Northfield moved to 3-0 on the season Tuesday with a 4-3 win over Rosemount at Northfield Ice Arena, but the “0” in 3-0 might sound more like a sigh of relief.
The Raiders (3-0) let a 3-2 lead slip away in the third period before senior Isabelle Stephes scored the game-winning goal with 1 minute, 15 seconds remaining on a 5-on-3 power play. Senior Ayla Puppe assisted on the goal to give her four points after a goal and two assists earlier in the game.
“Being 3-0 is awesome,” Northfield head coach Paige Haley said. “We’ve had three competitive games. This game was for sure the most competitive of the three we’ve played.”
Three of the four Raiders goals came on the power play and Northfield had to climb out of a 1-0 deficit after the first period. Audrey Boll scored on a wild open net after a nice passing play from Annalee Holzer for the Irish.
Senior Emerson Garlie tied the game 46 seconds into the second period with an assist from Puppe after Garlie knocked home a rebound to make it 1-1.
Sophomore defender Mia Miller gave the Raiders a 2-1 lead at 4:34 of the period on an assist from Puppe during a power play. Then Puppe put Northfield up 3-1 with a power-play goal at 7:55 of the second period.
The Irish (0-1) responded with a power-play goal at 8:51 when Cece Hanson fired a shot from the point that found the net to make it 3-2. It stayed that way until the third period.
At 14:35 Holzer scored on the power play to knot things at 3-3 before the rest of the period got wild.
With 2:52 left to play Rosemount got called for roughing and cross-checking around its own goal to give the Raiders a 5-on-3 advantage for nearly the rest of the game. Northfield nearly needed every second of the two-minute penalty to get the job done. Only 23 seconds remained on the power play before the goal.
The Raiders outshot the Irish 36-21 for the game and Macy Mueller stopped 18 shots for the win.
Penalties marred the game once again as Northfield took five and Rosemount tallied seven. The Raiders had to kill off a 5-on-3 Irish power play for 1:22 that extended into the third period.
Northfield will continue to get tested Thursday when it faces Big 9 Conference rival Owatonna at Northfield Ice Arena. The Huskies defeated Hastings 5-1 Tuesday in their season-opener in Hastings.