The only real concern for the Albert Lea High School girls’ hockey team was if the Tigers would take the Fairmont Cardinals too lightly.

It was apparent they did not.

The Tigers dominated play from start to finish Thursday night while shutting out the visiting Cardinals 10-0 in a nonconference game at the City Arena.

&uot;Overall, the girls played a real solid game tonight coming off a real emotional game against Owatonna on Tuesday,&uot; said assistant coach Jason Fornwald, who filled in for head coach Mike Miller who missed the game to attend a funeral.

&uot;It was real nice to see the girls come back and keep their intensity at a high level against a little bit of a weaker opponent, and play three solid periods,&uot; added Fornwald.

The Tigers outshot Fairmont 34-10 while improving their overall record to 14-7. Danika Porter was in the net for Albert Lea.

A pair of familiar names led the offense, with Laura Hillman and Tessa Christensen combining for seven goals and five assists.

The pair wasted little time hooking up in the first period as Christensen scored on a Hillman assist at the 2-minute mark. Hillman scored on assists from Christensen and Amy Leach 58 seconds later and, at 5:06, Christensen scored on a Hillman assist.

The onslaught continued in the second period, with Christensen setting up Hillman just 22 seconds into it. Marissa Cottrell netted her first varsity goal at 1:46, assisted by Lacy Oyer. Hillman scored at 5:54 on assists by Christensen and Leach, and Hillman’s unassisted score at 11:14 made it 7-0 and sent it to running time.

In the third, Christensen scored on a Hillman assist at 1:25. Sarah Jensen scored at 9:50, assisted by Lindsey Sorensen, and Heather Bagley scored at 13:10 on an assist from Brittany Arendt.

Albert Lea took the game’s only two penalties.

&uot;It was an overall team effort,&uot; said Fornwald. &uot;The girls came out and skated hard for three periods and got the result they hoped for.&uot;

The Tigers have another nonconference home game Tuesday, when they face Waseca.