Girls hockey: Packers blank Winhawks
Published 9:48 pm Thursday, January 15, 2015
Austin’s Mackenzie Trimble controls the puck in the corner during the second period against Winona Thursday night in Riverside Arena. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The Austin girls hockey team continued its hot streak as the Packers blanked Winona (4-17 overall, 4-13 Big Nine) 3-0 in Riverside Arena Thursday.
Austin’s Chloe Summerfield sends a shot wide of the goal during the first period against Winona. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Austin (10-8-2 overall, 7-6-2 Big Nine) took an early lead on a Chloe Summerfield breakaway goal in the first period and Isabelle Rueter and Madison Overby added second period goals to make it 3-0.
Allison Hoban had 33 saves to get the shutout and the defense played a big role as Austin head coach Brett Vesel estimated that only seven of Winona’s shots were good looks.
“I thought we played great defensive zone, we back checked hard and I thought our fore check was outstanding,” Vesel said.
The Packers have been on a roll since they took second place in their Holiday tournament. Austin has won four of five games, and its outscored its opponents 20-2 in that stretch.
“I think we’ve been working really hard and it’s really been paying off,” Austin senior Haley Tigner said. “We go into the weight room almost every day we don’t have a game and that’s really been helping us a lot.”
The Packers have put in a lot of hard work in practice and that has carried over to game days.
Austin’s Madison Overby cuts to the goal during the first period against Winona Friday night. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
“All of the sudden the girls seem to have switched something on in practice,” Vesel said. “In the simplest of drills they’re going hard and that’s transferred over to games.”
With the win, the Packers have their first 10-win season since the 2011-2012 season, which is when Austin’s only seniors Mackenzie Trimble and Tigner were freshmen. The 11-12 team won 11 games, and the Packers now have five more games over 14 days to equal or better that record.
The Packers, who are on the cusp of moving into position to take the No. 4 seed in the Section 1A tournament are hoping to get a home playoff game and hoping to get a playoff win.
However it ends, Trimble will look back at her senior season as one of the best the Packers put together during her time on the ice.
“What really helps us is we’re a really close team. We’re like a family and we play better together,” Trimble said. “It feels really great working with this group. We’ve played with them our whole lives and going out with a really good season for our last year feels amazing.”
SCORING SUMMARY
Winona 0 0 0 — 0
Austin 1 2 0 — 3
First period
(A) Chloe Summerfield 14:38
Second period
(A) Isabelle Reuter (Madison Overby) 3:06
(A) Overby (Claire Olson) 8:24
Third period
No scoring
Shots: Austin — 34; Winona — 33
Power plays: Austin — 0-for-1; Winona — 0-for-2
