No. 2 Proctor/Hermantown girl’s hockey advances to State semifinals

On Wednesday the second seeded Proctor/Hermantown girl’s hockey team defeated Mankato East 4-3 in the Class A State quarterfinals at the Xcel Energy Center.

“We felt very comfortable, composed and just felt like we were controlling the game like we wanted to,” said head coach Emma Stauber.

Nya Sieger scored first for the Mirage in the first period. They tallied two more goals in the second from Reese Heitzman and Ella Rothe to lead 3-0 after two frames.

“We started moving the puck low too high to get more traffic in front so we can get it to the point and get shots on net since she is such a good goalie. [All in all] I think that really helped on my first goal,” added senior Heitzman.

Mankato East scored two to start the third and trail just 3-2, until Heitzman netted her second of the day to give the Mirage back a two goal lead. Mankato East scored one more but Proctor/Hermantown would pull out the 4-3 win.

“We stayed pretty consistent, when we got the puck we tried to get it up as fast as possible [to our forwards] and feed off each other. So it’s really fun this playoff type hockey,” concluded junior defender Katie Sandelin.

Mirage netminder Neelah McLeod registered 11 saves on 14 shots faced to Mankato’s Annaliese Rader’s 37 saves on 41 shots faced.

For the full box score, Click Here.

The Mirage advance to the State semifinals Friday at 11 a.m. in St. Paul where they will face No. 3 Orono.

For the bracket, Click Here.