Coming off an exciting, home opener victory against Hutchinson Nov. 11, Hopkins-Park girls hockey took a loss in overtime. After three periods, the girls were tied 1-1 with Pine City. Four minutes later, it was over, with a 2-1 loss.
Coach Ryan St. Martin said taking advantage of the versatility of the team was the goal of the game.
“Our focus was to use our depth and overwhelm (the other team),” St. Martin said.
Senior Camryn Witham said she went into the game with a good mindset.
“(I wanted to) work hard and play hard, and be a good teammate,” Witham said.
St. Martin said the focus of the team’s practices have been working on offense and threatening the other team’s defense.
“We worked on our offensive concepts,” St. Martin said. “(The) hope was to break open the game and have a lot of offensive opportunities.”
Freshman Ella Koethe said overall, the team played hard and supported each other despite the final score.
“The game went well,” Koethe said. “But, I think we could’ve had more shots on net and connected more passes.”
Witham said all the team bonding has been essential for building trust in each other and having that translate into games.
“We have been spending a lot of time getting to know each other,” Witham said. “That plays a lot into our chemistry on the ice.”
St. Martin said the game was a good learning opportunity and will help the team be more successful in the future.
“(This was) a growth opportunity to reflect and build to be better next time we play,” St. Martin said.
Koethe said there were a lot of important takeaways from the game that will be beneficial for the rest of the season.
“I’m just going to keep pushing and taking shots on goal,” Koethe said.
Witham said it’s important to remember what mistakes were made in this game so the team can learn from them.
“We need to work our hardest, every game,” Witham said. “We are not going to let a game like this happen ever again.”
Hopkins-Park girls hockey returns to the ice 7:00 p.m. Nov. 16 at Dick Vraa ice arena against Osseo.
