Defending state champs Proctor/Hermantown ready for home opener

Last season the Proctor/Hermantown girls hockey team had to wait until January to drop the puck on their 2020-2021 schedule.

On Friday the Proctor/Hermantown girls hockey team will compete on home ice for the first time since winning the Section 7A title on March 20 when they shut out Duluth Marshall 6-0.

"It’s going to be super exciting," junior Nya Sieger said about the home opener. "Especially having our first home game against the third and fourth seed in our class is going to be great."

Sophomore Hannah Graves added, "we can build off the energy in the building and we need a lot more energy on the bench. When we do that we play better as a team and we get more excited and hyped, it’s just a lot better."

The defending Class A state champions graduated ten seniors from their historic undefeated 21-0 run. However the Mirage are already proving they can still skate with the best, holding off top ranked Warroad in just a 1-0 season opener loss last weekend.

"We learned a ton in that game," head coach Emma Stauber said. "We put players in positions that we thought might be best and it’s like okay it wasn’t working. We had to make some adjustments in the middle of the game and then we didn’t play super well first and second period, but third period was a lot better."

Reworking a few positions they now feel ready for Orono. Puck drop on Friday is set for 7pm at Proctor’s St. Luke’s Sports and Event Center.