The Albert Lea Tigers came out like a team on a mission.

In the end, only two words were necessary: Mission accomplished.

The Tigers, who did not play well in their previous outing, a lop-sided loss to Rochester John Marshall, kept alive their conference championship hopes with an impressive 7-3 Big Nine girls’ hockey victory over Rochester Mayo at the City Arena Thursday night.

&uot;It was very important we come back after playing JM with a strong effort, and the girls did,&uot; said Albert Lea coach Mike Miller. &uot;I’m very pleased with the effort they put forth.&uot;

Despite dominating the Spartans in the early going, outshooting them 13-3 in the first period, the Tigers didn’t put it away until the third, when Laura Hillman scored four of five Albert Lea goals.

Hillman, a freshman, finished with five goals and an assist.

Hillman opened the scoring at 2:30 of the first period, assisted by Brittany Arendt.

It remained 1-0 until Amy Leach scored at 8:10 of the second period on assists from Tessa Christensen and Hillman. Mayo scored 11 seconds later, and it was 2-1 after two periods.

Christensen set up Hillman’s second goal at 2:27 of the third period.

Mayo answered at 8:33, starting a barrage of four goals in a span of 1:02.

Hillman scored at 9:04, assisted by Leach and Christensen, and at 9:13 Hillman tipped in a pass from Christine Tubbs.

Heather Bagley assisted on Hillman’s fifth goal, at 11:33, and Arendt finished the scoring at 13:28 with an impressive breakaway score.

Danika Porter was in goal for the Tigers, who outshot the Spartans 33-27. Each team had one penalty.

Two Tigers, Lindsey Sorenson and Jill Woodside, missed the game because of illness.

The Tigers improved to 6-2 in the Big Nine and 8-4 overall while Mayo fell to 4-4 and 4-9.

&uot;Had we lost, the highest we could have finished would be third in the Big Nine,&uot; said Miller. &uot;We still have an outside chance to tie for first, but we need someone to knock off Owatonna and we have to go undefeated the rest of the way.&uot;

The Tigers are off until Thursday, Dec. 26, when they face the Minneapolis Novas at 4:15 p.m. in the opening round of the Holiday Cup Tournament at Blaine. They’ll meet Park Center or Burnsville in the second round.