By Nick Gerhardt
Northfiefld’s right where it’s wanted to be since the end of last year.
The top-seeded and No. 8-ranked Raiders (22-5) dominated fourth-seeded Dodge County in a 6-1 win in the Section 1A semifinals at the Rochester Rec Center.
Last year, Northfield’s season came to a close with a stunning 3-2 overtime loss to New Prague. The Raiders entered last year’s section tournament as the No. 1 seed but squandered a 2-0 second-period lead against the fourth-seeded Trojans to see their chance at making the state tournament slip away.
A year older and perhaps wiser, Northfield put together a focused effort. Sophomore winger Will Cashin scored three times while junior winger Kam Kaiser, sophomore winger Griffin Kennelly and junior center Brayden Olsen scored in a game where the Raiders put 63 shots on goal. Keaton Walock made 13 saves in goal for the Raiders in the win.
Kaiser struck 3 minutes, 15 seconds into the game off a feed from Jake Geiger and an assist from Andrew Winter for a 1-0 lead.
Kennelly scored for the second straight game with 2:59 left in the period on the power play for a 2-0 advantage with his third goal of the season.
The Raiders thoroughly controlled the first period and held a 20-2 shots on goal advantage.
Cashin scored the first of his three second-period goals 2:02 into the second period with assists from junior winger Cayden Monson and junior defenseman Elliott Pontow.
Brayden Olsen added a goal in the second period at 4:16 to make it 4-0 with assists from Cashin and senior defenseman Mike Fossum.
The Wildcats (16-10) got a goal from Brett Ludvigsen at the 11:24 mark of the second period that made it 4-1 at the time. But Cashin cashed in twice more in the period to push it to a 6-1 lead for Northfield.
Cashin notched his second goal of the game at 6:58 of the second period with Monson picking up an assist, then he scored again at 13:54 with Brecken Riley and Bridger Riley adding the assists.
The Raiders will get a chance at redemption Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Rochester Rec Center when they meet third-seeded New Prague (16-10), which defeated second-seeded Albert Lea 7-5 in a wild game where the Trojans scored the game winner with 25 seconds left. If anyone knows how New Prague can finish out a game, it’s Northfield.
Northfield 8, Rochester Lourdes 1
Top-seeded Northfield opened the Section 1A playoffs with an emphatic 8-1 win over eighth-seeded Rochester Lourdes Friday at Northfield Ice Arena.
Raiders junior center Jake Geiger scored three times, including twice in the first period in the rout. Will Cashin, Brayden Olsen, Kam Kaiser, Griffin Kennelly and Andrew Winter also scored goals as Northfield moved on to the semifinals with the win.
Geiger scored at 12 minutes, 24 seconds into the first period with assists from Kaiser and Brecken Riley to start the scoring. A little more than two minutes later Will Cashin made it 2-0 with assists from Cayden Monson and Ty Frank. Geiger closed the period out with a goal at 15:34 with assists from Bridger Riley and Kaiser.
Olsen opened the second period with a goal 32 seconds into the period with assists from Monson and Cashin to make it 4-0.
The Eagles (10-17) got a goal back on the power play when Brody Seim scored at 6:46 with an assist from Jack Roe to make it 4-1.
Geiger completed his hat trick at 8:05 of the second period with an assist from Bridger Riley at 8:05 for a 5-1 advantage. Kaiser made it 6-1 with a goal at 14:10 and Kennelly scored a power-play goal at 15:45 for his second goal of the season to make it 7-1.
The Raiders added a third-period goal at 8 minutes when Winter scored on the power play with assists from Cashin and Kennelly.
Northfield outshot Rochester Lourdes 52-9 with Keaton Walock making eight saves in the win.