There was a bit of a road bump for the Northland Pines girls hockey team last week. The Eagles had just two games on their schedule, starting with a Friday trip to play Houghton-Hancock. No scoring for the Eagles led to a 2-0 loss before another shutout loss, 6-0, at home Dec. 14 against Chippewa Falls.
Against Houghton-Hancock, the home team opened the scoring just 48 seconds into the game and added a second tally later in the first.
There would be no scoring after that as the Eagles failed to light the lamp and lost 2-0.
“After a long bus ride, we gave up those two quick ones,” said Pines coach Jeff Stebbeds. “We had scoring chances, but just couldn’t capitalize on them.”
The Eagles have depth on their roster, but Stebbeds said Pines is a young team trying to figure things out early on in the season.
“We have a large number of players this season, but we are a very young team,” he said. “They are working very hard to improve as the season continues.”
The Pines girls were at home against a good Chippewa Falls-Menomonie team on Saturday afternoon.
The Eagles played a solid first period and freshman goalie Lucy Nowak, who had 41 saves in the game, only allowed one behind her in the first period to keep the score at 1-0.
Chippewa Falls turned up the heat and followed that up with five more goals, including three in the second period.
“Trying to compete with these senior and junior-loaded teams takes a toll on us during the beginning of the season,” noted coach Stebbeds. “I keep telling the kids it’s a marathon and not a sprint.”
The Northland Pines girls hockey team has a record of 1-2 so far this season.
They play next on Friday, December 13, at the Simek Rec Center in Medford against Hartland Arrowhead at 5 p.m. The Eagles also play in Medford the next day when they meet Brookfield at 1 p.m.
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