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Girls Hockey Starts the Season With Two Wins

By Blake Athletic Department, 11/11/17, 9:15PM CST

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Defeated #3 Hill-Murray and #8 Cretin-Derham Hall

The Blake Girls Hockey Team, winners of four of the last five Class A State Championships, began their quest in Class AA this weekend with victories over two top-10 Class AA opponents. 

Friday night, in their season opener, the Bears traveled to Aldrich Arena to take on the #3 Hill-Murray Pioneers. The first period was all Blake as they took a 1-0 lead into the locker room after an unassisted goal by senior forward Sara McClanahan. The play evened out in the second period, but it was the Bears again who were able to capitalize as McClanahan netted her second goal of the game with assists going to junior Izzy Daniel and junior Madeline Wethington. In the third period, the two teams exchanged three penalties a piece, and it was once again the Bears who were, this time, able to win the special teams battle by scoring both a shorthanded and powerplay goal. The shorthanded tally was scored by sophomore Lily Delianedis with the assist going to Daniel. The shorthanded mark gave the Bears a 3-0 lead. The lead was stretched to 4-0 when senior Sarah Chute added a powerplay marker assisted by sophomore Audrey Wethington. The Pioneers got on the board with 3:29 remaining in the game, but it was too little too late as the Bears were victorious 4-1. Senior Anna Kruesel made 21 saves and got the win in net.

Less than 24 hours later, the Bears played host to the #8 Cretin-Derham Hall Raiders.  The afternoon tilt marked the first game played in the newly renovated Blake Arena with a large crowd on hand.

The Bears solid play carried over from Friday night as they controlled the play in the first period on Saturday and led 1-0 at the break. For the second consecutive game it was McClanahan who gave the Bears the lead. Assists were awarded to junior Grace Johnson and freshmen, Bailey Abraham. The McClanahan, Johnson, Abraham line connected again in the second period to give the Bears a 2-0 lead. Abraham converted on a rebound for her first varsity goal as a Bear with the assists going to McClanahan and Johnson. Just two minutes into the third frame, the lead was stretched to 4-0 with sophomore Addie Burton going top shelf from in tight and Daniel displaying her stickhandling abilities while converting on a breakaway. Junior Maddie Tix and Audrey Wethington earned assists on the Burton tally, and Johnson and Madeline Wethington assisted on Daniel's goal. The four goal lead stuck throughout the entire 51 minutes in this one as Kruesel stopped all 20 shots she faced for her first shutout of the season.

The Bears have a busy week as they host Eastview on Tuesday, November 14th, before heading to the east metro later in the week where they will face White Bear Lake on Thursday, November 16th and East Ridge on Saturday, November 18th.