Hopkins/Park girls’ hockey prepares to play Osseo

Team builds off previous mistakes

Senior+Anna+Nicholls+defends+the+puck+Dec.+17.+Hopkins%2FPark+won+against+Red+Wing+8-3.

Emmy Pearson

Senior Anna Nicholls defends the puck Dec. 17. Hopkins/Park won against Red Wing 8-3.

Tamar Gewirtz

Hopkins/Park is looking to improve weaker aspects from past games in preparation for its upcoming game against Osseo, according to junior Abby Meyer.

“We’ve been working on multiple plays, like power plays and penalty kills, what to do in the offensive zone, where to set yourself up once you get in and how to break out of the defensive zone,” Meyer said.

According to coach Ryan St. Martin, the team will fix its mistakes to better succeed in the game against Osseo.

“Generally speaking, we’re just trying to crack some mistakes we’ve made in the last couple of games and play our best lineup and hopefully that will give us some success,” St. Martin said.

Junior Erin Brousseau said she wants to get better at defending to limit shots on the goal.

“Individually and team-wise, we all need to improve our D-Zone coverage and cleaning up some of the little things,” Brousseau said. “We’ve been making a lot of mistakes in the D-Zone. To help our goalie out, that’s something I want to fix.”

According to Meyer, the team needs to begin the game strong in order to finish strong.

“We’ve been having a lack of good first periods, so we need to get in the mindset that we have to work the whole game rather than having to come back in the second and third,” Meyer said.

Overall, Brousseau said she is eager to compete at an arena that will draw a crowd. 

“I like playing at the Rec Center, it’s really fun. There’s always a good crowd and it’s a really high energy place,” Brousseau said.

Hopkins/Park will face Osseo 7 p.m. Jan. 9 at the St. Louis Park Rec Center.