Packer girls hockey team falls to Scarlets on first day of tournament

Published 6:52 pm Thursday, December 26, 2013

Austin's Myia Hoium attempts a slap shot against Mankato West in Riverside Arena Thursday. -- Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com

Austin’s Myia Hoium attempts a slap shot against Mankato West in Riverside Arena Thursday. — Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com

The Packer girls hockey team had a tough time getting started in the Austin Merchants/Steve’s Pizza Holiday hockey tournament in Riverside Arena Thursday.

Austin started in a big hole in the first period and it lost 8-2 to Mankato West.

The Scarlets (5-8 overall) took a 4-1 lead in the first period and Austin wasn’t able to get back in the game.

Austin's Talynn Miller controls the puck against the boards as Mankato West's Cassie Rigdon looks on at the Austin Merchants/Steve's Pizza girls hockey tournament in Riverside Arena Thursday. -- Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com

Austin’s Talynn Miller controls the puck against the boards as Mankato West’s Cassie Rigdon looks on at the Austin Merchants/Steve’s Pizza girls hockey tournament in Riverside Arena Thursday. — Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com

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“We were hoping to improve, but in this game we kind of took some steps backwards,” Austin head coach Brett Vesel said. “We looked extremely lethargic. I thought we had better skaters than they did. We just didn’t skate like it tonight.”

Chloe Summerfield scored a first period goal for the Packers (5-8-1 overall) and she had an assist on a Myia Hoium goal that made it a 5-2 game early in the third period.

Summerfield also had a chance at a penalty shot at the end of the second period, but she was denied on the shot.

The Packers struggled on offense and defense Thursday, but Vesel said the team can be competitive if it it steps up on defense.

“Some teams are goal scoring teams and some teams aren’t. We’ll score when we can, but we’re not going to score a lot of goals,” Vesel said. “We’re young and our older girls aren’t scorers. If we can play great defense and take good shots, that’s our formula.”

The Packers, who have scored a total of six goals in their last six games, will play Hutchinson in the second day of the tournament Friday at 12:30 p.m. in Riverside Arena.

SCORING SUMMARY

MW 4 1 3 — 8

Austin 1 0 1 — 2

First period

(M) Cassie Rigdon (Marissa Swenson) 5:55

(M) Callie Looft (Breanna Black) 6:30

(M) Aisha Abdo 10:22

(A) Chloe Summerfield 11:32

(M) Julia Snelson (Looft, Abdo) 15:34

Second period

(M) Rigdon (Black) 8:04

Third period

(A) Myia Hoium (Summerfield) 1:01

(M) Rigdon (Swenson) 5:56

(M) Looft (Snelson) 8:43

(M) Looft 10:37

Power plays: Austin — 0-for-4; West — 1-for-3