By Nick Gerhardt
Since suffering back-to-back losses for the first time this season, Northfield has bounded back after picking up a 7-0 win Saturday over Winona at Northfield Ice Arena.
The Raiders, ranked No. 6 in Class A, shut out Mankato West 6-0 Thursday after scoring four times on the power play. Northfield (12-4, 6-2 Big 9) followed it up with a performance that saw scoring across different lines.
Raiders head coach Mike Luckraft has shuffled his lines slightly and the line of junior winger Cayden Monson, sophomore center Brayden Olsen and sophomore Will Cashin paid dividends in the first period while the line of junior winger Kam Kaiser, junior center Jake Geiger and junior winger Andrew Winter started scoring later in the first period.
Cashin cashed in with a goal 7 minutes, 12 seconds into the game after deflecting a shot to put Northfield up 1-0 with assists from freshman defenseman Bridger Riley and Olsen.
Olsen netted a goal of his own at the 10:33 mark for a 2-0 Raiders lead with assists from senior defenseman Brecken Riley and Cashin.
Kaiser got loose for his first of two goals with a breakaway goal at 15:58 of the first period for a 3-0 Northfield lead. The Raiders held a 16-1 shots on goal advantage in the first period against the Winhawks (3-8, 1-5 Big 9).
Kaiser got another breakaway opportunity early in the second period and netted his second goal of the game at 3:01 of the period for a 4-0 lead.
Monson, who paired with Kaiser and Geiger earlier in the season, scored in the second consecutive game at 5:09 of the third period on the power play with assists from senior defenseman Mike Fossum and Geiger for a 5-0 lead. Monson snapped a three-game goalless streak Thursday against Mankato West and has five points in his past two games.
Sophomore forward Griffin Kennelly scored his first career varsity goal at 6:38 of the third period with an assist from Monson for a 6-0 advantage and Geiger notched a goal with 3:41 left in the game with assists from Fossum and Kaiser for a 7-0 lead.
Senior goalie Keaton Walock made seven saves to earn his fourth and second straight shutout victory of the season. The Raiders ended with 49 shots on goal.
Northfield still trails Rochester Mayo and Rochester Century in the conference standings. Rochester Mayo has one conference loss and Rochester Century remains undefeated.
The Raiders face Mankato East (5-10, 3-3 Big 9) Tuesday in Mankato.
| Team | W | L | T | PTS | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester Mayo | 6 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 11-3-1 |
| Rochester Century | 6 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 9-6-0 |
| Northfield | 6 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 12-4-0 |
| Albert Lea | 5 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 12-4-0 |
| Faribault | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 7-7-0 |
| Mankato West | 3 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 5-9-1 |
| Rochester John Marshall | 2 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 6-9-1 |
| Owatonna | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 5-8-0 |
| Mankato East/Loyola | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 5-10-0 |
| Winona | 1 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3-8-2 |
| Austin | 1 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2-10-0 |
| Red Wing | 0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1-13-3 |