ST. PAUL -- In their fourth consecutive appearance in the Minnesota state Class A girls hockey tournament, the Luverne Cardinals ran into a hot Orono team in the quarterfinals, then in the consolation semifinals lost to Mankato East 5-3.
Orono came out like gangbusters on ice Wednesday afternoon in a 6-0 victory over Luverne at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, and their defense never let the Cardinals get into the game.
Mankato East outscored the Cardinals 3-0 in the first period on Thursday at TRIA Rink in St. Paul, and the Cards were not able to keep up, thus ending their tournament.
Quarterfinals
Orono 6, Luverne 0
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Orono, the third seed of the tourney, improved to 21-3-4 and dropped the Section 3A champions to 21-7. Throughout the season, Luverne proved itself a strong offensive team, but against Orono the offense was throttled by a fast-skating, deep team of excellent stick-handlers.
“We didn’t quite come out like we needed to,” said LHS head coach Tony Sandbulte after Wednesday’s contest. “Just kind of panicked and had some unforced turnovers. Just didn’t get going with our game.”
The Spartans scored three goals in the first period, two in the second and one in the third. Mae Grandy, a senior defenseman, scored the first point 5:43 into the game off a centering pass about 10 feet in front of the net. Next, with 9:53 yet to play in the first period, teammate Macy Rasmussen put a shot through goalkeeper Mallory Von Tersch’s legs at close range after gathering in a loose puck.
Orono scored again with 5:48 to go on a Zoe Lopez shot following a face-off near the Cardinals’ net.
In the second period freshman forward Maddy Kimbrel found the net off a deflection with 11:40 to play. Five minutes later Lopez scored her second goal going one-on-one at the net with Van Tersch, her 36th goal of the season.
The third period was fairly evenly played. Luverne’s outstanding senior offensive whiz, Kamryn Van Batavia -- who was effectively handled for most of the game -- had her most impressive scoring attempt with just over 11 minutes remaining. She aggressively attacked the net, but the shot failed to register as she skidded into the OHS net.
Kimbrel scored Orono’s final goal with 4:20 to play.
For the game, the Spartans out-shot Luverne 39-13, allowing only three Luverne shot attempts in the first period.
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“This one’s done and we just gotta put our mind on the next one. Our mindset is to win the next two games,” Sandbulte said.
The message, said the coach: Don’t let up. “You gotta play for your season now.”
Luverne 0 0 0 -- 0
Orono 3 2 1 -- 6
Consolation semifinals
Mankato East 5, Luverne 3
The first period was not kind to Luverne in the 2023 state tourney. Orono scored three first-period goals against the Cardinals, and East scored three, as well.
McKenzie Keller, Jessica Eykyn and Brielle Newton scored for the Cougars in the first 17 minutes. Luverne got one back as Van Batavia scored in the second period on a power play.
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Keller scored in the third for a 4-1 Mankato East lead. But the Cardinals fought hard to make a game of it, as Van Batavia tacked on a goal on a power play and Izzy Steensma scored later from an assist by Macie Edstrom.
With less than a minute remaining in the game, however, Newton added an insurance goal.
The game was the final high school game for Van Batavia, one of Minnesota’s most prolific all-time scorers. She will play college hockey at Minnesota State.
Mankato East 3 0 2 -- 5
Luverne 0 1 2 -- 3
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