By Nick Gerhardt
The Raiders and Blake have only met twice previously, last season where the Bears won 5-3 and way back in the 2016-17 season in the Class A state tournament semifinals. Blake won that meeting 4-1 en route to a repeat Class A championship. The Bears moved up to Class AA the next season and remained there until this season.
The Raiders and Blake have only met twice previously, last season where the Bears won 5-3 and way back in the 2016-17 season in the Class A state tournament semifinals. Blake won that meeting 4-1 en route to a repeat Class A championship. The Bears moved up to Class AA the next season and remained there until this season.
The roles have reversed with Northfield in Class AA and so did the result with the Raiders coming away with a 7-0 running-time victory over a Bears (0-5-1) squad that features just two seniors.
Northfield (6-0, 2-0 Big 9) overcame a slow first period behind a four-goal performance from senior center Ayla Puppe, her third game of three or more goals in a game. Senior forward Emerson Garlie notched a first-period goal on a nice tic-tac-toe passing play from Puppe and sophomore defender Mia Miller.
Puppe tallied a hat trick 39 seconds into the second period after scoring twice in the first period, including a short-handed goal. Puppe picked a corner on her third goal to make it 4-0. She collected her fourth goal at the 5:24 mark of the period on an assist from Miller to make it 5-0.
Miller recorded a short-handed goal of her own with an assist from Isabelle Paulson for a three-point game at 4:42 of the third period to make it 6-0. Senior defender Grace McCoshen closed the scoring at 9:45 of the period on a shot from the slot to make it 7-0.
The Raiders tallied 42 shots in the game while junior goaltender Macy Mueller turned away 18 shots for her second straight shutout and third of the season.
Northfield has scored 19 goals in its last three games and moves on to face Rochester Century/John Marshall (3-3, 1-1 Big 9) Saturday at 2:45 p.m. in Rochester.