Wingers fizzle in season opener

The Red Wing girls hockey team came out flat Tuesday in the opening game of the season against third-ranked South St. Paul, losing 9-3 in South St. Paul.

Wingers head coach Scott Haley said the players and coaches will go back to the drawing board to rebound from a frustrating loss to a tough team.

“Not a whole lot of passion,” Haley said of the team’s performance. “Didn’t really live up to what the girls or the coaching staff expected.”

Paige Haley, Nicole Schammel and Elle Anderson scored the Wingers (0-1) three goals. Red Wing gave up eight goals in the first two periods and was outshot 43 to 13.

Emily Reibert scored the Packers first goal 2 minutes, 58 seconds into the first period, with the assists going to Riley Viner and Anna Barlow. South St. Paul found the back of the net again at 6:57 in the opening period but the Wingers responded with an unassisted goal by Paige Haley less than two minutes later. The Packers added a power play goal to go up 3-1 before the end of the first period.

Coming out of the first intermission, Red Wing held South St. Paul scoreless for almost seven minutes before the Packers notched four goals in four minutes and the rout was on. South St. Paul scored once more before the end of the period and Anderson tallied her goal at 15:18 in the second. Schammel scored the Wingers final goal on a power play near the end of the third period.

“We kind of dug ourselves in a hole,” Scott Haley said. “Good news is we get a fresh start on Thursday and try to regroup from there. The only way to go is up.”

Scott Haley said the Packers might be the best team they play all season but the team needs to be better prepared against a tough Hastings team on Thursday.

Thursday game begins at 7:30 p.m. in Hastings.

Tags: red wing, sports, prep, hockey