The Packer boys hockey team did some growing up in a 7-0 loss to Faribault in their home opener at Riverside Arena Thursday.

Austin (0-2 overall, 0-1 Big Nine) didn’t allow a goal until five minutes into the second period, but things came unraveled in the third period, when the Falcons netted four scores.

“A lot of these kids are sophomores and they haven’t played,” Austin head coach Tim Peterson said. “They’re still adjusting to the speed (of the game) and getting used to it. Once they get adjusted, we’ll start to win a some games.”

Peterson was most pleased with his team’s defense against Faribault. Despite allowing 83 shots, he liked what he saw.

“The guys played fantastic defense all game. I told them the scoreboard says what it says, but they need to proud of themselves for how they played on defense,” Peterson said.

The Austin offense was limited to 10 shots and most of those shots were from the blue line. The Packers’ best scoring chance came with 11 minutes left in the game when junior Cameron O’Connor had a one-on-one breakaway with the goalie, but was denied.

“When we started this year, we said we were gonna build from the defense first and that could be why the offense was lacking tonight,” Peterson said. “Now we’ve got the defense and we’re gonna turn to work on the offensive part.”

Austin goalie Aaron Dooley stopped all 26 shots he saw in the first period, including three great saves on a power play at the end of the period. But eventually the Falcons got to him.

Faribault sophomore Sean Lipinski scored the first of his three goals when he tipped in a breakaway miss by Jack Helgeson five minutes into the second period.

Helgeson scored two more times in the third period.

Faribault 0 3 4 — 7

Austin 0 0 0 — 0

SCORING SUMMARY

First period

No scoring

Second period

(F) Sean Lipinski (Jack Helgeson) 5:12

(F) Helgeson (Alex Larson, Brandon Parker) (powerplay) 13:16

(F) Helgeson 14:05

Third period

(F) Bailey Hullett (powerplay) 3:40

(F) Lipinski (Helgeson, Trevor Bisbing) 3:53

(F) Lipinski (Parker) 5:13

(F) Brandon Teske (Bo Putrah) 9:34

Shots: Austin — 10; Faribault — 83

Power plays: Austin — 0-for-5; Faribault — 1-for-7