After finishing the regular season in first place the U-12B girls&8217; hockey team, sponsored by the Elks, went into the District 4 tournament seeded No. 1 at the Riverside Arena in Austin during the weekend of Feb. 16.

The team faced a determined No. 8 seed in Saint Peter in the first game coming out on top 12-2. Albert Lea started out slowly with goals in the first period from Taylor Thompson unassisted and Mariah Leach assisted by Sarah Savelkoul.

In the second period, Albert Lea would have its strongest period with six goals. Scoring was Savelkoul with two goals, Natasha Moyer with two and Leach and Thompson with one each.

Larissa Hacker had a great game getting two assists. Finishing the scoring in the third period was Anna Anderson with two goals, Megan Pulley with one and Leach with one to give her a hat trick.

Christina Schmidt was in goal for Albert Lea making seven saves including a scramble as Saint Peter applied pressure during the third period. Alexis Gordon played well at her wing position with good passes to her team mates.

In the second game Albert Lea faced a hard skating team from New Prague who was the No. 4 seed. New Prague would get one shot past goalie Sydney Conley in the first period, after that Conley would shutout New Prague for the rest of the game.

Kelsey Thomas lead Albert Lea&8217;s defense with strong play at the blue line while holding New Prague to seven shots en route to a 4-1 victory.

Albert Lea dominated the game with 35 shots on goal, but was unable to score on a tough goalie from New Prague until the third period when Anderson and Leach each scored twice. Assisting on the goals were Moyer and Savelkoul. Samantha Stanley played an aggressive game from her defensive position taking charge to move the puck up ice and create many scoring opportunities.

In the championship game Albert Lea faced a very fast skating second seed from Faribault and came out on top with 4-2 victory. This was a total team victory including great support from the fans who showed their appreciation for Albert Lea&8217;s strong effort to win the game.

Scoring for Albert Lea was Anderson with a hat trick while Leach had the other. Assisting was Moyer and Pulley. Albert Lea&8217;s forwards were aggressive in the neutral zone stopping Faribault&8217;s fast paced offense.

Mackenzie Waldemar played an excellent game at defense stopping many odd player rushes, forcing wide shots and holding Faribault&8217;s top scorer to one goal. The game had end-to-end action

with Faribault scoring a goal in the first and second period.

Albert Lea came out strong in the second period with three goals on 11 shots and would add the insurance goal in third period. When Faribault applied pressure, Sydney Overgaard was strong at her defensive position in front of the net clearing rebounds and stopping many shots before they reached goalie Conley.

The team celebrated with a pizza party and pond hockey to end their championship weekend. They will next travel to the regional tournament in Bloomington March 2-4 as the No. 1 seed from District 4.