Girls Hockey: Red Wing gets back on track

Red Wing just wanted to get on the ice Saturday and forget about losing to New Prague earlier in the week.

The third-ranked (1A) Wingers were in a little rut since the holiday break and wanted badly to get out of it.

“I was excited to see what we’d do today,” Red Wing head coach Scott Haley said. “We’ve got to find things to play for. … The girls bought into it and felt like they had something to prove.”

The first few minutes didn’t help as 18th-ranked (1A) Henry Sibley scored 5 minutes, 1 seconds into the game on a short-handed goal but the Wingers turned things around in a hurry, scoring eight unanswered goals and exhibiting dynamic passing en route to an 8-1 victory at Prairie Island Arena in Red Wing.

“After Tuesday, we just really needed to score our first goal,” Red Wing’s Nicole Schammel said. “After that, things flowed a lot better. We just wanted to be really smooth and not go through the motions. We all kind of had a jump in our step.”

The Wingers’ top line of Schammel, Emily Stegora and Reagan Haley accounted for six goals and seven assists in Saturday’s win. Schammel, leading the state in scoring, made up for scoring just one point in Tuesday’s game by tallying three goals and three assists in Saturday’s victory.

Emily Stegora had two goals and two assists for Red Wing (19-2) while Reagan Haley netted a goal and two assists. Paige Haley was stellar from the blue line, contributing two goals and two assists.

“We moved the puck and made the extra pass,” Schammel said. “For our line, that’s really key, just to have the easy goal. You don’t have to work as hard if you move the puck like that.”

Henry Sibley’s Erika Hillstrom gave the Warriors (8-11) their only lead in the first period before Schammel followed 52 seconds later with a power-play goal at 5:53. Paige Haley helped put the Wingers ahead 2-1 only 23 second later on an unassisted goal. At 12:52 of the first period, Schammel scored again to give Red Wing a 3-1 lead into the first intermission.

The second period wasn’t nearly as clean for the Wingers as Henry Sibley outshot Red wing 12-11 in the period. It didn’t matter as Paige Haley uncorked a slap shot from just across center ice at the 3:46 mark to give the Wingers a 4-1 lead.

“It took a little while,” Scott Haley said. “The first period was pretty good, it was a sloppy second period and the third was back to really good stuff.”

Red Wing’s passing was at its best in the final period. Stegora scored a power-play goal 3:33 into the third with assists to Reagan Haley and Schammel, and added another goal at 6:55 on a beautiful pass from Schammel that left the net wide open. Schammel tallied her third goal of the night at 12:25, deking multiple Warriors’ defenders and the goaltender for a 7-1 lead. Reagan Haley’s goal came at the 14:12 mark with assists to Stegora and Schammel. The Wingers had 18 shots on goal in the final period and 49 for the game.

Ashley Corcoran made 25 saves for Red Wing in the win.

“I kind of felt like we were going to play well today,” Scott Haley said. “I know it’s cheesy to say but we’re using this as a launching pad for our second season.”

The Wingers play again Tuesday on the road against Prior Lake.

Tags: girls hockey, red wing, sports, prep