Alex girls' hockey: Cardinals blank St. Cloud Icebreakers

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The Cardinal girls all but cemented their No. 2 spot in the Central Lakes Conference standings after a 2-0 win over the St. Cloud Icebreakers Thursday night.

“The girls had a gigantic 2-0 conference win that was as much about character as it was about the hockey,” said Alexandria head coach Andy Shriver. “We needed absolutely all of the hockey we could muster to avenge an early-season loss to this team.

“To do so without the services of three of our top scorers, with second place in the CLC on the line, was a tall order at the end of a long week.”

Stephanie Drown once again outdid herself in goal, making 19 saves for the night.

“The goaltending was great, as Steph posted the shutout behind an outstanding performance by a stalwart defensive corps,” said Shriver. “The defensive effort for 51 minutes out of 51 minutes was not of defenders alone, as the forwards on all three lines needed to contribute to post that zero, as well.”

Danielle Carlson was credited with the first goal of the game, which came on a power play in the first period off assists from Melissa Drown and Taylor Ellingson.

“That goal stood for the entire game as the Cards worked tremendously hard,” said the coach. “After 50 minutes and 52.6 seconds of hard fought hockey, Shelby Iverson sashayed down the ice to the empty net and iced the victory with the final nail in the coffin to make it 2-0.”

Alexandria is now 8-4-0 in the conference, trailing just Sartell-Sauk Rapids, which is 11-1-0 in league play, while the Icebreakers fell to 6-5-1, tied with Rocori-River Lakes.

The win also kept Alexandria in the lead of the Section 6A QRF (quality results formula) standings, just ahead of Detroit Lakes.

GAME STATISTICS

SC ICEBREAKERS 0 0 0 — 0

ALEXANDRIA 1 0 1 — 2

FIRST PERIOD

ALEX – Danielle Carlson, pp (Melissa Drown, Taylor Ellingson).

SECOND PERIOD

No scoring.

THIRD PERIOD

ALEX – Shelby Iverson, en (unassisted).

GOALIES – Lucy Gaetz, SCI, 26; Stephanie Drown, Alex, 19.

Tags: alexandria sports, sports, cardinal, girls, hockey