A year after losing to Minnetonka in the section 6AA finals, the girls’ hockey team got a rematch against the Skippers. Despite being the number one seed this time around, the result was the same, this time coming in the form of a nail-biting 3-2 overtime loss on Friday, Feb 17 at the Parade Ice Garden

After the first period, Minnetonka was in the lead by one after a power play goal. The Red Knights came back out and responded in the second period with a goal from junior defenseman Liv Halvorson. “I was really excited that I could contribute to the team, and it was a good motivator to get the team back in the games,” said Halvorson.

Both teams failed to score again in regulation, sending the game into overtime. The Red Knights lost to Breck in their only other overtime game all season. “We were a little nervous because we hadn’t done well in that situation before, but we believed we could do it,” said sophomore forward Kelly Pannek.

Two minutes into overtime, Minnetonka scored off of a scrum in front of the Red Knight’s net. “It was really deflating when [Minnetonka] scored because we had gone into the game with so much confidence and hope that this was going to be our year,” said senior forward Cat Kernan.

This loss brought an unfortunate end to what was a hopeful season for the highly ranked Red Knights. “We did really well, we just were very unfortunate in our more important games,” said Pannek.

Despite this loss, though, the Red Knights had a brilliant season, ending with a record of 23-4-1, a record not to be taken lightly. “Although the ending [wasn’t] how we wanted, we can’t forget all the great things we achieved during the year,” said junior captain Sara Taffe.

Looking ahead to the next year, the Red Knights will return with a strong and experienced roster, losing only three seniors from the team. “Next year’s team will continue to grow like we did this season, and they have a major advantage because most of the girls have been playing together for two, if not three years,” said Kernan.