday.
On Saturday, the Bulldogs outshot visiting Robbinsdale Armstrong/Cooper 26-25 but fell 5-1.
Makenna Mueller scored both winning goals. A senior captain, she has been a calm but uplifting presence for the young Bulldogs, said head coach Dustin Swenson.
“She leads by example. We focus on effort, attitude, respect. That’s our team motto. The effort piece: she’s always working hard. The attitude stands out. The respect towards her teammates and her opponents….she’s everything we want a captain to be.”
Shot from 20 feet in front of the net, Mueller’s goal in New Ulm came at the 6:51 mark in the first period after a pass by eighth grader Mara Von Bank. Mueller scored against Mayo when, just in front of the net, she swiped in a rebound from a Mckenna Andreson shot. It came 49 seconds into the second frame.
At 4:57 into the first period against Mayo, senior Zetta Haugen scored the first goal, but with two seconds left in the same frame, Mayo tied the contest. Andreson, a freshman, scored with 116 seconds left in the third to put the finishing touches on the victory.
The win over Mayo was an excellent rebound for the Bulldogs after they lost their opener to Mankato East, Swenson said.
“The thing with our group is that we have a lot of young players who maybe just needed to tell themselves they belong. We can tell them all we want, but they need to figure it out. Now you’re starting to see us play together as a team and gel a little bit. We have a pretty tall ceiling with this group, so we will see where we are going.”
The Bulldogs outshot Mayo 31-21. All goals were even strength. Mayo was ticketed for three minor infractions in the first period, the Bulldogs were penalized for two minors in the second, and each team had a minor in the third.
New Ulm outshot the Bulldogs 32-18. Each team committed a pair of minor infractions in the second period. New Ulm was also tagged for a minor in the third.
“I think each game we played, we played better,” Mueller said. “New Ulm almost always beats us, so it was a big win for us.”
A minute and 10 seconds into the second period against Armstrong on Saturday, freshman Noelle Simonette took an Andresen handoff up and in for the first goal, but the lead was short lived as the Wings, who edged Mankato East 2-1 the night before, scored 19 seconds later.
With two more goals in the second and two more in the third, the last one a penalty shot with 10 seconds left, Armstrong never looked back.
“There were a couple of unfortunate goals, ones we could prevented,” Mueller said, “but I’m really happy with how we played.”
All goals were even strength. Armstrong spent 10 minutes in the violation chamber, four more minutes than the Bulldogs, but the Bulldogs couldn't cash in on the power plays.
“I think Armstrong is a pretty good team,” Swenson said “The difference is they have some older girls who can finish it. We’re learning how to do that. When we do that, we’ll be pretty dangerous.”
The Bulldog girls host non-conference New Prague on Tuesday. The Trojans have two losses and one tie. The puck drops at 7:15.
Assisting Swenson are Dave Swanberg and Whitney Weick.
Above: Makenna Mueller gets control of the puck before twisting back to the Armstrong net.
Makenna Mueller passes the puck through an Armstrong defender.
Makenna Mueller