According to senior Anna Nicholls, the level of competition in the first period of the Hopkins/Park game against Wayzata was the team’s best performance yet. 

“Our first period was definitely one of the best periods we’ve played all season. We came out thinking we had this game in the bag (before the) second period,” Nicholls said. “And (when) we got scored on early I think our attitudes went down. We were starting to give up and not really care at that point.”

Coach Ryan St. Martin said the highlight of the game was the first period, but there was a lack of effort in the last two periods.  

“We played a strong first period and we bottled them up at times. (After) we just didn’t have a complete effort but definitely the first period was the highlight,” St. Martin said. 

According to sophomore Greta Betzer, after Wayzata scored it was difficult to keep up with their level of play.

“The game was a little rough. We started out fine but then as they scored the first and second goal it just went downhill,” Betzer said.

Nicholls said the team can improve on maintaining a good attitude and not get discouraged by the goals their opponents score. 

“We can improve on if we get scored on once or twice just picking up our heads and overall having a better attitude. I think we were getting frustrated with ourselves,” Nicholls said. “We need to be able to not do that and work together more and better attitudes.” 

According to St. Martin, the girls have been improving together as a team and he is happy with the team’s work ethic. 

“We’ve had our highs and lows but I do think we’re playing much better as a team and I’m looking for that to continue going forward,” St. Martin said.  

Betzer said the team worked well together and did a great job cheering and supporting each other. 

“Working together I feel like we did good. Wayzata is just a really (hard) team to beat and I think we’re connecting passes well and we were cheering each other on,” Betzer said.

The next game is against Saint Michael-Albertville and will take place 7 p.m. Jan. 28 at the Minnetonka Ice Arena.