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Girls Hockey - Varsity

Tuesday, 1-22-08 @ SLP Rec Ctr.
Varsity vs. Spring Lake Pk/St. Anthony
Reported by Howard Luloff

It was a battle of the SLPs Tuesday night at the Rec Center as the St. Louis Park Orioles brought down the curtain on their home season with a 2-2 tie against the Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony Panthers. The tie was the first of the season for the Panthers, their record at 9-12-1. The Orioles picked up their second tie in four games, their record is now 5-16-2.

St. Louis Park scored their two goals in the first period, starting with Carley Rosen scoring from the right slot and Ellen Sackrison picking up the assist. The second came while Rosen was serving a cross checking penalty and Carly Kuhbander scored on a rebound with Amber Beightol assisting.

Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony matched St. Louis Park’s goal total in the second period. Kayla Jochum sped down the ice like the team bus going down I-94, cut through the right slot and scored to slice the lead to one. Mallory Maxey assisted.

The tying goal came 11 seconds after Rosen was serving a tripping penalty as Katie Turner scored from the left slot with assists from Alison Jones and Brittany DeBoer.

Neither team could break the deuce deadlock in the third period. Jo Jo Dey almost won the game for the Panthers but her shot bounced out of the net.

The game went into an eight minute sudden death overtime period with neither team scoring the game winner.

The Orioles wrap up the regular season with a couple of road games. Saturday afternoon, they face Cooper at the New Hope Arena and next Thursday, January 31st they take on St. Francis/North Branch at the East Bethel Ice Arena.

Section 5A tournament play begins February 8 at the Parade Ice Gardens. Watch the State High School League website and your local media for time and opponent.
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Saturday, 1/19/08 @ SLP Rec Ctr.
Girls Varsity vs. Benilde-St. Margaret’s
Reported by Howard Luloff

The St. Louis Park net was bleeding red Saturday afternoon at the Rec Center as Lindsay Domaas scored four goals and Kate Bacon got the hat trick and three assists to lead the Benilde-St. Margaret’s Red Knights to a 13-0 win over the St. Louis Park Orioles. Benilde-St. Margaret’s won their fifth straight game, increasing their record to 14-6. In two games this week. the Red Knights have scored 23 consecutive goals, including a 10-0 clobbering of Cooper earlier in the week.

St. Louis Park lost their seventh game in the last eight, falling to 5-15-1.

The Red Knights, ranked 13th in Class AA, froze the Orioles like the day’s wind chills scoring six goals in the first period, starting with Taylor Schluter going along the right boards and through the left slot to score. Bacon scored the next two goals, her second coming six seconds after the first. Maddie Bergh, Domaas and Jordyn Burns rounded out the first period scoring.

BSM exploded for another half dozen goals in the second period. Domaas and Emma Shields-Nordness had two goals apiece. Bacon and Ashley Duffy also put a couple past the Orioles goalie Hannah Brodersen, who started her second straight game with Brittney Evers sidelined with a torn MCL.

With the scoreboard stuck on 11 by official’s request and running time in the third period, the Red Knights wrapped up the scoring on Domaas’ fourth goal on a cross crease pass from Bacon.

Benilde-St. Margaret’s outshot St. Louis Park 47-12.

The Orioles conclude their home season on January 22 against the Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony Panthers.
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Friday, Jan. 4, 2008 @ SLP Rec Ctr.
Girls Varsity Hockey vs. St. Francis
by Howard Luloff

Returning to in-state competition after playing their last three games against out of state opponents, the St. Louis Park girls hockey team began the new year 0 for 2008 as Haylea Schmidt scored the hat trick to lead the St. Francis/North Branch Fighting Saints to a 7-3 win over the Orioles Friday night at the Rec Center. The win was the third straight for the Fighting Saints. who increased their record to 9-6-2. The Orioles dropped their fourth straight game, falling to 5-12.

St. Francis/North Branch began the scoring as Nicole Miller went through the right slot to score an unassisted goal. Miller assisted on the Fighting Saints second goal when Caitlin Meyer’s shot hopped off St. Louis Park goalie Brittney Evers’ glove.

The Orioles got on the scoreboard with a five on three power play goal from Bridgette Karl with 1:50 left in the first period. Niki Keeler picked up the assist. Both teams added a goal to their ledger in the second period. St. Francis/North Branch’s goal came from Schmidt on the right side with Olivia Zebro and Jaimie Albright assisting. The Orioles goal was their second power play goal that came while the Fighting saints Katelyn Sampsell was serving a high sticking minor. Karl and Ellen Sackrison assisted.

The Fighting Saints came out kung fu fighting in the third period with four goals, starting with an unassisted short handed goal from Schmid. Zebro scored the period’s second unassisted goal and Schmid sped down the ice like a comet to score the hat trick with Zebro and Kara Barton assisting.

Before St. Francis/North Branch scored their final goal, Sackrison scored for St. Louis Park and Keeler picked up her second assist. The Fighting Saints wrapped up the scoring with 17 seconds left as acting head coach John Sackrison pulled Evers for a sixth attacker and just as she left the ice, Meyer scored her second goal with Alys Morrison assisting.

St. Francis/North Branch outshot St. Louis Park 46-32.

The Orioles travel to the Schwan’s Super Rink to face the Irondale Knights on January 8. It will be St. Louis Park’s fourth game at the Blaine eightplex after losing in the Schwan Cup to Point Rapids, WI, Fargo North from North Dakota and Hudson, WI.
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Saturday, December 21, 2007 @ SLP Rec Center
Girls Varsity Hockey vs. Cooper
by Howard Luloff

It will be a holly jolly Christmas for the St. Louis Park girls hockey team as Carly Kuhbander got the hat trick and assisted on another goal to lead the Orioles to a 7-1 win over the Cooper Hawks Saturday afternoon at the Rec Center.

The Orioles win came two days after a dramatic overtime win against Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony, raising their record to 5-8. The Hawks lost their third straight game, putting them at 1-11.

It took only 36 seconds for the Orioles to bring good tidings to their fans when Amber Beightol made a centering pass to Kuhbander resulting in her first goal. Carley Rosen scored the Orioles second goal from the left side with Bridgette Karl assisting and Beightol rounded out the first period scoring when she found an open spot on Cooper goalie Jessica Burns’ left to increase the St. Louis Park lead to three. Kuhbander and Heidi Johnson were credited with the assists.

There was only one goal in the second period, Kuhbander’s second with 5:58 left that came from the left side. Burns, the Hawks sophomore goalie, made a couple of outstanding saves on shots from Beightol and Niki Keeler.

It looked like the Orioles seventh grade goalie Hannah Brodersen was en route to her first varsity shutout. However, the Hawks wiped the zero off their portion of the Rec Center scoreboard when Anne Halverson circled around the net, turned right and scored the Hawks lone goal. With Rosen serving an interference penalty, Kuhbander got the hat trick on assists from Karl and Abby Vig. Karl would also score a power play goal on a cross ice pass from Beightol and Rosen picked up an †assist.

St. Louis Park sent the game into running time on Keeler’s goal with 5:03 left. Vig and Rosen picked up their second assists of the game.

St. Louis Park outshot Cooper 36-20.

The Orioles will participate in the Schwan Cup December 26-28 at the Schwan’s Super Rink. †Their opening game is on December 26th against Point Rapids, WI at 5 PM on Rink #5. Happy holidays to all!

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Monday, December 17, 2007 @ SLP Rec Center
Girls Varsity Hockey vs. Mound-Westonka
by Howard Luloff

Monday night, while many Minnesota sports fans were watching the Vikings play the Bears in a key NFC game, girls hockey fans flocked to the Rec Center to see freshman Taylor Kuehl score a pure hat trick to lead the Mound-Westonka Whitehawks to a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Park Orioles.

Mound-Westonka, tied for 10th in the Class A rankings with Mankato West, increased their record to 8-3. St. Louis Park, with head coach Mike Peluso back behind the bench, lost their second staright game. The Orioles fell to 3-8.

The Orioles jumped out to an early lead as Carley Rosen scored on a rebound from the right side with Ellen Sackrison and Abby Vig assisting. Twenty one seconds later, Carly Kuhbander took a pass from Amber Beightol on the left side and the Oriole were up by two. The Oriole lead decreased to one as Kuehl, the state’s fourth leading scorer took a shot that hit the top of the goal and then put it in with 1:23 left in the period. Kayla Ingbretsen and Sara Greer assisted.

In the second period, Kuehl showed why she’s the real deal for Mound Westonka. She got a pass from Janessa Ingbretsen, slightly turned left and scored to tie the game at two. She got the hat trick on a goal from the right side on assists from Kayla Ingbretsen and Ellie Dahl.

Both teams scored once in the third period. The Whitehawks goal was an unassisted goal from Kali Holst and the Orioles, on the power play for the sixth time, erased an 0-5 drought as Sackrison scored. Kuhbander assisted.

With 1:06 left in regulation, Peluso pulled goalie Brittney Evers for a sixth attacker and it paid off, denying the Whitehawks any more scoring chances as defenders Bridgett Braaten and Heidi Johnson did an outstanding job protecting the goal.

Mound-Westonka outshot St. Louis Park 41-26.

The Orioles return to North Suburna action Thursday as they head for Fogerty Arena to face the Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony Panthers.
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Thursday, December 13, 2007 @ SLP Rec Center
Girls Varsity Hockey vs. Bloonington-Kennedy
by Howard Luloff

Seventh grade goalie Hannah Brodersen’s maiden voyage in the Oriole net Thursday night at the Rec Center turned out to be memorable when Amber Beightol scored the game winning goal with a minute and 31 seconds left in regulation to lead the St. Louis Park Orioles to a 6-5 win over the Bloomington Kennedy Eagles.

It was the Orioles second straight win under acting head coach John Sackrison, who once again filled in for absent head coach Mike Peluso.

The two game sweep over teams nicknamed the Eagles raised St. Louis Park’s record to 3-6 while Kennedy fell to 4-6.

The Eagles began the scoring on a flurry of three shots at Brodersen with Alysa Haslerud converting on saved shots from Emily Nelson and Gretchen Mach. Amanda Olson’s shot from the right corner put Kennedy up by two and the Orioles got on the board with 1:37 left on Carly Kuhbander’s goal. Abby Vig assisted.

Kennedy started the second period just like the first–scoring the first two goals. Emily Nelson scored from the right side with Alison Doyle and Haslerud assisting. Emily Nelson served the game’s only penalty for body checking and Gretchen Mach put in an unassisted short handed goal. The Orioles countered as Ellen Sackrison went down the ice like a car on Highway 100 to cut the Eagle lead in half as Megan Duffy and Carley Rosen earned assists. Rosen rounded out the second period scoring on a rebound with 20 seconds left. Sackrison and Abby Bongaarts assisted.

The third period began with Kennedy’;s final goal coming from Amanda Olson with Shannon Maiers and Clare Chapman assisting. Then St. Louis Park’s dynamic duo of Amber Beightol and Kuhbander went to work on sealing Brodersen’s first varsity win. It was Beightol who assisted on Kuhbander’s second goal as well as Sarah Beckstrom and Kuhbander and Beightol assisted on the tying goal from Bongaarts with 6:02 left. It looked like the game would be headed for an eight minuted sudden death overtime period. But wait, there’s more! Beightol took a pass from Kuhbander on the right side of Eagle senior goalie Kari Hunter with 1:31 left and that turned out to be the game-winner.

St. Louis Park out-shot Bloomington Kennedy 46-31.

The Orioles have a tough one coming up on Friday as they take on perennial North Suburban Conference power and city rival Benilde-St. Margaret’s at 5 PM. Please note that BSM will be the home team.
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Tuesday, December 11, 2007 @ SLP Rec Center
Girls Varsity Hockey vs. Bloomington-Kennedy
by Howard Luloff

With head coach Mike Peluso absent and assistant coach Donnie Williams in Plymouth with the Oriole Boys Hockey team, assistant coach John Sackrison became the acting head coach and Tuesday night at the Rec Center, and he got his first win thanks to Carly Kuhbander and Amber Beightol scoring two goals apiece to lead the St. Louis Park Orioles to a 4-2 win over the Totino-Grace Eagles.

The win snapped a three game losing streak for the Orioles, now 2-6. The Eagles fell to 1-8.

The Eagles began the scoring as Renee Cattoor scored an unassisted goal from the right corner. The Orioles evened the game at one while the Eagles Melissa Neeb was serving a hooking penalty and they displayed some outstanding passing which resulted in Beightol’s unassisted power play goal withh 3:44 left in the first period.

In the second period, the Orioles came to life like a popular cartoon snowman at holiday time by scoring three goals–the first two by Kuhbander. On the first goal, she followed up a rebound by Heidi Johnson to put them in front. Her second goal came two minutes and 32 seconds later with Beightol assisting.

It was also Beightol who wrapped up the St. Louis Park scoring with nine minutes left in the period on an assist from Bridgette Karl. Totino-Grace accounted for the only third period goal, scored by Anna Eidem. Melissa Neeb assisted.

The Orioles outshot the Eagles 43-28.

St. Louis Park is back in action Thursday when another team wearing blue and gold uniforms and nicknamed the Eagles comes to the Rec Center–Bloomington Kennedy.
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Thursday, December 6, 2007 @ SLP Rec Center
Girls Varsity Hockey vs. Irondale
by Howard Luloff

The irondale Knights, ranked eleventh in Class AA, were in shining maroon and gold armor Thursday night at the Rec Center as Gina McDonald and Meghan Lorence scored hat tricks en route to an 8-1 win over the St. Louis Park Orioles. The win by the Knights was their sixth and extended their unbeaten streak to seven, including a 6-6 tie to Coon Rapids on November 24. The Orioles dropped their second consecutive game to a ranked Class AA opponent, losing to sixth ranked Hopkins by the same score early in the week. The Orioles record is 1-5.

The tandem of McDonald and Nicole Olson scored the first two goals, starting in the first period with 6:59 left when McDonald went down the right sideboards, through the slot and put it past Oriole goalie Brittney Evers. Originally the goal was unassisted but at the end of the first period, referee Liz Kellerman informed the scorers table that Olson was credited with the assist.

McDonald’s second goal came with 13:45 left in the second period on a reverse goal. Irondale exploded for three more second period goals when Lorence got the rebound and scored with Sarah Dusold picking up the assist. Dusold and Lorence combined on the second goal just when Ellen Sackrison finished serving a hooking penalty with 2:35 left. But Lorence was not finished. With the Orioles Carly Rosen serving two minutes for elbowing, Lorence scored an unassisted power play goal with 34 seconds left.

It didn’t take long for the Knights to send the game into running time Lorence got the hat trick 40 seconds into the third period. Ashley Bye and Dusold assisted. McDonald got her hat trick with 12:45 on an assist from Ashley Barnier.

It looked like Lindsey Brown was on her way to her second shutout of the season. Not so fast. Carly Kuhbander erased the zero from the home portion of the scoreboard as she went through the slot and scored with 7:53 to go. Bridget Braaten picked up the assist.

Irondale ended the scoring with 38 seconds left on a goal from Heather McCreight. McDonald picked up her fourth point of the game on an assist and Barnier was credited with her second assist.

The Knights outshot the Orioles 60-13.

The Orioles continue North Suburban Conference play Saturday afternoon as they head up to Lindstrom to face the Chisago Lakes Wildcats at the Chisago Lakes Arena. Game time 2 PM.
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Thursday, November 29, 2007 @ SLP Rec Center
Girls Varsity Hockey vs. Mahtomedi
by Howard Luloff

It was a chilly Thursday night in St. Louis Park as Kaylee Sommer heated up the Rec Center’s East Rink with two goals and assisted on another to lead the Mahtomedi Zephyrs to a 6-3 win over the St. Louis Park Orioles. It was Mahtomedi’s first win, ending a four game losing streak and St. Louis Park fell to 0-3.

The Orioles struck first when Ellen Sackrison scored. Carley Rosen assisted. The Zephyrs evened the game on a goal from Sackrison’s no. 14 counterpart Kira Clunis. Thirteen seconds later, Niki Keeler put the Orioles in front with the first of her two goals. The Oriole lead was short lived when Sommer tied the game on an unassisted goal in the period’s final minute.

Mahtomedi scored three consecutive goals in the second period, starting with Sommer’s second unassisted goal. The second came shorthanded while Kira Clunis served two minutes for slashing the goalie from Kerry Frye and the third was a power play goal for Emily Pocernich as the Orioles Carly Kuhbander was off for body checking.

The Orioles concluded their scoring with 4:09 remaining as Keeler scored her second goal on assists from Sackrison and Rosen.

There wasn’t any scoring in the third period until the game’s final minute when Oriole head coach Mike Peluso pulled goalie Brittney Evers for a sixth attacker and Alli Kuschel drove down the ice for the Zephyrs sixth and final goal.

Mahtomedi outshot St. Louis Park 43-24.

The Orioles begin a two game road trip Saturday afternoon against the Orono Spartans, 1 PM at the Orono Ice Arena.
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Monday, November 26, 2007 @ St. Louis Park Rec. Center
Girls Varsity Hockey vs. New Prague

The St. Louis Park Varsity Hockey team lost last week in its first game of the season, 3-2, to St. Paul Johnson, when Johnson broke a 2-2 tie with under one minute left. That was a heart-breaker. Tonight was not.

New Prague came into the St. Louis Park Rec. Center and beat Park soundly, 7-1, out-shooting the home team 48-22. The first period was a close one, with Park nearly matching New Prague’s shot total of 13, with 12 of its own, but couldn’t cash in.

Brittney Evers, Park’s sophomore goal-tender, did a great job during the period, stopping 12 of the 13 shots, with New Prague’s only goal coming on a fantastic move and backhand shot from Ashley Jones, a senior wing, with 11:44 left. Evers made several glove saves, and New Prague had two shots hit the pipe during the period, and it looked like the puck was bouncing Park’s way.

Park was hit with a penalty with 10:15 left, but junior Bridgett Braaten and sophomore Bridgette Karl played excellent defense in killing the penalty. With 5:15 left, New Prague was put in the box for hooking, and Karl nearly made it hurt when her slap-shot was stopped by the New Prague goalie on an incredible save.

New Prague went two skaters down when Park junior captain Carly Kuhbander was knocked to the ice on a viscous cross-check. Despite the advantage, Park couldn’t get their offense clicking, in fact New Prague had two breakaway shots stopped by Evers, and the period ended 1-0.

Park’s hopes of winning were dashed early in the second period when New Prague’s senior wing Kacy Ambroz scored two goals in the first five minutes, making the score 3-0. Ambroz, who had two goals and three assists in the game, is heading to UMD next year on a full-ride hockey scholarship.

With 10:30 left, Park’s junior center, Amber Beightol, broke free from the pack and ripped a wrist-shot that just missed, hitting the side of the net. Park got a bit frustrated after taking a few solid hits, and sophomore wing Carley Rosen had two great ones in response, but was called for a roughing penalty, and New Prague scored on the power play, making it 4-0.

With 1:37 in the second period, New Prague struck again on a slap-shot that was deflected into the corner of the goal, and the score was 5-0 going into the second intermission.

Thirty seconds into the third period, New Prague scored again, making it 6-0, but Park answered with a goal by sophomore wing Niki Keeler, unassisted–the New Prague goalie was human after all!

New Prague’s Ambroz scored her second goal of the game, her fifth point, and her team’s seventh and last goal, and time, finally, ran out. The last period was no different than the first two, with New Prague out-shooting Park, 18-5. On the bright side, despite New Prague’s powerful offense, the score could have been worse if not for excellent defense from junior center Sackrison, sophomore wing Carley Rosen, and Karl, and a great game by Evers in goal.

Evers was under great pressure the entire game, and stopped 41 of 48 shots (85%). Park took 22 shots, and New Prague’s goalie stopped 21 of them (95%).

“We need to do a better job at neutral zone positioning,” said Park coach Mike Peluso. “[New Prague] took advantage of our defense and got off too many good shots.”